Neighbours talking over the garden gate has long been a tradition. They share gardening tips, complain about the weather and pests yet are ever eager to discuss their gardens. That is what I had in mind when creating this blog. So stop by my garden gate to find out the latest happenings in my garden.
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
"All my life through, the new sights of Nature made me rejoice like a child." ~ Madame Marie Curie"
This is a brief break in our vacation gardening photos just to let you know that life continues in the garden even during the winter. Last year we did not get the snowfall we needed during the winter and as expected the growing season was not as good as it could have been. This year has been a bit different. While we were away during most of the month of December we had a couple of snowstorms with good accumulation. We arrived home the end of the first week in January. Since then we have had a few more snowstorms with good accumulation. This is very promising as to a good growing season to come!
My gosh, we woke to the most beautiful winter wonderland this morning! We received about 11 cm over night coating the grounds in sparkling white and glistening diamonds. It continued with a fine, misty snow most of the day. It looks like it will be a very good growing season if this keeps up!
Theme parks are full of ideas that can be scaled down for use in the home garden. A waterfall is always a welcomed addition to any home garden water feature. Pictured is a larger waterfall at Busch Gardens that could easily be scaled down for the home garden. It's it lovely?
When we first visited the resort where we ended up buying a vacation home I thought the cutesy warning signs about not feeding or antagonizing the alligators were meant to add a bit of humour. By the end of that first trip in 2009 I realized the alligators were very much real. We bought in March of 2010 but didn't see our new vacation home until May that year. During that time period we had a lot of opportunities to see alligators in and around our resort. Gators for the most part will ignore humans providing they haven't been feed and aren't provoked. My husband has been rather close to a few gators on the golf course and since our resort is filled with numerous good sized ponds, gators are a very common sight. I've managed to get a lot of great photos and videos of gators from the safety of the golf cart and car. Those in our community with houses backing onto these ponds have been told they should not feed the gators. This of course brings in a whole new element to gardening especially for those homes on the ponds. As you can see from this photo taken at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida alligators are rather large beasts. The largest in our resort is about 8 feet long so that's a good sized gator. They can out run a human running a straight line but I'm not about to test that theory out.
As we were wandering through Busch Gardens I couldn't help but notice the Powder Puff Plant (Calliandra haematocephala). The leaves reminded me of Mimosa (sensitive fern) so I just had to touch them. They don't fold up like Mimosa does but they were still quite pretty. The Powder Puff Plant was planted to form a barrier between the walking paths and inner workings of the park so used as camouflage or privacy screening. The plant is grown for its flower heads that are long red stamens blooming in winter. The plant is drought and somewhat cold tolerant making it another plant to consider for our new gardens if we move.
Happy Gardening!
During our visit to Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida I noticed the effective use of bamboo as a living screen and bamboo sticks as camouflage screening. Bamboo grows quickly and rather tall making it ideal for use as a living privacy screening not only from side views but also views from taller adjacent buildings. It can help as a sound barrier as well. There are even cold hardy bamboo varieties that will withstand harsher winter conditions. Bamboo grows from rhizomes so has a spreading tendency that can become invasive so it is best to use some type of containment to keep the plant from spreading too much.
Bamboo sticks can be used to camouflage an ugly chain-link fence or even the side of a building to give a more natural look in the garden. Pictured is a camouflaged tall chain-link fence surrounding a construction site at Busch Gardens. I thought it was a nice solution that gave a nice feel while hiding the mess of the construction from visitors. If you look closely between the bamboo sticks and the chain-link fence you can see a thin mesh material that was used to reduce visibility through any gaps left by the bamboo sticks. I really liked the overall effect! In the home garden this type of screening would be easy to duplicate. It could be softened further by using the screen to support flowering vines.
I was totally amazed at the intricate topiaries at Busch Gardens. They were massive! This giraffe topiary was true to life size. It must take a lot of work to keep these topiaries looking as nice as they do. Aren't they impressive?
