How Hot is It?

Why it's just plain CRAZY hot, I tell you.  Crazy!  It's been 90 degrees every day for Pete's sake!

At least the Plumeria likes it.

Although by the time high noon rolls around - we're all a little wilted and droopy.

A little over three years ago this Plumeria was basically just a stick in a bucket.  It is truly a robust grower.  I'm not sure what kind it is, but it's now almost as tall as the house, which is over 20 feet.

It gets harder and harder to get a decent photo of the flowers unless I have the ladder out.  This fallen bloom is still gorgeous though.

Well, complaining has never done anyone any good, so I won't complain any more about the heat.  I will however, have a little whinge about the Saltbush blooming as it affects my asthma and gardening time.

And just so my complaining isn't the focus here, I'll tell you a little about this native plant in the Aster family. 

Just a little.  In the fall, here in Florida, you might notice this shrub in forested areas when you see the female plant bursting with their showy, fluffy seeds ready to take to the wind.  It reseeds profusely, so you'll probably be seeing a lot of them. 

Its proper name (Baccharis halimifolia) was named after Bacchus, the Roman god of harvest and drink.  The usual depictions show him as an overweight figure with grape vines wound around his head and drinking wine.  Huh, who knew?  It also goes by several common names including saltbush, groundsel bush, cotton-seed tree, sea-myrtle, consumption weed - hey, that's what I'm going to call it from now on - consumption weed!  Although it does cause me respiratory distress, I do think they look quite pretty in the preserve behind our house.  I just wish they'd blow their fluff the other way!

Let's see, I've got a few other things blooming in the yard.  The Bleeding Heart vine is looking lush and colorful.

I'm hoping to train it to go along the roof line of the garage.  At the garden center where I bought it, they had it along the roof of this charming little shed and it just dripped with pink flowers.  

Begonias love the heat, but not too much sun.  I can never remember if these are the Angel wing or the Dragon wing...

The always reliable pentas, impatiens and angelonia.

Plumbago

Anthurium

Ixora

And I've got a whole new set of Angel Trumpet pods getting ready to open.  

There's several more flowers blooming in the yard, but nothing very exotic, I'm afraid.  Mostly butterfly attracting blooms.  

Speaking of butterflies, I did have a new visitor to the yard.  It's not a very good shot and it took me AGES to figure out what it was.  It's a female Great Southern White and I've seen the white males, but didn't realize that the females can be this dirty, greyish green color.  I couldn't find a match until I searched for the blue tipped antennae - it then came up immediately and that is a key factor in identifying this butterfly.  I love a mystery and of course had to find out who was visiting! 

Another new to me visitor was this cutie patootie Pineswood Treefrog.  They're probably around more often, I just hadn't seen one.  Yeah, the cutie patootie isn't part of the name, lol.  I'm always happy to see other frogs besides the usual invasive species. 

 The oranges are beginning to ripen here.  They're looking a little blotchy this year.  The tree is just loaded and looks like it'll be a huge crop.  

I hope you're having a lovely autumn season (or spring - wherever you may be)!   Happy Gardening!

The Spooky Garden

Well, this post might be a little lame, because frankly, my garden is rather far from spooky - it being a cheerful, colorful, subtropical garden.  BUT, All Hallows' Eve is absolutely one of my favorite times of the year, so I'll give it a go and you can see if you get a chill or two up your spine, haha.  

Now, don't worry...none of my photos are very chilling.

And this one is probably more psychedelic than spooky.

And this one a bit goofy as this grackle is definitely giving me the evil eye!  

But add a little black and white - and the mood suddenly changes.

The Birds, The Birds!  Honestly, this was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.  A flight of swallows flew up out of the preserve behind our house in a vortex motion.  I wish I would've gotten a video, but I was so surprised and felt I was very lucky just to have been in the right place at the right time for such an event.  Google bird murmuration if you aren't sure what I'm referring to, it is amazing!

"Ghastly grim and ancient Raven wandering from the Nightly shore - Tell me what thy lordly name is on the Night's Plutonian shore!" Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore."  E. A. Poe

Maybe the scariest thing about this is how I let this beautiful vine dry up!  I did however like the decayed draping over the urn.

Wooooooooooooo - eerie birdbath.

Even the gorgeous morning light can create a spectral atmosphere using some of the photo editing features.

Vines can be spooky.

Spanish Moss definitely has a Southern Gothic thing going on.  (I keep thinking I should take that moss off, but I like it too much.)

Some of our neighborhood residents are rather ominous.

Definitely just an experiment with editing features, but this Anthurium ended up looking kind of dark and shadowy to me.

As did this peach Hibiscus.

Southwest Florida has some truly very picturesque places that make for a spooky vibe.  This is Shadow Lane in old Fort Myers, one of my favorite streets to wander down and take photos. The gardens in this section of town are drool-worthy!  But that's another post.

