DonnieBrook's Subtropical Adventures 2

We are coming from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1052524/

The floral and feathered adventures continue now that I've had a few moments to get back outside and get my coleus cuttings in the ground and put down some fertilizer to bring forth a few blooms. This is my patio garden featuring the coleus I brought south with me. I have this shot as my desktop wallpaper for this week.

Please continue to share your own winter adventures with all of us here. This is a rambling adventure thread with the sky as the limit on topics!

On the feathered side, this white heron marched right past in front of our house. I had one of the puppies outside in the front yard, and she just sat and watched him go by with great interest.

Back to the floral side now.... I brought these dark red dahlia tubers down with me, and I'm excited that they have come up and are doing well. No blooms, but we all know that dahlias take their own good time to give us blooms!

I just finished painting this terra cotta turtle planter for the neighbor who kept our front yard in order all summer for us. I put a pot of colorful coleus in the planter and we had her over for coffee this afternoon and gave it to her. I forgot to take a photo of the turtle with the coleus pot in it. Drat!

This is our Cape Honeysuckle blooming in my living fence. I love it next to the blue purple Mexican petunia flowers. They aren't showing in this view.

Sorry about that blurry part of the honeysuckle...the wind was whipping when I took that and part of the plant was really moving.

Here are some many-colored morning glories on a trellis on our breakfast patio. They didn't do well while we were out in Colorado. My niece had her hands full with the puppies, so my patio plants got forgotten. That's ok though...my priority for care was clearly the girls!

My amaryllis is coming up surrounded by radishes. We've harvested some of the radishes and they were gorgeous!

My dwarf powder puff has just started a good bloom, despite the fact that I haven't yet gotten around to feeding it yet.

Seminole Sam is now sprouting my Apple Blossom amaryllis along with the Greek oregano from our RU.

That's about it for my adventures for today.......90% of my adventures of late have involved two furry white blurs that thankfully take a break from their antics to snuggle with me in my chair first thing each morning. Such sweet little girls....."when they are good, they are very, very good, and when they are bad they are horrid!" Not really "bad" though.....just wiggly, active, healthy little pups! They covered the whole neighborhood on their walk today!

This is their sweet, snuggly side.......can you see why I love snuggling them? What is nice is that neither wants to have more attention than her sister. They seem to like it when the other one is getting something good, whether it is food or snuggles, etc. They also love it when their sister who lives down the street a few houses prances by. They all three love to see each other. I'll have to get a shot of the three of them romping together and getting their leashes tangled.

LUV the turtle planter! Too funny to have a heron walk by on the sidewalk ^_^ Dahlias are looking great!

Thanks, NuttyD! I had you in mind when I posted that shot of the dahlias!

Great turtle planter!! Thanks for all the stories and pics, Louise. Awwww, love those puppies.

Hey, Harper........you asked for a painted pot pic, so this one of the turtle was for you! I bought two other terra cotta wall planters for other helpful neighbors, but I gave up on painting them with the minimal time I have now, so I gave them to them unpainted with a promise to paint them when Bailey and Carli are in college. LOL

nice shots Louise... love that planter!!

Thanks Louise! I gave up painting when DS was born. I understand!

Great planter, Louise!

it looks warm down there!

Thanks, Allison and Victor! Bill, yes it has been pretty warm here until this week. Thankfully we now have some more Christmasy temps. I had to wear a jacket and gloves when we walked the last two mornings. Hank will have 77 degrees tomorrow for his golf league.

I love the powder puffs----and those 2 snuggling in their bed look like powder puffs, too!

Thanks, Robin! Tee hee on the fur puffs! You'll get to meet them "up close and personal" soon! Prepare yourself!!! LOL

Oh... 77 degrees...

Louise the Ladies have grown so much already and are even prettier if thats possible!
Love all the planter combos you have also!!

Thanks, Celeste! Yes, they are really growing! Their little harnesses are at the end of their size range, so I've ordered them some pretty flowered ones with matching leashes for Christmas. LOL They are runners up to Sophie in terms of their "lack of needs". LOL

Merry Christmas, Louise, Hank, & the girls!

Thank you, Marilyn!! The same to you, Doug, your pups and family! I hope you are enjoying a lovely Christmas day today!

I also hope that all of my DG friends are enjoying a lovely Christmas!!!
Louise

Happy New Year to all of my DG friends!! It has started off pretty chilly down here so I've had to cover many plants already, and will have to do it again for the next 5 nights.

I'm not covering this brug that has just burst out with trumpets, but we'll see if the trumpets fall off from the cold.

As an aside, Bailey is sleeping nearby as I type this, and she is wagging her tail in her sleep. I've never seen a dog do that. Very cute!

My dahlias have lots of bloom buds on them!

Seminole Sam's head dress is growing nicely!

Nice to see growth this time of year!

Glad you enjoyed it, Victor! It's a real cold spell here, so I'm hoping I don't lose some pretties!! Stay warm!

How cold is cold??

very nice louise - covering t-plants? did you mention that just to tease:)

Oh I do love that little pot you painted and his head dress is filling in very nicely indeed. I just talked to an old friend of mine down there and she said it was cold, cold cold, that means in the 40s to all of us. I could live with some sunny 40 degree days right now. LOL Hope all your pretties come through the cold snap okay.

O DonnieB your dahlias look so healthy and happy! And buds already too ^_^ please post your pic in the Dahlias Forum!

Good Morning Louise & Hank, Understand you are getting some cold weather, we have it here. Getting ready to head south towards the end of January. Planing to visit you while we are there. Hope things warm up by then.

Photo taken this morning.

Hello, Louise and Hank, and Happy New Year to you guys and the pups! You're gardens are looking good.

Well, it's only a week before I fly down to FLA with Dad. Can't wait! Need to get away from all the cold and snow here and log in some beach time. Looking at the long range forecast, looks like it will be a little warmer by next Sunday. Supposed to be 62 on Sun, 58 Mon, and 67 Tues. Hopefully that won't change, unless it changes to even warmer, then that will be fine with me. Anyhow, it'll feel wonderful after the 20s and 30s here for the highs.

So when are we planning for our little DG get-together? I'm looking forward to seeing you guys, the pups and the gardens and all.

Karen

and the dahlias Cousin Nut. Be sure to check out DonnieB's dahlias.

Oh, sure, I can't forget the dahlias, Cousin Nut!

Karen

Hi Karen. You will have dmail shortly concerning your visit to our area! I haven't heard from Marilyn, so I don't know what her plans are.

Dahlia - Isn't it exciting that my dahlias are actually about to bloom???!

Funny story about the pic I'm posting here. I thought it would be fun to lie down underneath the group of trumpets that are blooming on my Brugmansia, so I went outside and did just that. I was, of course, lying on my back, quite still. In the beginning, as I was looking up at the brug blooms I noticed a turkey vulture way up in the air. By the time I finished taking the shots, there were 3 turkey vultures circling just above me. They were likely very disappointed when I stood up and spoiled their anticipation! LOL You can't be still for a minute here without some creature eyeing you for supper! About an hour ago, we watched an osprey fly right over us (low enough for me to see him from inside our living room) with a large fish in his talons. Hank had just gone out the front door to let one of the puppies out, so he got an even better view than I did. Pretty cool as long as they don't lick their lips when the pups are out!