It's a Jungle Out There

It really does feel like Jurassic Park!  Early morning sunrise in the preserve behind the backyard.  This is my wake-up view from the balcony off the bedroom.

The balcony is small, but there's plenty of room for me and the dogs.

It's certainly not glam by any means, with mismatched furniture and faded cushions.

But it's surrounded by greenery with a relaxing view and has become my "meditation station"

Anyway, in the preserve there is a well worn deer path that comes out between our house and the neighbors.

Just about every evening the deer come flying out of the preserve, run between our houses and head over to the lake across the street.  

I'm usually in the house when this happens and see them out the windows, but the other night I happened to be out photographing the Angel Trumpet and caught these three as they zoomed by.

The Angel Trumpet's a bit spindly looking as she's not in the best spot to thrive as well as she should.  It's just too big a job for me to move her at this point.  But, she insists upon blooming like crazy, which is just fine with me.  (yeah, it feels like a she to me)  

Just an odd angle to make it a little more interesting :)

This shot I took with my phone so I wouldn't have to contort myself into any odd positions to get underneath.

Also out front the Firebush is starting to bloom.

Which attracts lots of these Giant Swallowtails and other butterflies.

Like our state butterfly the Zebra Longwing.

I really chopped back the little hibiscus bush by the garage and it responded with tons of these gorgeous yellow blooms.

So bright and cheery.

Speaking of yellow, the Allamanda in the backyard is blooming.

The Plumbago is flowering.

And the Jasmine is blooming...

and climbing the trellis up to the little balcony where it makes sitting on the balcony even more enjoyable.

I love all of the visitors to our yard, even if they eat all the Purslane and other pretties.

This pretty doe says "Have a Happy Day" - that's just what I was thinking! 

Beautiful Indigo Buntings

Such an incredible blast of blue!  I absolutely adore these guys.  I do find them a bit hard to photograph as they are more skittish than most of the other birds in the yard.

This shot is from last year.  I don't even want to mention how many pics I have to take to get a halfway recognizable photo of one of these birds, Haha!  They are truly a challenge for me - same with the flitty little gnatcatchers.

The afore mentioned flitty little gnatcatcher.

The Painted Buntings are still in town.  I don't blame them for not going north or west or wherever they go, as it seems to be cold again elsewhere in the states. 

That's okay, they can stay here as long as they'd like!  I just bought a new bag of white millet and they love the birdbath, so we're set for a while now.

I haven't decided if I like this photo or not, but I found it kind of intriguing. I like to play around with capturing the light.  It was early evening and I liked how it highlighted this male redbellied woodpeckers profile.

Here he is in a brighter light.  

Well, I've always been basically a picture blog.  I don't offer any great gardening tips, because I'm not a great gardener (big cheesy grin)!  And now I'm discovering that I won't be able to garden like I used to due to my autoimmune diseases.  This last month has pretty much made it clear to me that I can't get out there and take care of things like I used to.  And in all honesty, I've been dwindling down since last fall.  I've recently had a rheumatoid arthritis flare like I've never experienced and I'm working on learning what I can do and what I can't.

The big gardenia and the dwarf gardenia bushes are all getting set to bloom.

So, I'll probably be doing mostly container gardening.  Which offers lots and lots of opportunities to try new plants and have beautiful flowers around.

There's nothing like having a big pot of fragrant jasmine to sit next to while I'm reading a book on the lanai.

And I can always give vegetables another go.  These little tomatoes were so cute, but unfortunately didn't taste very good.  I'll have to try another variety.

And I definitely can see myself turning into an herbal green witch of sorts.  

I think I'm quite a ways down that path already :)

Plus with all the cool visitors we have to the yard, like this orb weaver - there's always something to blog about.  

I get pretty excited over leaf patterns, Haha, but I'll consider it a creative endeavor to come up with blog posts about things I hope others will find somewhat interesting.  And still keep with a gardening theme.

Oh, how could I forget!  The orange blossoms have been perfuming the backyard all month long.  It's so wonderful!  

Thanks friends for having a read through my blog!  Blessings to all!  Be well.

Welcoming March

I haven't been around much online lately.  Every once in awhile I take a break and retreat to the land of no Internet.  It doesn't last very long - but it seems to work fairly well to refresh my strained brain and well, here I am, back online again. (waving and smiling)

I'm afraid I don't really have a proper post prepared, so I'll just leave you with some images of spring.  I hope they'll make you feel - well - springy!  Here's some purslane in pink.  Love their cheery faces.

Closer shot (just because I love the pink against the different shades of green)  

Pink Dahlia.  I have a feeling this may be a "pink" post...

Yeah, more pink.  But aren't these two a pretty pair!

Oh - surprise, here's some glorious white begonias.

And back to pink.  Maybe super dark, super hot pink or maybe I'd even call this maroon.  Certainly in that family, even maybe red.  Whew - whatever you want to call this color, it's truly flamboyant and a beauty.  Passiflora is one of my favorite flowers.  I wouldn't make tea out of this one though...  What? You've never had passiflora tea?  Well, it's one of my favorite teas too.  

If you're thinking of trying Passiflora tea, I'd recommend getting it from a reputable source.  It's delightful!  Grassy and earthy and beautiful!  And calming....

Okay, then on to more pink.  Love this cosmos!

Whoa, that's HU-GE.  And a completely gorgeous hibiscus.

More pretty pink

Can you get any more cheerier?

And just for fun, the classic Florida lawn ornament -the plastic pink flamingo!  Hope you're getting ready for spring...it won't be long!  Have a wonderful week everyone!