In My Backyard...

Memories of our chilly winter are still fresh in my mind! I'm not sure how many times our fountain froze, but it was several! Even though we lost a few plants from the freezing weather, our yard has recovered nicely, and most everything looks prettier than ever!

Back in January...Brrr

Every morning, weather permitting, I take a walk in the backyard. It's quiet and peaceful, and I enjoy seeing what's blooming and how the plants and flowers are doing. It's also the perfect time to pull a few weeds and do a little pruning!

Welcome to my garden! Here are some of the flowers that are currently blooming.

This is a view from our patio. Bill has placed three bird feeders in our backyard. We enjoy bird watching and seeing the migratory birds return each year along with the birds that are here year around. There are bougainvillea and verbena on the patio along with some hibiscus, mandevilla and milkweed. Salvia and wild petunias are blooming in the background.

The Coral Honeysuckle has lots of blooms this year. We frequently see hummingbirds on the flowers and birds eating the red berries. Timmy, our backyard tortoise, also likes the flowers!
This is a wonderful native vine!

Impatients love this shady spot in the window box!

Echinacea (PowWow Wild Berry Coneflower)

Pentas, Egyptian Star Flower

Sun Parasol Mandevilla

Hello from Timmy! There is yellow lantana planted by his home.

Mophead Hydrangea

Lacecap Hydrangea (Blue Billow)

Tequila Yellow Hibiscus

Jane Cowel Hibiscus

Cat's Whiskers

Salvia Mystic Spires

Cosmos, Salvia, Milkweed, Rain Lilies, Hydrangea

Here are some butterflies that have been fluttering around!

Queen on Milkweed

Monarch on Cosmo

Pearl Crescent on Cosmo

And last, but certainly not least, here's Tipper supervising from the porch!

Hope you are having a wonderful week! Happy gardening!

Bobbie

July 2017 Recap

Birthdays, Rainy Summer Days, Bill's Tomatoes, Butterflies, Flowers and a  Cloud Painted Ceiling 


Celebrating Our Granddaughter's Birthday...
In early July, we celebrated Grace's tenth birthday in Crystal River at Charlie's Fish House.  She is now in the double digits, and it just doesn't seem possible!  We had a wonderful meal and the waitresses even sang "Happy Birthday" to Grace as they were bringing her some Key Lime pie! She was thrilled! Grace and Brian, Jr. were so excited to see tarpon swimming in the river from the restaurant's deck. It's amazing how huge the tarpon get! Grace is a very smart young lady! She is looking forward to 5th grade! Grace plays soccer and received a trophy for being "the most improved" on her team this year!  We are very proud of her! She also loves the Florida Gators! What a fun time we had!

Rainy summer days...

June and July  brought a lot of rain to Gainesville.  Our pond had completely dried up prior to June, and we were officially in a drought.  In fact, June 2017 was the rainiest month on record in Gainesville! Our pond now has water, and the frogs and crickets are making their way back! Haven't seen any gators...yet!

Bill's Tomatoes...

My husband, Bill, has been raising tomatoes this summer. It has been really nice to step outside and pick vine-ripened tomatoes!  They are so delicious and are much better than the ones at the grocery store! One of my favorites ways to eat tomatoes is to have a tomato sandwich.  So good!!

July's Butterflies and Blossoms...

Cassius Blue on Tropical Salvia - These tiny butterflies usually keep their wings closed, so it's always a treat to see the beautiful blue color on their open wings!  They are one of my favorites! Plumbago is one of the host plants for this beautiful butterfly. 

The exotic Passion Flower Vine is the host plant for the beautiful orange Gulf Fritillary as well as the Zebra Longwing. The Zebra Longwing is the state butterfly for Florida! 

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - Last week, I discovered this Eastern Tiger Swallowtail puddling for several minutes, and it didn't seem to mind my camera or me being so close by! Puddling is when a butterfly drinks water and/or extracts salt and minerals from mud puddles with taste receptors on their feet. It is usually the male butterflies that take part in puddling. 

Lady Bugs - I'm always happy to see Lady Bugs in the garden!  They eat the aphids on the milkweed and there have been a lot of aphids this summer!

Flowers in the garden - Red and White Mandevilla, Tropical Salvia and Coral Nymph Salvia, Shrimp Plant and White Perwinkle

Lunch with my sister...

My sister and I had lunch recently at Pomodoro Cafe. One of my favorite things about this restaurant (along with their delicious salads and Italian food) is the painted clouds on the ceiling in their main dining room. Isn't it beautiful! 

Thanks for reading! Hope you have a great August!

Take care,

Bobbie