The one thing I've noticed is cacti seem to be a plant of choice in home gardens where our vacation home is located. We have an agave catus with several babies in our front garden there. I've been looking for other cacti that will do well there. This impressive cactus caught my attention at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida. I will have to find out the name of it.
I was amazed at the details that the arborists were able to create on the many large topiaries at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida. All of the detail comes from the effective use of the placement of the plants used followed by the meticulous maintenance to keep the topiaries at their prime. The topiaries are just so impressive, don't your think?
Arbors are a traditional way of providing support for climbing plants while providing a shady spot to sit or walk. In urban settings they are often used as part of the entrance to the garden complete with a small gate. Home gardeners use them grow grapes or other vining plants while landscapers and homeowners often use arbors to create natural shading on patios and decks.
We walked under an impressive arbor covering a good stretch of pathway at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida. The arbor was a simple series of arched supports with wood slats attached. Unfortunately it was not as shady as it would be during the summer months as it was winter when we visited. This arbor would be extremely easy to duplicate on a smaller scale in the home garden using a series of pvc supports similar to building a garden hoop house.
During the first trip we made to Busch Gardens in December, I took a picture of this gorgeous yellow flower. Hurrying to catch up to the others I neglected to take a picture of the tag but I was sure I knew what the flower was so wasn't too worried. Going through the pictures to edit some of them for my blogs I was sure I knew the flower but the name continued to be tucked safely in the recesses of my mind. Thanks to the the Florida Botanical Gardens website I was able to identify the flower as Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia reginae). The funny thing is I knew it was something to do with birds and all that kept popping into my mind was 'parrot'. The boat shaped bracts hold orange or white sepals and a blue tongue resembling birds. Isn't it unique?
Happy Gardening!
Bush Gardens has many fine examples of large topiaries. All of them are quite impressive to say the least. It is amazing how the arborist uses a combination of various plants to create the desired effect in the finished topiary. This huge butterfly topiary was near the pond with all of the California flamingoes and tucked back far enough to prevent getting closer to. Isn't is simply gorgeous?
Continuing on with sharing a few pictures of our visiting Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida here is a picture of a gorgeous Gardenia with the information tag. I mentioned that many of the plant species within the park had information tags. Each tag gives the common and scientific name as well as a few details about the plant. The Gardenia (Gardenia augusta) is an evergreen shrub that presents masses of fragrant white flowers in April and May. It is a member of the coffee family. Gardenia is somewhat drought and cold trolerant. It prefers full sun to part shade. This shrub would be an ideal addition to our vacation home garden! Hiding behind the trunk of the Gardenia is one of the many birds that frequent the gardens hoping to be fed by visitors.
Visiting these types of parks can be very informative for the home gardener. It is difficult to picture what a mature plant, shrub or tree will look like from a picture in a book or online. More importantly is is difficult to gauge the mature size. Quite often a home gardener will plant a tree or shrub only to find out it is too big for the intended location when it reaches maturity.
It is rather slow on the garden front here in the blistery north so I thought I would share a few gardening related pictures with you from our recent vacation in the sunny south. As mentioned yesterday we enjoyed visiting Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida twice. The grounds in this amusement part are amazing! While there are rides there are also various exhibits where you can interact with or get closer to the large variety of animals. In addition to the exhibits you can take a free train ride around the park or you can get up close and personal to the wild game via a safari tour.
The kangaroo and wallaby exhibit has several of each on one side with a wooden fence set up so visitors can feed them. Meadering through the exhibit is this gorgeous little naturalized stream conplete with waterfalls, home to waterfowl, fish and several species of plants. This type of stream but on a smaller scale is something home gardeners to easily add as a water feature in their gardens. Isn't it pretty?
