Just Like the White Winged Dove

You know I've got that Stevie Nicks song in my head!  We've been seeing this lone white winged dove in the backyard lately.  Every time I see it - BAM - Stevie pops in.  Luckily, I happen to like that song.  Here's the first verse, so you can sing along too:

     Just like the white winged dove
     Sings a song
     Sounds like she's singing
     Ooo, ooo, ooo
     Just like the white winged dove
     Sings a song
     Sounds like she's singing
     Ooo, baby, ooo said ooo

Heheheh, sorry about that.  This guy - what a goof!  

This phal is in the process of opening.  Yay!

Sweet little red vinca.  Can you tell I don't have a lot going on in the garden...

Well, I hope you didn't miss the full moon a couple of nights ago.  It was spectacular!  No worries though, you can catch next months full moon on May 10th.  And it's the Flower moon!  See you there!

A New Visitor

Last month, this big pigeon landed out by the garage.  He was absolutely HUGE - well, at least I thought he was.  I don't think I've ever seen a pigeon in Florida and certainly not close up.  

Anyway, I didn't notice until I looked at the photos today, that he had a leg band.  The first three letters are FMI, so I looked it up and apparently he belongs to a member of the American Racing Pigeon Union, Fort Myers chapter.  Huh?  People still race pigeons?  I mean, there's just a club for everything - ha!  

He appeared to be in good health.  He was back the next day and then I didn't see him again.  I looked in the woods to see if maybe he was wandering around and couldn't fly, but luckily, he had left. He really did have pretty slate blue colors.

When I was out in the woods, I came to this clearing.  I haven't seen this before, but it certainly looks deliberate.

Ooooh - a circle!  I'm imagining a bonfire, dancers swaying around, magic in the air!  Yup, my mind starts running away, haha.  But, it was a curious find.  It doesn't look like it's been disturbed for quite awhile.  And, I do love a mystery!

This is such a BAD photo, but as I was standing there this eagle very silently flew out of the woods.  I hadn't seen him there and I always try to move quietly so not to alarm any wildlife.  I must have disturbed him.  I was pleasantly surprised to see this guy take off.  Unfortunately, I didn't get very good pics.

Here's an older photo of an eagle I took, just because I'm so embarrassed of the previous shot.  They truly are magnificent birds!

Our entire neighborhood has been permeated with the intoxicating fragrance of orange blossoms for the last couple of months.  It comes on in the evening and it's especially glorious if it's a little humid.

My peace lily had become infested and I wasn't sure if she was going to come around, but hurray - she did!  She now has three blooms and I put her in a new location out front where I think she has better conditions.  

So, I've been away from blogging for awhile.  Have I been to the Funny Farm, you ask?  Well, if my art studio is the F. F., then, yes - that's where I've been.  I've been making some little 6 x 6 canvases with garden themes.  (Which is the only reason I'm bringing it up here on this garden blog - just this one time - probably)  Anyway, they're going up in my rather neglected Etsy shop BackyardJungleArt to give it a little spark of life.  (The copyright is only on the photos, not on the paintings.)  The gallery edges are painted, so they're ready to hang right out of the box.  

I have a grey-haired gardener series going, some with an earthy vibe which I kind of belong to.

And some with a more traditional, English style garden look.

And then there's some that aren't grey-haired, like this young chicky-boom in the greenhouse.  Can you tell I'm feeling my 50 years!  :)

And then there's some that you just can't tell how old they are...wow, I'm really not that obsessed with age.  I guess I'm just saying that there's different age gardeners in all of my gardening series.  

So, I'll be returning to regular gardening blog topics next time.  I have an art blog where I update current projects at Backyard Jungle Art

I hope you're all out there doing something that you love to do!

Peace All

A Little Garden

I came across this cute little poem the other day when I was making some altered rolodex cards for an art trade.  I think it pretty much describes every garden I've ever had and very much describes my style of gardening  :)

When I took this photo of the Tillandsias the other day, I hadn't noticed the brown anole sitting in it.  He's kind of cute sitting there, just hanging out.

