Still too hot to spend much time in the garden.  Tuesday, I had to lop off a large 9' limb due to storm damage.  Before I cut it up to take to the dump, I decided that it was 'architectually interesting'.  I admired so many fallen limbs covered in airplants on our trip to Costa Rica, that I decided this would be mine.  It fits perfectly in a bed I've been working on for several months.  As fate would have it, the day after I placed it, I saw a half dozen good sized airplants (that had…

Birds are amazing creatures.  For the last two mornings I've observed both a mockingbird and a set of cardinals.  They hunt through the flowers in the butterfly garden searching for the fat monarch caterpillars that love the milkweed plants.  Once they find one, they carry it over to the stepping stones, and proceed to smack the little worm onto the hard surface, over and over again until is pulverized into a soft encased pulp which they can swallow down.  Amazing!

I was looking through some old photos of my gardening projects.  I came across this project my daughter and I worked on together in 2007.  Following an article from Better Homes & Gardens, we cast several large leaves from our garden into concrete.  I wanted to be able to stick them into the ground around our pond, so bought some 'Martha Stewart' double tonged garden marker stakes - and stuck them into the bottom of the concrete so they would dry in place.  After a couple days,…

A little surprise this afternoon - walked out to my backyard and out of the corner of my eye - not 3 feet away came a red fox, about as large as a medium sized dog! He didn't seem to mind me much just watched for awhile and then slipped into the greenery. At least he did not seem aggressive.  We've been seeing more of them in our urban neighborhood.   My only hope is that they don't become a bigger nuisance than the racoon that tore through…

I love this time of year.  So many of the flowers are in bloom around my yard. Favorites include the 'Starburst' as well as the many orchids in pots and/or trees around our yard.  We had sod laid in a few areas and it's taken root and looks so much nicer.  The round paver stones I put in several months ago have worked out great.  Enjoy my new photos from Garden Views January 2012!