Very beautiful, Jim! I can see some delightfully relaxing evenings in your future!

I just love the up-lighting under your magnificent palms. We have a whole bunch of Malibu lights here to up- light our oak trees, but sadly they've never worked as long as we've lived in this house.

I have tried solar lights and low voltage lights from Home Depot only to have them stop working and rust in place before my eyes. Enough of that. These are high quality LED lights that come with a warranty. They produce little if any heat so will not be of benefit on cold nights.

Jim

I have the same experience. Too bad the lights won't make any heat, though. But that will keep the power bill down for sure.

Gotta say, Jim, (and I know it's just the low light etc.) the thumbnail of that picture of your fountain looks like a really scary jack-o-lantern. I kept going back to it and finally saw what was wierd about it. Hallowe'en hangover . . ?

funny, Elaine!

Jim, nice lighting! I'm Thinking there may be some orchids that are light sensitive, and may not go into a blooming cycle if disturbed by night lights. Even the brightest moon does not stay fixed like the lights will. Just which one, I can't remember.

Spring flowering Catts....

Thanks, Ursula. BTW, I want to get started on the Baptistonia group of Oncidiums. I believe SBOE has them or some of them. I see where there may be as few as 22 assigned to Baptistonia from other sections recently. Because of my conditions inside I'm thinking a wood 4 in basket instead of mounting, or putting the mount plant and all in the basket to help maintain humidity. Or just wait until spring to order any. But I don't want to miss the winter blooms. Are they hard to find?

It's time to say good night to my Amorphophallas. The decorative but soft canes have doubled over and started to rot. I used a wallboard knife to cut them up and all are in bags awaiting the trash pickup tomorrow. Next up is the big stink in the spring.

Jim

Phew! I must admit the foliage really is lovely. But I couldn't live with the stinky part. Don't your neighbors ever ask you if you've been burying the bodies again, Jim?

I love the foliage on that Amorphophallus! Mine ( konjac) went dormant about a month ago. No blooms this Spring, the numerous new corms were still a bit small, so maybe next year.
You know, the stink is fairly short lived, it is only a couple of days when the female blooms are open - correct, Jim?

Yes, Ursula, you are correct. Mine is usually just a one night dead, rotting cow event. By the time the Home Owner's Association tracks it down, it's over.

Jim

They still might suspect you are a serial cow killer, though. "Funny, every full moon in spring, that guy has this . . smell around his house . . . "

very funny, Elaine!!

We just came back from our place in Pennsy, we started up the house for our hunter friends as the Deer hunting season starts tomorrow. The house was nice and cozy as we "handed it over".
Did a bit of Christmas shopping yesterday, that was really fun.
The place managed to get ca 9 inches of snow, when we in Fair Lawn had that inch of slush this week.
We took a walk this morning, it was very pretty and so I had to shoot some Winter pictures for you all living in warmer regions.

So pretty, and wintry. But I like the summer pictures better . . . shivering just looking at that snow.

I love the snow pictures as it reminds my of my youth. We have 74 crystal clear degrees here so the OC windows are wide open.

Jim

I just got lost in your pics, especially of the tree lined road. Thx, we will see a little snow but it's usually gone by the time I find my winter clothes.