Pictures of the Day - 16 - Share your garden, pets, flowers

We came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1059336/

Here we welcome you to share your photos of your garden, flowers, pets, etc.

Jeremy

Mind if I join you all? I could use a mini-vacation.

Well there goes all your bugs.

GG...everything I've read says Neem oil is very effective in combating scale, although I've not tried it my self. and what a beautiful cat Gussers is, looks like a mix of tabby, siamese and maybe a touch of persian, but I'm by no means a feline expert, I'm a dog person myself but I certainly respect cats. the cat in the photo's name is Morgan. he has a most gentle and loving soul, as sweet as he looks!
Jeremy...did that cute gray kitty come to you 'Priority Mail'? all of mine (5) just 'showed up'!
FLStu...best thing I know of for fleas and ticks is a product called 'Comfortis', it's a once a month pill. ask your vet.


here is our father and son team...Pinky and Ringo

what a sweet shot!

Mini vacation/long vacation... Sit and stay awhile...

Darla

threegardeners...what a great idea for a mini-FL virtual vacation WELCOME!!

Welcome to your Florida vacation--tomorrow will be in the 80's so join us in the gardens. I have weeds to pull if you are interested! LOL!

Linda

Beautiful weather, except fog at night!!!

I love pulling weeds! I find it very relaxing. Fog is good too, nothing nicer than driving through a low fog seeing just the tops of trees and cows with no feet. Do you get low fogs down there?

Welcome, 3G! We do occasionally get the low fogs that follow the terrain and stay only a foot or two above ground level. I've done some oil paintings of "legless cows" in a misty pasture in a sort of sepia tone, but I don't think I have any scans of those. Here's a low fog misty lake painting.

Jeremy

a talented fellow you are indeed Jeremy!

GG...wonderful! gotta love those kitties! (I keep forgetting to go to POD 16)
maura


why I don't have much luck growing broccoli!

Beautiful painting!! do you sell them?
LOL on the broccoli.

Woke up to white this morning. This is the highway in front of my house.

Welcome to FL for your vitrual vacation threegardeners.....from the pictures you've posted I certainly can't blame you for fleeing! I've only seen snow 3 times and that was plenty! I couldn't even walk in the stuff and if you set your beer down outside it promptly froze solid....lol! (I couldn't walk in it sober either....lol!)

GG, could your kitty Gussers perhaps be what they call a 'Ragdoll' cat? I was reading about them recently and they seem to have the long, thick fur like he does and their coloring is usually that pretty, soft, muted multi coloring like he has too. Just a thought! Below is Her Highness, Corona, engaged in her favorite sport.

Becky

Brrrrr.......I think I'll stay in Florida! lol

Darla

Darla...you're right! no matter how cold and rainy it gets...it never does that!
maura

If it does, we are in trouble! lol

Darla

Double blooms on Reblooming Bearded Iris "Blatant" opening this morning. Nice scented iris.

Jon

Beautiful, Jon! I've got to get some of the reblooming iris soon. They are really fantastic.

The Paperwhite Narcissus are flowering, so this must be spring. Right?! LOL This is their usual flowering time in my NE Florida garden. The flowers will continue through the end of December into January, then the foliage will last until about May-June when the bulbs go dormant again. The Paperwhites are about the only really dependable traditional spring bulb in my climate. It took them about 3 years after planting to get acclimated to the weather and rebloom after the first year's flowering.

Jeremy

Here's a Giant Milkweed (Calotropis gigantea) that I rooted from the cuttings margaran provided at Linda's (mistressgardner) get-together this past year. Did anyone else have success with rooting the plant? I think I will keep it in the greenhouse until next spring so that it develops a good strong root system, then plant it in the garden next spring.

Jeremy

Zimbabwe Creeper - Podranea ricasoliana A fast-growing vine that flowers profusely at this time of year and throughout the summer in a sunny spot (my Pondranea is in part-shade so it flowers less), but dies back to the ground with the first freeze. It will root wherever a branch touches the ground.

