My cluttered shade house

I have been trying to upload this video for the past two days and finally it has been uploaded. This is what my shade house looks like. Many of the plants are propagated for landscaping and for my plant sales. I wasn't able to upload the audio but hopefully I will be able to do so the next time.

what's in season

Malay apple, pommerac, wax apple, french cashew

Pa louis mango no threads the sweetest mango in my garden and the smell is so distinctive

Irwin mango very few threads, and a joy to eat. It is large, very fleshy and has a small flat seed

Julie mango another very sweet mango with soft flesh, I just slice it and scoop it out with a spoon

golden apple, otaheite apple, java plum, pommecythere

star fruit, carambola, five fingers

west indian lime

I will soon be harvesting many varieties of fruit from my garden. Some of them I will make juices, pickles, chutneys, jams and preserves. I have three lime trees that are all heavily laden. I dumped many last year so this year I will to try to sell some to the super market. Will let you know the outcome.

Bloomin' Friday

 

double pink oleander

single pink oleander

yellow flamboyant (delonix regia) I grew this from seed and this is the first time flowering. There will not be many blooms for the first but many more will come in the next few years.

red flamboyant (delonix regia) just starting to bloom

variegated crinum lily

pink crinum lily

pink orchid tree (bauhinia)

nelumbo lotus changeable

cherry jubilee alamanda

It is very hot and it is the beginning of the hurricane season. My garden needs some rain and I hope that it comes soon. This is the time many plants and trees begin to explode with colour. The flamboyant is just beginning to bloom and in another month it will be covered with flowers. As I am writing this post I am hearing rain, whopppeeee my plants will be very happy. Hope it lasts for a few hours or the day. My mind is calm, now that I know my plants are being watered by the gods. Yippeee horraay for the rain! Meems I will now get to work on your rain. LOL

This will make you smile, cry and dance at the same time

YouTube - Centraal Station Antwerpen gaat uit zijn dak!

Spread the joy there is too little today

Another day on the job

Albert Greenberg water lilies
pond before tidying up

pond after tidying up

On Wednesday I went to tidy up the plants in a clients pond, remember the pond where I installed water lilies at the end of January this year? I started at 0725 am and finished at 12.00 noon. It was hot work. I had fertilized them a month ago and I was amazed at the size of the flowers and leaves. I took out 8 medium sized garbage bags of spent plant material. These plants will need fertilizing in another 2 to 3 weeks or so hopefully longer for my back's sake LOL.

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yellow yellow you kiss a fellow

dwarf alamanda

dancing ladies orchids dancing away from this perch

showers of gold , thryallis, (galphimia glauca)

yellow mandevilla

oxalis spiralis

My coreopsis sometimes quite moody, has decided to put on a pretty good show this year. This is an old time favorite for me and is seldom seen and used by local landscapers. They make a lovely tight green border when not in bloom.

Yellow flowers are having a grand showing this month in the garden including this day lily in the day lily bed that has flowered every year for the past 5 years.

My visit with Meems

While in central Florida we ( my mum, daughter and I) took the opportunity to meet up with Meems from hoe and shovel. I was elated to meet a fellow garden blogger. My mum an avid gardener like me( the apples didn't fall far from the tree) fell in love with her garden. Her most favorite was the veggie garden. The veggie garden is the envy of many gardeners. The garden still managed to look beautiful even though there was a drought on. Her garden with its soft flowing curves had a gentle and peaceful air about it. Her beautiful oak trees were under planted with an array of colourful plants, grasses and shrubs, some of which I grow in my garden.

We were treated to a deliciously prepared lunch by Meems, with many of the veggies and salad greens from her garden. Meems made the best zucchini muffins I have ever tasted....wish I had taken a few back with me. Meems you heard me ....so when you come to visit I will put in an order for sure. I also met Marie a very sweet friend of Meems, who though not a gardener like us, has caught the infectious bug.

Meems thank you for a lovely lunch and visit I will always remember with fondness. And guess what folks ...the rains came after the visit. So peoples if any of you want some rain you know who to call LOL.

My visit to Disney part 2

We checked into the hotel ....a real deal I found on the net. We were going to stay 2 nights in a triple room. The room smelt a bit musty when we first got in and Lauren wanted to know what kinda cheap hotel I booked them into. I said that is because the ac was off so she quickly turned it on. We were tired and hungry. So we hopped into the car to find some food not knowing there was a not so bad restaurant in the lobby.

We passed a couple of places but they looked empty so we choose one that had several customers. I remember reading somewhere that restaurants that are empty are usually providers of bad food. Huh...... that was certainly not the case...we had to choose one that had the worst food.

We forced the food down and left to go to find a toothbrush for me. I then remembered that I didn't bring any pajamas. We found a Walmart and headed for the ladies department. My mother who loves to shop went her way and I went looking for some PJ's. Found two I liked...Lauren was showing me some that I couldn't wear in the garden at home without being arrested for indecent exposure. I declined and choose some really colourful cotton ones that no one will really know that I slept in them.....just in case some one visited while I was garden or a quick trip to the supermarket. Lauren is horrified that I go into my garden in the early mornings in my PJ's. I once went to the supermarket in a pair that didn't look like PJ's and Lauren didn't let me live that down. I told her that no knew except except for us and that I have seen badly dressed women at the supermarket all the time especially tourist with very skimpy wear so I'll fit in.

We got back to the hotel around midnight and got ready for bed. The musty room smell had gone so we settled down for the night. Lauren and I shared a bed while my mum Miss Rose (we all call her that) had one to herself. I unpacked our pillows that came all the way from Illinois with me.....no wonder I had no room for PJ's. I told everyone that we are going to make an early start in the morning.

Amaranthus molten fire...this is a got to get plant for me!

Next day we had breakfast at IHOP and made our way to Epcot. We arrived there without mishap and collected our tickets. Now my real reason for going to Epcot was the garden festival that was taking place and also a treat for Lauren and my mum who had never been.

Well The flowering plants and trees at Epcot were breathtaking! I have never been surrounded by so many colourful plants and trees. We visited many of the exhibits which included a boat ride to the back garden of Disney. There they were growing fruits and veggies in soil less medium. Some were growing in sand, I saw a 10 pound lemon, a tomato tree on a trellis, lettuce grown hydroponically and vertical gardening. My camera batteries died on me so I only got one picture of the vanilla orchid. We were told that many of the veggies were used in the restaurants at Disney. We had lunch and then proceeded to visit more exhibits.









Later it started raining, drizzling then a downpour. It stopped for a while and we hurried to visit more science exhibits. Lauren and I rode a segway...those two wheeled things that you stand on and they just move.... actually we each had an instructor. It was all about your balance and it was very easy once you got the hang of it.


It was still raining so we decided to wait it out. We planned on visiting the International countries exhibits...I wanted to see their gardens. It rained and rained and rained. We sat for nearly three hours waiting for the rain to end . Finally at 7.00 pm we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel. Now Orlando had no rain for three months........only until I arrived. What a drag......anyway we had another day.