DonnieBrook's Subtropical Adventures: The Finale

You win the prize, Victor! LOL While I was out playing with a friend at a native plants nursery, Hank cleaned out the shed and packed all the garden stuff neatly away with plenty of room to spare. I wasn't supposed to buy anything because there's not enough time left to establish any plants now, but I just HAD to buy one little "Blue Daze" plant. I'll get it in tomorrow and I'm rationalizing that it will make it if I put it in the area where our neighbor turns our sprinklers on to bridge the time to the rainy season. I'll post a shot of it....beautiful bright blue flowers on a low mounding ground cover. Just HAD to .......gulp. And I'm proud to report that the girls were just excellent alone in the sunroom while Hank was working out in the back. My babies are growing up. We had a graduation ceremony when we took their little circle pen down in the living room and packed it away. Hank said they graduated "Summa cum Lousie." LOL See anyone in the window of the sunroom??

love the bougy and the girls!!

No, Celeste, it's a bougainvillea. Do you have any in your greenhouse? If not, you MUST have one. They do very well in my friend's Canandaigua, NY greenhouse. They are so colorful. Now they also have thornless varieties that we saw today on our field trip. You gotta love a plant that likes the drought!

Thanks, Grandma! or almost Grandma! Any birthday party plans yet???? LOL

Louise, I was talking about the white flowered plant, but I NOW see you said it was a euphorbia !!

LOL, Celeste! Yes, it is euphorbia. They are my new favorite here. Very easy and always filled with little white flowers.

It's lovely, such dainty little flowers.

That surprised me, too...I thought it was Confederate Jasmine.

Good, im not the only one who thought it was jasmine!! lol

Hmmmmm, now I have to look into getting some confederate jasmine next year! LOL

The smell is heavenly!

Is there a Union Jasmine?? ^_^

Look at how pretty!!!!!
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/274430/

Louise do you want any 4" planters if I get over to the christmas tree shop this sat?.. cuppa tea!!!

they have them listed $2.99

We had Confederate Jasmine on our fence in FL...it was nice, but nothing like that arbor.

Celeste - that confederate jasmine is so pretty!!! Love the arbor!

LOL, Victor! I guess jasmine is a southern thing!

Marilyn - what did yours look like?

Hi Allison! Thanks for letting me know and offering to pick some of the teacup planters up for me. I tried them a couple years ago on Cuppatea's porch and found out that my plants dried out too much if I didn't water them daily. They are perfect for house plants though. I don't do house plants because of the snowbirding thing, but if you do, I think they'd be perfect for African Violets, etc. They are so cute and they remind me of Kathy's teacups on stakes in one of her gardens. I just loved those. She uses them for water for the birds. If you get some, please post photos of the plants in them. Thanks so much for thinking of me. As usual, you are very considerate!

Has anyone ever used a Coleman "Power Chill" cooler that plugs into the power source in the car? We bought one of the small size today to use on the trips to keep food cold without things getting soggy from the ice. It fits right behind the passenger seat and plugs in to the back seat power source. When I got home I looked it up online and the reviews for it are pretty bad....mostly about the noise it makes, which I am not bothered by, but I am concerned about whether it keeps food cold enough. I'll be testing it out before we leave, but I was hoping some of you might have used one. Right now it is plugged into the kitchen 120 outlet for me to see how that works, cooling-wise.

Sorry, Louise, never tried one...just used regular cooler with ice, but you'd have to keep replenishing the ice! My jasmine had small white blooms, & opened up the end of March...had a slight fragrance. The back of our yard had wire fencing because there was a pasture there, so someone planted the jasmine.

louise i did not comment on the other thread when victor asked when you would be shuffling home - just how old does he think you are? :)

Bill, didn't you know I'll be 89 this summer? It's taken me awhile to get to the shuffling stage, but this winter did it for me! LOL

good gene's!!

Louise, Holly and I have one of those coolers for travel and camping, it works well but cannot be left plugged into the car for long if it's not running. It'll suck the battery dead. We found this out the hard way, after an long afternoon of fishing we got back and had to use the boat battery to jump the truck. LOL
Holly loves euphorbia "Diamond Frost", it's on her list must haves and puts on a nice show in her morning sun only bed out front. Our bougainvillea just finished it's frist show, it's a "Rasberry Ice", hot pink, with varigated leaves. Ric

Yeah, right, Bill!! LOL

Hi Ric. Thanks so much for that info on the cooler. We're going to take a little test drive to see if the noise bothers us too much, and if not, I think we'll give it a try, especially now that you have given us some helpful feedback. I think we'll just unplug it whenever we turn the car off and plug it back in once we're under way. Did the noise bother you much?

I know your Raspberry Ice and it is beautiful. I love the variegated leaves. Tell Holly to check at your local Home Depot for the Diamond Frost. I found it at ours after I spent a lot more when I bought mine at a plant sale on Pine Island. It is doing so well in the places that get some shade for part of the day. I hope it survives the heat of the summer here.

Louise, I never was bothered by noise, it does throw a little heat from the exchange unit, and be sure not to block the vented end.
Finding the "Diamond Frost" isn't a problem, we've already seen it at one of the Amish places. Ric

We shuffled on over to Sanibel and Captiva Islands yesterday for one last beach soul-filling trip. The water on Captiva was just beautiful.....

I've been to beaches all over the world and never have I found another that has sand so white and soft as on Sanibel and Captiva - or that has the array of seashells either.

just one more beach scene....

At Ding Darling Wildlife Preserve on Sanibel we saw this beautiful, stately Great Egret shopping for breakfast.

I guess I've just shown you two of the things I loved the most about growing up here.....the beaches and the wildlife. :) You can have the heat in the summer though!! My heart is in New England in the summer and fall!

Oh yeah, I'd like to be lying on that beach right now.

You would love it, Jen! :) Karen got a good deal staying close by; check it out with her!

I'm just so heartsick knowing that Marilyn has lost her dear DH, Doug. We enjoyed talking to him at several RUs, including our own last September, and we are so sad for Marilyn and her family. I feel far away from you all at the moment.

Louise its because you are thousands of miles away. Stay there! They have us getting 2" of snow Sunday. arghhhhhhhhhh

Oh, No! Snow???? What's that all about, Sherrie? I guess I should be happy since it means we won't have to mow the day we get there! LOL

Went up to where Jim works. 20 Miles away and there was a little bit of snow on the ground.

Jim mowed lawn yesterday.