Just in case any of my NE pals are having horticultural withdrawal, here are a few photos of some blooms to keep your memories sharp until Spring Rejuvenation. This first one is lantana......
Some blooms from my Fla. gardens.......
some periwinkles that made it through the summer heat...
yellow ixora....this was one of the original foundation plantings when the house was built in 1952. The house we lived in here in the neighborhood also had these.
Painted Lady hibiscus
caladiums from the co-op, brugmansia cutting from Thomas Edison's plant, and vinca/periwinkle
Red Ti plants
desert rose
some of our citrus......that's all for tonight!
Nice to see a little bit of activity there
:-)
The citrus looks loaded!
Wow - color! Looks great, Louise. Please keep posting throughout the winter. It's encouraging! Wish I had smellivision for the citrus.
Willie - yeah, I guess it's about time I gave some proof of what I've been doing here! LOL
We do have more citrus than we had last year. Our trees are looking really healthy. Last year we thought we had lost our tangerine tree, but now it has a good number of green tangerines on it. We also have more Meyer lemons than ever before. I've made lots of fresh squeezed lemonade and Hank keeps a continual supply of fresh juice for breakfast every morning. The cool temps have really sweetened the juice.
Victor - glad you approve! Tastevision might even be better! LOL
Teeny seedlings aren't very exciting to post, but at some point I hope they'll be "real" flowers and visible enough for some shots before we head north again. So far, I have a number of little multi-colored vinca plants (I'm on a vinca kick after seeing how well they survived the summer heat!), a tray of dahlias (I had no idea you can grow them from seed!), and some tall zinnias that I sowed directly in the ground.
I guess I shouldn't post so many at once.......at some point I will run out of new things to show you and I'll have to expand my photos to include shots around the neighborhood, and then the town! LOL
Looking great!!! I'm looking forward to more.
Thanks, Jan! The pressure is on! LOL
Oh Louise that Desert Rose is goregeous! Thank you for the eye candy, it was a pleasure!!!!
sigh.... I need to come visit you guys
Nice, smellavision would be good!
Louise, when I was a kid we picked ixora blossoms and pulled the stamens out of the stem end of the flower. There is a droplet of sweet nectar that will cling to the anthers. Lick it off. A hundred flowers later...lol. Try it. It doesn't work if you pull the stamen from the top of the flower though.
L
Hi Louise! Thanks for sharing! nothing like a good looking flowers... ah so gorgeous desert rose!!!! mine died! oh great to see yours doing that well!!!!
How's things with you and Hank??? Hope you are having a good time!!!!
big hug!
Laurel - I didn't think anyone besides my sisters and I were aware of the ixora sipping benefit to these plants!! LOL Ah yes, I remember it well! Most of ours here are the bright orange blooms that come and go year around. Most of these houses had/have a brick planter in front of the front porch area, and the orange ixora were the standard plant selection for the planter. We still have our hedge, as do a few other houses in the 'hood.
Kassia - Big Hugs back to you! Things are great with us and we are having a wonderful time so far. We had neighbors over last night to watch the Florida Gators play #1 ranked Alabama. Hank was the only one pulling for Alabama, but we had a lot of fun. Today we are going out to get our Christmas tree. We had a roaring fire during the game and dinner last night, so we could pretend we were enjoying the light snow New England got last night. Football games just make me think of cold weather, so you do what you have to do!! LOL
How do you like this Tibouchina plant? I love how colorful it is. Some of the leaves are bright red and some are green all the time, and the flower blossoms are red until they open into stunning blue/purple flowers.
Happy Sunday to all of you up there North of us!!
These aren't very pretty yet, but they are the dahlia seedlings with some more sunflowers germinating behind them. For point of comparison, I thought you should see how these started off in the hopes that I can show you some pretty blooms before we leave here.
wow that flower is really interesting... love the rainbow of colors... good luck with your seedling babies!
Oh thanks for this blast of color. I think that is what is the worse thing about winter. Dreaming of spring green already here, so you pics are a welcome delight.
Maybe a little bit but more thankful you post these bouquets of color for us to see. Thank you! It will help substain us thru this looooong cold black & white winter!
Thanks for the pops of color and 'greening' of your gardens. Only a few more months of gray. sigh
I was routing for the Crimson Tide also.
Here you are, Louise---was hoping you would post on the weather thread, but Ft. Myers is much farther south then we are, so the temps for you would be much warmer! Loved all the flower pics---I doubt anything will be blooming in our yard, since it's been 2 yrs since we were there---but I did plant a Knockout Rose---maybe that's blossoming. We wil be heading down on the 28th if all goes well.
Thanks, Louise - with the temp at 15F last night and today, some warm flowers are just what I needed!
