Time to share some color in my Florida garden!

It's lovely Louise and it does sound like your having lots of fun!

Came out really nice, Louise. The copper class sounds interesting, & could produce some garden art.

Are we invited for tea?

Came out great.

love it Louise.. good job!!

Thanks so much, y'all.... :) You're quite kind! And yes, Lucy, you are ALL invited for tea!! That would be so cool! Marilyn - you are right about the copper class....Hank suggested I aim for making a weathervane for Cuppatea. :) I'm not sure I'll get to a point where I'm good enough to do that, but who cares! I'm game for trying!!

I'm very excited because my stepdaughter from NH is coming tonight for the weekend. This is the first trip down for any of Hank's family. She is in Fla. on business so I pleaded with her to come down to visit us, and she is! We're about 3 1/2 to 4 hours from her. Cool, huh?

I wish I had some new flower shots for you today, but I don't just yet. So glad you are all willing to stop in anyway!

Have a great weekend!

y'all ?? you need to get back to NH soon!

LOL

Beautiful work Louise. Did you use pre bashed pieces or did you get to smash up the pottery parts yourself?
Martha

Glad you are having company, Louise! I know I missed family when we were there for the winter..... for several years, my cousin & his wife were about 3 hours from us, one year, Garret & family visited, one year stepson Mike & his wife came down, but my Mom was too old to travel, & I know she missed us terribly....I, however, did not miss the weather, and this January has been wicked!

There's that word again"Wicked" def a New England thing!!!

LOL, Bill and Celeste!

Martha - we had to whack the pieces with a hammer and then use nippers to cut the pieces into smaller "tiles". This studio is located on the grounds of a major Talavera wholesaler, so when pieces get broken, they give them to her and she makes them available to her students for projects.

Yes, Marilyn - it's great to have Kate here. We're having such a nice visit with her. We stayed up really late last night and took a late night walk along the river, and then another walk this morning, then a tour of the highlights of our world here, took her out to lunch; they napped and then she took us out to dinner and gave us a hard time about doing the early bird special. Actually though, we didn't feel like standing in line for an hour and a half to get into a restaurant. It's terrible down here on a Saturday night during the season. So, we were able to come back home, build a fire and relax by 7:30ish. She'll go out to Sanibel tomorrow to meet one of her friends who owns a resort out there. We'll head to the matinee showing of South Pacific. It does sound like we are typical Florida retirees, doesn't it? LOL....Early bird suppers and matinees....geez!

We were very much into those things as well.....I understand about the restaurants....Village restaurants were just packed every Fri. & Sat. night. I don't recall Fort Myers Beach being as bad, but we didn't eat out too many times....remember a good Italian place down there....

I'm not sure which Italian place you are thinking of, Marilyn, but would like to know if you remember. We have a favorite one or two in Fort Myers though. We're always interested in learning of new restaurants that are good.

South Pacific was really good.....the Broadway Series is always a hit at Barbara Mann theater here.

Glad you enjoyed it, Louise. I'll never remember the name....it was on the left side of the road on the way to Lover's Key.

Wow! I've not been very faithful in my promise to provide you guys with some winter color! Well, hopefully you'll all be seeing Spring bulbs peaking up through the snowy spots very soon. Until then, here are some recent shots of my gardens here. Sorry for the delay! It's a long story. lol

the African daisies are hanging on!

petunias that are beginning to fade with the more intense sunshine....these baskets will be put away soon. This year I'm going to try the "little by little" method of putting all the pots away.

"Little Tiger" opening up for the day....

Yellow elder in bloom. I'm training it to be a tree instead of a shrub. I think it likes the idea! Bailey and Carli are never far away when I'm out in the yard without them. lol

last one for tonight....weeping bottle brush.....there are two lapdogs on my lap right now....pushing the computer away. Cuddle time. :)

I'd go with the cuddle time too :)
Lovely pictures and nice to see you posting again. Missed you ! That petunia is just stunning!!!!!!!

I love that petunia too

Beautiful gardens Louise.

Hey, I have some rather ignorant questions for you snowbirds. Do you really have all that much trouble with bugs in Florida? Fire ants, big beetles, and other creepy crawlers, oh my! Do the bugs kind of simmer down during the winter months? I would loooove to go to Florida during the winter, but the thought of having to spray my lungs away makes me think. Beautiful gardens, Louise, it's always wonderful to see what you have cooking, North or South!

Love that yellow elder, Louise....and the girls in the window! Susan, I never had a bug problem in the winter in The Villages....had an outside deck, & could sit & enjoy it without swatting.....did have a lot of geckos around....they're great for getting insects....

I think the geckos are MOSTLY cute, unless they're in the wrong spot at the wrong time.

Saved me lots on insurance.

Hi guys! Thanks for coming to visit me down here!

Susan - I agree with Marilyn....there are no bugs to speak of this time of year, but the summer is a different story. Many doors are left open a good length of time with no problem. There may be some on my plants, but I ignore them since I don't do chemicals. I can't say I've seen any bug damage on any of them. I do see good bees pollinating away, but they don't seem to come into the house. At least I've never seen one inside.

I just picked a bunch of our fresh tomatoes and they are so yummy! It took a long time for them to ripen after two really cold spells, but it was worth the wait. Right now I'm roasting chicken breasts with some of my own dill, thyme and garlic mixed up in olive oil and stuffed under the skin. The green beans this year were especially good and lasted a really long time. I've pulled those plants out now, but it looks like I will have a few more nice tomatoes.

The geckos are not an issue; they scoot when they see me coming, and the girls try to terrorize them if they get lazy. I think they are cute and totally harmless, PLUS, they do eat the bugs!!

Buzzer is going off.....I'll check in again later!
Louise

Fresh tomatoes! That's heavenly this time of year!

geckos eat bugs.
Martha

chamelons, geckos - they are just cool

When we lived in FL, I was painting the house, & accidently got a brushful on a bluish green gecko who was a beauty...I felt so bad, I guess the paint probably killed him....

Well, I guess it's only fair to show you the end game here. I've spent a few days out there chopping everything back and mercilessly pulling up some of my beautiful annuals. For example....here's the before and after of my back patio bougainvillea in the puppy yard.....Here's the before......

and now, after my butchery.......

These impatiens are among the few that got a reprieve temporarily. Notice the pretty little native petunias (the little blue guys in the middle of the impatiens. I bought those at a native plant sale earlier in the winter. Love the color....

My desert rose likes its new location....out of the pot and into the ground.....

Half of one of our bottlebrush trees broke off in this week's windy storm. We're debating about lopping off a lot of the other side so it will hopefully come back evenly.

My yellow elder just keeps on blooming!!!

These little roses will come back up with us. They came down with us and are just now starting a rebloom.