Time to share some color in my Florida garden!

Hey, Martha! We used the 16" pavers from Lowes. Our mini-patio was 8 x 8....just big enough for the table and chairs and a bit of room around it. Right now the Poinciana tree above it is showering the area with little tiny leaves, so I've given up on sweeping those little buggers off the patio and the table until it stops dropping them. Because the area was already flat, and the soil is so sandy and easy to work with here (unlike NH), it went quickly.

Here's a new shot of the Talavera urn now that the flowers have filled out a bit. Our biggest challenge now is the grass in the puppy yard that died out from the cold snap and the drought. It's just brown weeds that the girls like to pull up and chew. Great!!!! It's always something with those little rascals.

Here's a shot of the suddenly dead grass. We'll consider this the "before" now that we've planted plugs of grass in hopes that it will spread, and we have been seeding the whole area with "smart grass" that will be drought tolerant eventually. Does this look bad - or what????

Some of you might remember Seminole Sam from last year. Now he's hiding an ugly electrical conduit in the corner. :)

Okay - getting up on the breakfast table in the sun room is NOT allowed, but neither is eating poisonous plants constantly. I'm such a good mother! :)

Um, she looks a bit difiant if you ask me!! LOL

I hit send in that table shot before I finished the thought.....ummm, I'm really an effective Mom, wouldn't you say? LOL Maybe I'm better at growing green beans????

LOL, Celeste! She's actually the timid one, and the minute she got caught, she jumped down and rolled onto her back to say, "BUSTED, UH OH!!" LOL Carli is the one who would stand her ground when she was a puppy.

Just too cute.....didn't know Bichons liked to be high up on something.......my Suey jumps on the picnic table on the porch though.

She's the first Bichon we've had that likes to be up above checking things out from a safe distance. I think that, because she is the smallest and the runt, she may worry about getting trampled. She likes to get up on the back of the couch and look out the living room window, but she has never gotten up on the table before. When I met Hank, his golden retriever puppy, Cody, was so out of control, he'd be up on the kitchen table when we pulled up into his driveway. Cody was a great dog though - once he took Hank to obedience school as a condition of our getting married. lol. We all laugh at how Cody would come into the family room and walk slowly, looking straight ahead and quietly step up onto the couch as if he belonged there whenever Hank and I were away and my son would take care of our dogs. Once on the couch, only the very tip of his tail would wag as if to acknowledge that my son was letting him get away with something. I can still picture him doing that. :)

Today has been a very rainy day and I have loved it! We ate lunch inside in the sun room and this was a lovely sight outside the back windows.....

The girls have been napping on and off all day. You can see the raindrops on the window behind them.....

wow i saw the same bird here yesterday!

I meant to attach this view of the cardinal instead......

He decided on a FL vacation, Bill!

So that's what he was yelling about! I should have known that bird had flown all the way down here from your paradise! How are you and Cindy doing, Bill?

we are doing well thx - how is hank?

Saw a very large hawk today on the reservoir property....think it was a goshawk.

oooooh, cool, Marilyn! I'll have to look that one up.

Hi Bill - Hank is doing just fine. We took a day trip today up to Sarasota and checked out a really cool architectural salvage place that had hundreds of garden things from expensive iron fencing to interesting iron trellis's to an awesome large pig that was way out of my budget. Things were pricey there, but most were legitimately old and of good quality. We bought two tiles and one funky thing that I'll take a shot of and post soon. We then went to lunch at a favorite place of my family at Saint Armand's Circle - the famous Columbia restaurant which has been around since 1905. My Dad used to take me there as a kid for lunch when we would go check on one his job sites. He built all of the telephone company buildings in south Florida, and it was always a treat to go with him to one site or another and then go out somewhere special for lunch. I had the half Cuban sandwich (the original one that they are famous for) and half "1905" salad. I'm still full, but they were both really yummy! Hank had the full Cuban and the black bean soup. He's sleeping now. LOL

that salvage place sounds great! love cuban sandwiches

Well, it sounds like a winter home in Sarasota is right up your alley, Bill!! :) I didn't even get inside the place, but that's where Hank found the nice tiles. I spent all my time outside in the garden lots.