LOVE old oak trees!

I'll refrain from posting any more local shots after this one.  Buckingham Cemetery is an historical and hauntingly beautiful place filled with live oaks draped in Spanish moss,  It has a jungly setting with a few confederate graves.  (I've been wondering if the "PC" Police have made the caretakers feel they must take down the confederate flags...) 

I also apologize if this is an upsetting photo to any of my readers - I realize cemetery photography is not every one's 'cup of tea'.  I appreciate the historical aspect of old cemeteries, some are peaceful, some have an uncanny, uncertain feel - but that's probably just me...

And just to end on a brighter note - here's a baby pic taken eleven years ago of our Tibetan Terrier Flash and the rest of his brothers and sisters.  Flash is second from the right.  Our older TT named Kohl sired this litter and I think he did a pretty good job with mom Goldie. 

I did not take this photo. I don't remember the photographers name and apologize for not giving him credit...I normally wouldn't post someone elses photo, but gosh darn it, they're so cute!

 I hope you all have a safe and very Happy Halloween!

Mama Raccoon and the Kits

I was just saying the other day, that I never have my camera whenever I see a raccoon.  Well, not that this is a great shot, but Hurray - I finally got a pic.  

This was an unusual situation as mama raccoon made her nest clear at the top of the Giant White Bird of Paradise that grows next to our pool cage.

So when we noticed her she had already given birth to two kits.  Well, we could sit on our couch and watch her from the living room as she sat in her nest during the day.  It was very interesting to see her move her babies around - she seemed a little rough, but I'm sure she knew what she was doing.

Anyway, we tried not to disturb her by going out onto the lanai, but we had to take care of the pool and water orchids, etc. and she finally decided to move her kits to a new nest somewhere.  I don't know where.  

While she was moving the first baby, I went out and tried to get some photos of the other little guy.  It wasn't ideal conditions - the sun was beating down, taken through the pool cage screen, but there he is.  Looking kind of like a little sloth.  

I'm glad she moved them as we desperately need to powerwash the pool cage and I hated disturbing them whenever I needed to go out back.  

But it's always fun to have a front line seat to the backyard nature show!

For just one second, I'm going to say something about my health - which is a subject I don't like to discuss - kind of like politics and religion.

Last week I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that I have to take some rather heavy-duty pharmaceuticals to help combat any damage that it is doing.  

I have no idea how this will affect me and may or may not hinder my gardening (and just when we're coming into the fun gardening season!!!), but I thought I'd just say if you don't see anything very exciting showing up in my gardens lately, this is why.

I hope I can continue on as usual, time will tell.

But even if I can't garden much, there is still always something interesting (at least to me) going on in the yard.  Even if it's just a fly on a leaf.  I love the iridescent colors, his wing details and of course that gorgeous green leaf!

Or maybe this cool Orb Weaver.

Or how this collapsed wet spiderweb turns into a rain chain.

Anyway, changes are a part of life.  I'm trying to think positive.  I'm changing my life of debauchery, like giving up alcohol, seriously exercising and eating a mainly plant based diet.  (What took me so long! lol)

And Hey - I've still got Magnolias blooming!  :)

Tribute to Ozzie the Eagle

People from all over have watched the southwest Florida eagle cam with the famous pair Ozzie and Harriet, for years now.  

I'm so sad to learn of Ozzie's passing on September 30th of this year.  

When Ozzie was injured and in rehab earlier this year, a younger male started hanging around Harriet and she apparently didn't chase him away.

Well, Ozzie came back and tried for his rightful spot (maybe according to the laws of the jungle, it wasn't his spot anymore?) - well, he and the interloper, as I like to call him, duked it out and Ozzie was found injured and then succumbed to a blood infection.

You can read more about it online....it's just so sad.  

Here is a shot of their nest.  You can see the cams strapped to the tree.  

This is the huge tree their nest is in.  You can see it about a quarter of the way down from the top.

Oh, Ozzie - you will be missed.   

I have a very hard time with sad stories, so I thought I'd try and end this post with a little bit of Happy.

Around the area of their eagle nest, they have horses.  Lots of beautiful horses.  This guy was the sweetest, most gentle soul.  He reminded me of my dog Flash.  He'd stick his snoz in my neck and hair and I fell in love at first sight.  He even took a carrot from the palm of my hand with the most utter care and softness.  

Now this guy, what a gorgeous black beauty!  His personality was much different from the above horse.  Let's just say his motor ran high and he was zooming around the pasture most of the time.  His carrot receiving abilities were rather roguish and a little bit rough.  Luckily I ran out of carrots after that, lol. 

How nice of these three to line up so perfectly for a parting shot.  So I'll say ta ta or toodles or whatever until next time....I hope you don't mind seeing a horse hiney, their colors are incredibly pretty!