Green and Gold in the Garden

I can't believe I've let these beautiful ginger plants set in their nursery containers for well over a year!  What a slouch am I!  I'm lucky they are still thriving and appear so lush and healthy after all this time.  Well, I'm determined to find them a home somewhere in the yard this week!

I've seen others in the neighborhood plant them in the sun and it's always too harsh during the summer months and they turn brown on the edges and are usually wilting.  I think I've got a spot on the west side of the house, in the shade, where they should do well and hopefully be happy there.  I love their pretty green and gold markings and they make a wonderful addition to the subtropical garden.

Here's a green and gold coleus that lives in one of the front beds.  It grows quite tall and adds height to the garden and I love the markings on this.  It looks to me like someone has randomly splashed gold paint on all the gorgeous green leaves.

Here's more pretty gold and green.

Our orange tree is loaded this year and the fruit is a pretty golden color at the moment.   Soon the oranges will be ripe and ready for my marmalade recipe I've chosen to try them out in.  They're a little sour, so it'll probably take some tweaking to get it just right.

The Allamanda is a beautiful golden color and blooms year round.

Last year I had these glorious golden mums in urns on each side of the front door.  I think they brightened up the recessed area under the alcove.  I guess a trip to the local garden center is in order pretty soon...

Here's the most beautiful green and gold that's in the garden this week - the female Painted Bunting.  They're nicknamed "Greenies" because they look all green from afar.  This is the first time she's shown up this year and I'm happy she's arrived.

Okay, enough green and gold.  Here's some Black Vultures that were circling over the preserve behind the house yesterday.  This is an every day occurrence here - and I can only assume they've found their dinner!

The Black Vulture is not a handsome bird, but I am fascinated by his turkey, wattle-like cowl neck that he wears.  And he has a huge wingspan reaching 4.9 feet.  I still like them even if they are common and scavengers.

This is the Cara Cara - it too is a scavenger found here in Florida, but I find him a lot prettier.  I usually don't see one in Lee County, but if I drive into Hendry county just a bit East of here, I usually see quite a few.  They're from the Falcon family and they're truly a beautiful bird.

This doesn't really fit in with the theme of this post, but then neither did the Vultures or the Cara Cara.  I just think it's pretty!  This is a wild flower found here in south Florida that I photographed at the Manatee park a bit north of here.  And since this is Veterans Day - a sincere thank you to all the wonderful Veterans and their service to our country!  Actually, I think that every day, not just today!