January Flowers

The weather here in central Florida was mild at the beginning of the month. Then when that big snow storm blew over the southeast, it brought a cold front down to us. Here in my area we had our lowest temperature so far this winter. Our low Tuesday night was 39 degrees F. Above us the counties had freezing temperatures.  Below us it was a little warmer. Unfortunately the south west side of Florida had multiple tornadoes and some areas had extensive damage.  No damage in my area just a wild cold rain with high wind gusts.  After 2 days of cooler temperatures, our highs and lows went back up.  I still have flowers growing and I’m happy.

 

 

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November Monday Morning

I live in central Florida which has a semi-tropical climate.  Over last weekend a cold front came down to Florida, and we had over a day of gray skies and rain.  The lows dropped to 50 degrees F for the first time since last winter.  Our highs have been about 62 degrees F for a few days.  As usual the gray skies blew away and we have beautiful blue skies again.  (By Wednesday the high was 77 degrees F.)  These photos were all taken Monday morning around 10:30 AM. The air is cool and the sky is blue.

 

 

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Peach Double Hibiscus & Periwinkle

I made a little bouquet of some tropical peach double hibiscus and a few white periwinkles from the yard. Remember I live in semi-tropical central Florida where I have flowers almost year round.

 

 

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Butterfly and Purple Periwinkle

I don’t share butterfly or bird photos that often as they fly away before I can get a good photo.  I can’t tell you how many bad photos I delete in the attempts.  Today I’m re-sharing a post from September 30, 2016. I made mosaics that  I hope you enjoy it.

 

I came out my front door and saw a beautiful black swallowtail on my purple vinca or periwinkle. Before I could get closer to get a good shot, he was flitting away as usual.  I looked down at the periwinkle and discovered a sweet rusty orange small butterfly, a Gulf fritillary, where the black swallowtail had been.

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Summer Flowers

Most of the plants in my Florida garden are tropical or semi-tropical.  Even though our occasional freezes can damage and even kill tropical plants, they flourish much better than more temperature plants in my full sun yard.  Most of my plants thrive in the hot sun and are easy to take care of.

 

 

 

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Frangipani & Periwinkle

One morning after a night of rain, I found a small handful of flowers on the ground – lovely frangipani.  I picked them up and brought them inside to put in a little bowl of water. Read More

Low Maintenance Yards

Warm weather is here which means everyone can enjoy the outdoors. Our lawns and gardens can provide “rooms” and places for families to gather and to have fun. After all, your garden is a part of your home  isn’t it? Love the idea of a beautiful outdoor space but hate all the work involved?  Let’s look at ways to look after your yard that aren’t going to take a huge amount of time or effort.   Just remember if you live in a neighborhood with restrictions and guidelines for landscaping, check with the association for accepted lawns before you make radical changes.

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