would love some sort of a larger iron trellis for the entry into the back yard. would prefer and aged one too. so if you find one 5' wide and 8' tall or so - rounded at the top - gate not needed, would consider. take a pic and i'll pay for it - if you can lug it home for me - too much to ask? :)

Actually, Bill - I saw 4 or 5 that fit that description perfectly. All they needed was some sanding off of the rust and some new paint, but they were very pricey and way too big to take home without a large truck. I've never seen so much iron work. I wanted a couple of different trellis's, but they were just too pricey for me. Some that I liked were verdis gris color with some birds and leaves on them. They were old and authentic. Hank misread a price tag on some really nice black wrought iron fencing and suggested we pick up 6 sections. He thought they were 3/$20, but they were actually 3/$200. Solly, Cholly. :) I really loved that porker statue, but not on a retiree's budget.

How tempting, Louise......I would be drooling on the urns.

Thanks, Louise!
I should ship my son and his industrial strength leaf blower down to you! He would make short work of any leaves. He's currently waiting for enough snow to fall to power up the snowblowers, his spring/summer/ fall job being on hiatus at the moment.
Martha

sounds expensive louise - we can always fedx:)

That would be great, Martha!! We had a heavy rainstorm a couple days ago, and that has helped bring a lot of the leaves down. They are actually helping out in serving as a mulch for the grass seed I have sown out there.

Oh yeah, Bill, that sounds affordable! lol How about driving a rig down and Hank and I will take you there to fill it up?????? Now THAT'S an idea worth considering!!

We got online and on the phone for an hour and a half this morning to get some Red Sox Spring Training tickets in March. Ugh....I hate that process. This is the shortest time it has taken us in years, with 2 computers and 1 phone going. It has really become difficult to get decent tickets. Next year games will be in the new park much further away. I can just imagine what the tickets will cost then!!

good for you guys - remember there always tickets that go on sale the day of the game - just need to stand in line and get there early

The problem this year is that we have family coming throughout March and it is hard to get blocks of seats together in a good location at the last minute. It will be very interesting to see how the scene changes next year with the new park. It is supposed to be a "mini-Fenway", but the problem they're anticipating is limited exit roads, so it will take a long time to get in and out. Hopefully our neighbor will come through this year. His Mom has seats right behind the owner's box just back from home plate. She often doesn't use them and if he doesn't want to go, he gives them to us, complete with a parking space at the front gate. Can't beat those tickets! Before they won the Series, we could get great seats very easily, but with this new method, it is a long and difficult process. Supposedly they made "enhancements" to the website following lots of complaints, but they need to keep working on the system, because twice we had good seats and then when we went to do the payment page, the system said "Sorry, these tickets are no longer available." Groan. Start all over.

I would say very bad things to the computer, Louise, as my patience has diminished with age! Is the new stadium going to still be in Fort Myers? I remember passing the present one several times on the way to FM Beach.....

Yes, it was really tiring and frustrating, but it has actually taken us practically all morning to even get out of the waiting room, so at least they have improved accessibility! The new park is out beyond the airport somewhere. We haven't seen it yet. It is quite a distance from us.

Yes, the airport is not really near anything in Fort Myers......

ROFL When I first saw your pic with the 'red' in it I thought OMG DonnieB has a tomato. I WANT that tomato! I am obviously in the last stages of hypothermia and sloooowly sinkkking into hallucifications...... (snort)

No tomatoes yet, Dahlia! I'll post a shot when I do have one....just for you!

Ruby Red Grapefruits are smaller than usual, but they still have a ways to go.

love the hot color of this petunia!

hhhhhmmm seeing those grapefruits.. made me want one

hibiscus standard coming back from the cold snap....

You're not alone!! Our favorite juice-providing Tangelo bought the farm and we are going to have to wait a few years before our replacement tree gives us any fruit. That one tree gave us fresh-squeezed orange juice daily for months, so Hank is in mourning. I did make a pitcher of fresh-squeezed Meyer Lemonade a few days ago. I am trying not to speed through my lemons at the moment.

Here's a shot of some of the fruit from the Tangelo in better days!

You're killing me, Louise! Another major storm here tomorrow night.

Oh, No, Victor!! So much winter already!! Stay safe! Are you getting as many garden catalogs as I am each day in the mail? That's got to be your salvation right now!