Thanks, Allison! The blend of bright colors is so interesting to me. It might just qualify for that category of flowers that my DH calls "Circus Flowers". LOL
Pat - glad you enjoyed the colors! I hope I can keep up the parade. Such pressure!
Sherrie - no jealousy please.......just remembering how I felt when there was no color around during the depths of winter.
Celeste.......I'll do my best to keep something coming!
Jan - happy to oblige!
FlowerJen - I'll tell Hank he wasn't alone!! Sorry for your loss! LOL
Marilyn - I hope you find your Knockout Rose blooming for you!! Have a safe trip!
Great, Sue.........but I can't believe those temps you're having!!!
Gotta go get in my pajamas now........there's a 2-hour Boston Legal on, and I will have a struggle staying awake, even though I do love it! Good night everyone!!
Pretty hibiscus---ours is reddish-orange---it usually gets hit by the Feb frosts & starts to green up when we're leaving for home---but we'll be home early in Feb. this year.
Love that Hibiscus too, I feel warmer and bit jealous of your seeing your winter digs. I so enjoy seeing your Fla garden despite my envy. DH spent hours on Saturday trying to snag some Red Sox tickets. He failed, we were in Vt on dial up and he kept getting timed out. Poor thing. He felt like he was in Fort Myers. Patti
Marilyn - I like the classic red/orange hibiscus too. I hope you get to see yours in bloom when you get down here!
We can sure sympathize about the tickets, Patti! Believe it or not, we had 2 computers and one phone going for 5 straight hours (the longest EVER!!) before Hank finally got in on one of the computers. We got 2 games - one at night and one in the afternoon. This system is getting ridiculous! You should have seen me making lunch with my laptop on the kitchen counter. I also had to blow dry my hair watching the screen. I manned the phone for 3 hours and almost got an injury from constantly hitting the redial, then hanging up, redial, hang up........Then I gave up and went to the computer instead.
Our friends got some. But they like you had several computers going. If we come down we will have to get some from people who know people who know people if we are lucky. Enjoy them for me. Patti
Actually, Patti, it is generally pretty easy to get tickets at the field. We've always had luck doing that. The only reason we work so hard to get the reserved seats is that I can't sit in the sun. We have to get tickets that are under the roof, unless it's a night game. Plus, this year our friends from NY will be down here and so we had to get 4 tickets together. Give it a try if you get down here. The scalpers can only charge the face ticket price and that is really enforced.
Good to know. I think we bought some last year that way for some extra friends who came down. But if we had gotten some on Saturday, we would have had to book a flight now. Without them it is just a wish to come with the economy so bad. Patti
Hi Louise! What beautiful flowers you have! I'm sure you could take plenty of pictures straight from your yard all winter long without having to go to the neighbors yards.
Harper
Okay, Louise, Monday it was in the teens or lower. Today, it's 60! Don'tcha just love northeast weather?!
Patti - I think I'd plead "health" reasons to get out of the cold and into the sunshine at a spring training game!! LOL
Hey there, Harper!! How's the birthday going???? Thanks for the compliment on my fleurs! I may have to rely on the presumption that you will all get forgetful and/or simply patient when I begin to start over in showing the limited number of flowers growing in our yard. I mean....how many times can you look at that lantana without recognizing it as a "been there/done that" shot???
I know I don't get tired of seeing them daily, but I can't expect the rest of you to appreciate them to the same degree! LOL
Sue - That IS a real pendulum of temps! We're in a 2-day hot spell.......very humid outside with high 80s today. Hank played in his golf league this morning while I sneakily wrapped his Christmas presents. He said the breeze saved him from wilting. He walks when he plays, so the high humidity can be a pill down here when you're carrying a heavy golf bag. By Saturday it will be cooler again with low humidity. He's competing on Saturday in the Senior Games in the javelin event, so low humidity will be great!!
Wow - the javelin, Louise?!! (Hope it's the throw, not the catch.^_^) Wacky weather here. 16 the other morning. 60 right now!
Yes, Victor....the throwing, not the catching. Amazingly, there is nowhere he can practice. Since 9/11 there are apparently restrictions on throwing a projectile implement. He's been having to practice in an abandoned grown up golf course (trespassing, of course). He originally went to a park's football field, but was stopped by a ranger who was very nice and who offered to find out if there was somewhere legal for him to practice. He called later and said there is nowhere in the county, including schools. After Hank mentioned seeing an alligator in the pond on the course, I asked him to keep a cell phone with him. I also reminded him that the gator won't stay in the pond - it will go out hunting in the overgrown weeds, not to mention the snakes that are likely there too! He's really just hoping to qualify for the games next year, so he doesn't feel much pressure. It's primarily just a fun thing to do, however it goes.