Jeremy

A subtropical combo, for sure -- a lace cap Hydrangea (H. macrophylla 'variegata') interplanted with an elephant ear (Alocasia wentii). They both seem to do well in part-sun (direct sun about 2 hours per day, bright indirect light to light shade the rest of the day) and kept moist without being soggy.

Jeremy

Nice photos Jeremy. A couple months ago I did a little searching for more heat tolerant narcissus. I ordered some "Grand Soleil D'or" Narcissus bulbs, but haven't planted them yet. Apparently they are only hardy in zones 8-10. I ordered a bag of 10 bulbs so we'll have to see how they do/if they bloom down here.

Jon

Hi, Jon. I've tried the standard Soleil D'or previously, but not the Grand Soleil D'or. I had the regular ones come back for several years, but they finally died out. I think I had them in too much shade. I planted a big white standard daffodil last year (I don't remember the cultivar name). The leaves have re-emerged recently, which is promising, but like the Paperwhite Narcissus, it may take the bulb several years to get over "jet lag" from traveling from Holland and to get on a subtropical seasonal schedule (if it continues to survive) by just growing leaves for 3 - 5 years before getting acclimated. I've also had 1 out of about 20 yellow standard Narcissus 'King Alfred' return sporadically over the years. Standard Tulips, of course, are pretty much a lost cause unless they are grown as annuals for one brief period of bloom. Standard Hyacinths do O.K. here. I've got a few that return year after year. I planted Wood Hyacinths last year, but I think the summer sun was too much for them. The same may have been true for Wild Tulips (Tulip sylvestris http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/97390/ ), but it is still early for them to appear so my hope remains. Tulip sylvestris is supposed to grow as far south as Zone 9b, but I'm not sure anyone has informed the tulips of that factoid yet. LOL

Jeremy

Jeremy

Jeremy

immature Little Blue Heron visiting our pond. I'm sure the fish were freaked! didn't see her catch anyone, this time! have a peaceful weekend!
maura

a closer look...

watch out fishies!

wow!! all that green and flowers blooming...birds...sigh..what a great vacation I'm having thanks to you all!!

3gardeners...we'll just visit you in August, when it's 95 degrees in the shade w/ 98% humidity and the hurricanes are breathing down our necks. ahh...what price paradise?
maura

Sunshower Hib

An orange twin beauty!!

Beautiful!

Maura, feel free to visit anytime! This past summer was a cool one, I didn't have to put on a pair of shorts once. Even in a normal summer we can wear shorts during the day but have to change to pants at night.

C'est bon Hib

Another view. They are loving this cooler weather!!!

An Orchid blooming

Love love love the hibiscus photos Rene. Yes, cooler weather can do some beautiful things to the coloration in the hibiscus blooms. Took this picture, on Wednesday, of my Hibiscus "Galaxy Star" blooming with an apparent "sport" bloom. The bloom on the left is what "Galaxy Star" usually looks like. Will have to see if the plant continues to put out "sport" blooms on that branch.

Jon

Very beautiful! Interesting, Jon, that the hibiscus put out a sport branch. I've seen that happen with other highly hybridized plants -- like 'Knockout' roses that send out a branch with flowers of one of the parent plants or a mixture of pink and white in some flowers of what should be pink 'Knockout' blooms.

Here's my au naturale southwest corner of my yard (and those of you that have seen my garden are probably asking how is this different from any other corner of my garden? LOL). The birds and critters love it, but I suppose I will finally get around to planting it someday.

Jeremy

There's nothing wrong with just letting it go "au naturale" Jeremy. It's nice to have several different "looks" within your property.

Dear Jeremy,
Pull out that virginia creeper invasive vine. I know it has pretty red color, but the seeds, vines, and roots go everywhere, they are not welcome in our yard. Sometimes it takes two doses or round-up to finish them off.

But I do recommend the philodendron that climbs up our oak tree. Strange thing has small leaves when it crawls on the ground, and then when it climbs a tree, wow, huge leaves. Sorry the frost usually lays it back, but the stems survive and recover during the summer heat.