July

2020

7/8 planted lime tree in front

7/10 planted tangerine tree in back

7/12 started milkweed seeds. They may need a full month to germinate! As soon as they put up leaves, transplant to larger container - roots need room.

Update:

fig tree quadrangle not very appealing, fig tree still two sticks with three leaves between them.  Fertilize this month, and give extra water during droughts.

oak tree quadrangle very nice. Trimmed tree, removed laurel oak by the house so it gets more sun.  The native porterweed makes a great ground cover at the base. Rain lilies at base.  I'd like a real attention grabber at the base???

cassia quadrangle might work out.  The cassia is slowly growing, so I'm beating back the ganges. Purple vinca survived. 

city strip I took out vast quantity of ganges (which in less than a week has sent back up a million babies) and replaced the big hump with the incredibly thorny lime tree, a strange looking fella who almost looks like a plastic fake.  But has nice delicate lines.

palm tree yard All my favorite flowers have tired out, the cosmos gone, gerbera daisies not blooming, not even daisies. Only the zinnias are in full flower. We'll see what comes back now that the rains have started up again. It's a loooong wait for petunias again. The crossandra is lovely.

Backyard still wonky.  It's missing something. Like an extra acre. I dunno.  

2019

Update: Two of the hibiscus survived, but they're not exactly the answer to my dreams.  I don't know what their problem is. I suspect the dogs liked to pee on them.  Beach sunflower took back that quadrangle after the sansevieria showed no interest in filling in there.  

My experiments go on.  I'm happy with the fig tree quadrangle.  It's got a nice ground cover and the fig tree itself, if not looking great, at least is alive, and after all, it's just a baby.  I'm happy with the oak tree quadrangle. The tree itself is looking more and more like a tree, and I can just keep moving the vegetation away from it. So much for my happiness in the front.  My happiness in the back is limited to the rainforest quadrangle and the hibiscus bed.  

Pretty much everything else is still in the experimental mode. 

So here's what I need to plant: Golden mound duranta around the mounding ganges primrose, to offset it and add another layer of color? Purple sweet potato vine at the base? Rosemary in one of the big pots by the door and annual herbs in the other. And dill for the butterflies in the backyard.  My butterflies Unfortunately upon checking, none of these things are available right now.  ???

2018

Bought three HibisQs from Home Depot today, two pink and one white, and made a strip bed in the front yard adjoining the neighbors.  The blooms are really, really beautiful.  They won't grow much, only about two feet, so these aren't regular hibiscus bushes.  They're a hybrid.  Hope they're perennial.

I also planted some milkweed between them, which is already being attacked by milkweed bugs.

I uprooted the loathsome (sorry!) beach sunflower and planted that arid spot instead with the variegated sansevieria, which I like so much. Hope it does well in that sunny spot.

2014 

I've been planting way way too many yellow flowers in my front yard. Blue porterweed is knee high all over the place; vinca in various pinks balances it out, the white butterfly bush looks to be thriving, but I've really gone overboard with the yellows: there's the unwanted beach sunflower, the unwanted wedelia from next door; and now I've gone and planted yellow purslane and yellow g.
I kicked myself over the purslane, because it's a retiree's flower, only blooming at high noon when I'm at work.

But it sure is beautiful, spreading so nicely! And come to find out that it's a salad plant, incredibly rich in omega fatty acids or whatever they are!  Supposedly they propagate easily from cuttings.

House 2003

House 2013

March

2022

Get Walter's Viburnum for front of house, left side: https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/nassauco/2017/06/11/fact-sheet-dwarf-walters-viburnum/

2021 

Fertilize citrus and avocado

Prune porterweed:  Cut the shrubs back vigorously in late spring to encourage new summer growth. Throughout the year, you can prune them lightly to maintain an even height and attractive shape

Harvest oak bloom and use as mulch

Cut back all leggy coleus.  The plants by the backdoor lily bed greatly benefited.

2019

In Bloom:  JASMINE!!!

Seedling sadness:  the milkweed grows like there's no tomorrow, but, um, it's called milkweed maybe for a reason.  The other seedlings I ordered in February are struggling.  February must be too late to start plants in Florida.  Plus, I have such a small yard, do I really need two dozen of anything? The cuttings from coleus and polka dot plant are doing fine. I did get a new set of vinca, to 'improve my gene pool'.  

Got a delivery of 2 cubic feet of soil builder from the city, almost $50 bucks.  I thought I would want more when I saw the pile, but now that I've started sharing it out, I may change my mind.  It's great stuff, like real dirt.

Future thought:  How about if I tidy up the neighbor's side yard and take out all my blue porterweed?  They'd never notice.  It would improve my breakfast view.

2018
Have a bed going in the front, meant to be like a REAL flower bed. Also mulching under lemon tree, which seems actually not to be dying. Where to put my flat of Mexican heather?

Started some peppers from the lovely new pepper plant I got at the Saturday morning market. Fingers crossed! It is a beauty:

I added some cockscomb and some Little Sunshine   as well as some mini purple lantanas.  I've tried to propagate the Little Sunshine and it's doing well, as is the lantana.

Green Thumb
I reined myself in and purchased only two plants at Green Thumb this year.  Cristina pointed out that I have quite a lot of purple and lavender already, and she's right: persian shield, purple queen, lantana, lavender itself, and all that Delhi primrose.  

So I bought three milkweeds and some sedum. I like the sedum so much, I'm thinking of plugging it in anywhere it'll be safe from trodding feet. But I purchased it to put at the feet of the tall milkweed; I'm hoping they will group together nicely, in the full sun in the front yard! 

Update: One of the milkweeds has already produced a seed pod, just one week later I've tried planting the seeds from one of them.

March 10, bought two beautiful bamboo graecilis plants from Island's Bamboo in Pinellas Park.  I hope they do well in the shady location where I've placed them. It's wonderful looking out the window at their pretty leafiness. The people at Island's Bamboo were very, very nice, and I saw the fencing of my dreams there -- bamboo framed out in redwood.  Really gorgeous.

2013: They're taller than my house, and the three little stalks in each clump have multiplied so nicely. My window now looks out onto a garden instead of a fence.