David - get the barrels & I'll come down & assemble them for you!!!! I'm waiting for my friend (with a truck) to have a free day so we can go & pick up a load of barrels. Have 3 & would like at least 3 more.

So bright & sunny out this AM but gosh is that wind chilly!!!!! And back yard is still swampy so won't be moving dirt & planting till tomorrow.

Now you know I would never expect that from you Jean! It was an incredibly gracious offer though! I'll get around to them someday though.

It was chilly this morning, but what a day!

Spent most of the day over the long arm machine doing a Harley themed charity quilt. OY!!!!! But it was nice enuf to have the studio door open & fresh air blowing in. Quilt still not done but don't have to have it done till Sat AM. Need some inspiration for quilting the center. I'll sleep on it.

So looking forward to playing in the dirt tomorrow.

to the Harley quilt!

You are now officially a Florida Gal! Hmmmmmm..... maybe a skull with flames radiating from it with a harley sheild for the mouth;.........and then embroider a toothy looking "Harley Davidson" in the rectangular area over the shield!

Just my first thought.............you'll figure out whats right!

I am definitely looking forward to seeing what you do with that Quilt!!!!!!!!!! It sounds like a great creative challenge!

David, you inspired me to buy a big pot of Blue-eyed grass today at HD. No idea whatsoever as to where I'm going to plant it, but it's just so pretty!

Here's one of my Giant Granadilla flowers 'way up in the bamboo stand. Took the first shot with the telephoto, and the second shot zoomed out to show a long shot as per your requirements for this thread. The flower is in the very top left corner of the shot. Third one is my supervisor, Mia.



This is a shot of my little lychee tree in full bloom. Last one, a view down the east side of the house outside the fence. That is all one huge oak tree. My neighbor mows the weeds along this side and across the front for me. I give him free well water in return, a true win-win!

Great shot of that blooming Lychee (Litchi). I have proposed it for the database.

It will take mine a loooong time to get there if it ever does.

I love your Jungle and its Fluffy King!

I'm going to plant the Lychee in the area behind the greenhouse and in front of the back plants and trees here. That spot actually gets great sun during the whole middle of the day. The pictures show the area.

Actually I hit finish to fast. This picture shows the area better.

Elaine - how did my cat get into your picture????? Shaleigh beastie looks just like that when she puffs up.

I'd love a Lychee but have no where to put it where it would be protected enough. And we get a good bit cooler than David does in town.
Jean my SIL quilts also. Her business is actually called Longarm Quilting.

Cat's like hanging out in the garden. Mine is always sleeping in the greenhouse on chilly days. Nice and warm.

My gardens are a combination of woodland ( that's code for a combination of planned, native and weeds)
and "cultured") ( that's code for actually getting the weeds out and mulching etc.)

Ok...here's my mess.

This first pic is of the area between our main barn and the riding arena from the driveway.


These two show a little closer. The bed on the right hasn't been touched yet. The Bed on the far left has been weeded and new mulch put down.
I did a major clean out and thinned and pulled out a few things that were in the ground. Some things in pots set there for now for "review"




This is a close up of the beds on the left.



So that's it for now. I'll post more pics as I can.

Looks lovely, Mj, I park pots like that for 'review' too. Find them a year later engulfed in foliage, right? Still it's a good way to find the right spot for things. Thanks, Hetty, they accepted my lychee shot, and now I have another, a closeup of the flowers that I'll put in as well.

Mine's more of a jungle than a woodland. This is another shot of the east side of our house, but inside the fence. Gravel pathway winds through the jungle under that huge oak (in my last pic above). Once I get someone to help, it will be cleared out a lot and you'll be able to see the color amongst the palms and huge tree Philos along that side - for a while at least .. . . I have fancy leaf begonias, caladiums, ground orchids and other surprises like P. Prince of Orange (in his red phase) to spark the green mess to look like a garden.

Beds filled with potting mix....
now I need to mow the front yard.
need to change into warm weather clothes................

What a great space MJ, and LOTS of it! It looks like the 40 acres where I grew up and Dad still is in Ormond off 40. You'll never not have a place for a new plant!

Elaine, your yard looks the stage set for Gilligan's Island and Love it!

Good Morning!

I've decided to put in a rose garden on the far side of the house. Also a trellis/pergola & seating. But, that will be a Fall/next Spring.

Nah, David, Gilligan's Island was much tidier than my garden is. I am managing to uncover the edges of the pathways again, now that the oak trees are nearly finished dropping their yearly bounty of leaves, pollen and crappy sticky little brown flowers. I even took the leaf blower up on the roof so all those ones up there wouldn't blow down and cover everything again. The whole roof was a carpet of little brown flowers. Phew!

Those little flower thingies stick to the cat like velcro, and she comes in looking like a coconut macaroon sometimes. Naturally she lays down on the walkway just beyond where the leaf blower ran out of electrons.

Smells good around here with these guys in bloom, and the pinwheel jasmine vine out front, too.

I pulled my still dead looking Passion Vine out of the pot yesterday. The roots look alive & healthy. Dumped out part of the dirt, added new soil & put it back in along with a deep red Mandavilla (jumped in my cart at WM) & Moses-in-a-cradle (that is coming back after the freeze).

Also got all 30+ tomato plants either in the ground or in 5 gal buckets. DH was a real doobie coming out to help me yesterday.

Today the seeds go in the ground................while I wait for the glass guys to come & replace my windshield!!!! Still have to move 2 small piles of weeds. Backyard is starting to look "Presentable"!!!!!!

Thats a pretty special Passiflora Elaine!

With other work and projects its taking me forever it seems to feel I'm getting to "presentable" here Jean.

Good morning!

I'm not sure 'presentable' is even in my sights for now. I have to settle for 'passable' as in you can actually walk around the house without a machete in your hand.

However it's always interesting around here.

I know the feeling. Even though we don't live in a restricted hoa (small type for uninterest. it looks weird that way! )type area, I think about trying to blend sort of to make things prettier for the neighborhood. If it weren't for that, all I would have would be pathways through the woods and a machete would pave the way as my gardening tool of choice. I need to live rural again. A dirt road half an acre in and my next door neighbor an acre through the woods on a pathway!

I am still considered a jungle compared to my neighbors now.........

LOL...David, That's about how we are out here. One plus miles on a gravel/dirt/mud road from the paved road. Every parcel out here is at least 10 acres. I can barely see my neighbor thru the tree's, and that's if I try hard..

This bed just needs a bit of straighting up, and a bit of mulch. Hopefully this weekend.
It's a huge clump of Salvia Hot Lips....


And this is my "back yard"