I've got three new bloom spikes on the Basket O' Orchids!  Hurray!  I'm quite surprised as the orchids haven't been looking very good since the move.  I only brought two vandas and this basket of several phals with me from the previous house.  The rest were on trees and I didn't want to move them.  Anyway, I'm always excited when the orchids bloom.

I was watching this Red Shouldered Hawk out in the woods behind the house.  He swooped down and brought this black racer up for lunch.  I couldn't get very good photos as he was quite far away and it was dark.  And I'm not sure it's a photo series anyone would be interested in seeing.   I don't usually photograph any predator/prey that I see.  Luckily, I don't see it a lot.  

Well, here's some cheery pink flowers to brighten your day!  Aren't they adorable? 

First Planting of 2017

Hello 2017!  Last night I scarified and soaked these big beautiful Nasturtium seeds so I could plant them up today, the first day of the year.  

Last year was a jumbly sort of gardening year with the move and all, so I'm trying to start out right this year and garden with lots of LOVE.  And that means getting back to talking to my plants, meditating in the garden and sending out all the good vibes I can to help my plant friends and allies.  And that ends up helping me and all the garden visitors too.

Wishing you all peace and joy, kindness, love and healing in this New Year!   

It's that time of Year!

Just stopping in to say I hope everyone is having a lovely Holiday season!  

I hope I'll be a bit better blogger in the New Year - I've been having a small vacation from being on line lately.  Something I must do from time to time, I've found  :)

Wishing you many Blessings!  

My Butterfly Friends

I've got two Gulf Fritillary butterflies that have been visiting the Pentas lately.

This shows the underside, which I think is so pretty.  I've decided to name these two Gully and Fritz.

I was really happy when this Monarch showed up the other day.  And yes, he's been named too - Monty.  (perhaps I don't have enough to occupy my mind, I name everything, haha)

Here's a pic of them playing nice together on the same plant.  There's enough for everybody!

I've also got a Giant Yellow Swallowtail that visits almost every day.  I've named her Swishy, because she never seems to stop beating her wings.  This shot I took at our previous place.  I haven't been able to get photos of Swishy yet...just movin' too fast!

We have a lot of White Peacocks like this one above.  I also see quite a few Yellow Sulphur butterflies.  

The one I haven't seen yet in our new yard, is our state butterfly the Zebra Longwing.  

So, I'd better get busy and plant some of their host plants (Passiflora incarnata) if I want to increase the odds of having them visit!  

Hope you all have a wonderful Turkey Day!  And if you don't recognize Thanksgiving where you live, I hope you have a wonderful day as well!     

November Notes from the Garden

This cute little Phoebe has been visiting the yard lately.  

There's two squirrels that visit every day.  They come for the peanuts and some of the sunflower seeds.  They can be quite the noisy buggers when they want to!  (but that's ok with me)

This photo I took at our previous house, but we have a raccoon coming in at night to drink from the birdbath and eat seeds.  She triggers the security lights, usually around midnight.

Oh, yeah - the armadillos are out here as well.  They're everywhere, making those little funnel-shaped holes.  *sigh* 

Pretty kitty is one of the neighbors three gorgeous black cats.  They're very shy and stay down the street.  That works well for us with our two dogs - one being very vocal!  

I finally got a few new plants for the backyard.  A firebush and tropical sage to attract butterflies and hummingbirds.  And some hot pink geraniums - just because I like geraniums :)  There's also a little rosemary plant to go on my herb shelf garden.

In the background you can see my sad little lettuce seedlings. They're quite spindly, but I'm afraid to give them too much sun as we're still in the 80's.  They get the morning sun for several hours.  Soon they'll get transplanted to the big plastic dishpans that I got at the dollar store.  Put some drainage holes in the bottom and they're great for shallow rooted lettuce.  If anyone has any suggestions for growing lettuce - I'm happy to receive it, thanks!  (Vegetables have not been on my garden radar for a long time.)

I used fresh basil from my little herb garden to garnish this Caprese salad the other night.  What a difference fresh herbs make!

This is certainly not the best moon photo I've ever taken, but it's the only shot I got of the Super Moon this month.  It was so bright and gorgeous - I hope you got out to take a look!