We left the chilly north on December 8 to stay mainly at our vacation home in the sunny south, returning north January 9. During that time we made two visits to Busch Gardens. While this is an amusement park it very much has a garden setting. Many of the plantings have name tags that I found quite useful. It's nice to be able to see the actual plant for future identification.
I was quite impressed with the huge lion topiary waiting to greet visitors to the park. Isn't he majestic? I can't imagine how much work goes into keeping him trimmed. I would love to try my hand at topiary. I've tried to find a wire frame for reindeer like those used for Christmas decorating but without the lights. So far I have been unsuccessful so I might have to buy the ones for Christmas and strip them of their lights. This project is on my to do list for my new garden once we move. Hopefully the house will sell soon so I have ample spring to work on the new garden beds.
If you have been following this blog you will know we bought a vacation home last year giving me the opportunity to garden in two very different hardiness zones. It has meant learning about various critters that visit our southern garden. There are venomous snakes and spiders there so it is important to identify these types of visitors to avoid possible bites.
We had one of our friends and his 8 year old visiting us. A couple of days after they left and our kids were visiting, we pulled into the driveway where I spotted what I thought was a hair band the little one had dropped. I instinctively bent down to pick up the hair band then stopped short to take a better look. While the hair band was still, I noticed a orangey red band. There was a slight movement then the hair band uncurled to reveal a small! Pictured is the baby ringneck snake sunning himself in the warmth of the sun on our driveway. He was about 3 - inches long.
Ringneck snakes are common harmless, beneficial snakes in Florida. They feed on earthworms, slugs, small skinks, lizards and tiny frogs. As with any snake they may bite if cornered but it is non-toxic to people. Ringneck snakes are sociable so they are usually found with other ringneck snakes. They reach a length of about 2 feet at maturity. Newly hatched ringneck snakes are prey for large spiders and centipedes.
Ringneck snakes have a rather unusual defensive trait. When disturbed the turn upside down displaying their orangy red underside upwards in a curled fashion. It could be the orangy red colouration serves as a visual warning to predators that they may be distasteful or poisonous. It could be just a camoflauge method for prey to trick them into thinking the snake is already dead very similar to how an opossum plays dead to avoid predation. The ringneck snake also releases a foul-smelling odour to defend against predators. If playing dead and the odour doesn't work the snake will viciously bite.
Palm trees are quite common at our vacation home. I love them! They are rather majestic looking. We will be shopping for palm trees our next trip to our vacation home. To my understanding palm trees are not without problems though. The first problem we discovered is they attract palmetto bugs. These huge and rather ugly bugs also known as the American cockroach are more annoying than anything else especially when they get in the house, and they do. The second thing I have noticed is palm trees look to be higher maintenance although that might just be from what we've seen. The large, lower fonds die off then need to removed to encourage the tree to grow upwards. It is likely no more work trimming hedges except when the trees get taller reaching the lower fonds.
I had high hopes of planting an orange tree at our vacation home during our visit but the hopes of that were dashed. It was unseasonably cold with several days of morning frost, not the kind of weather for planting trees. My orange tree will have to wait until our next visit. That's ok though as I have a lot of plans for our vacation home garden. I'm not impressed with the mulch we used so by then I will have a better idea of what I want to use. Several homes are using larger stones as mulch. This looks nice so might be one idea. I'm off do do a bit of research for our vacation home garden plans.
My gosh, we have been at our vacation home throughout the holiday season. Unfortunately it has been unseasonably cold here with frost several mornings. Folks had their plants wrapped in sheets and quilts to protect them from the frost. Our casualty was a potted poinsettia but other than that the gardens weren't harmed. Here's to another great year of gardening at both of our homes!
I am a wife, mother and grandma who enjoys the many aspects of homemaking. A variety of interests and hobbies combined with travel keep me active. They reflect the importance of family, friends, home and good food.
in Tampa, Florida I noticed the effective use of bamboo as a living screen and bamboo sticks as camouflage screening. Bamboo grows quickly and rather tall making it ideal for use as a living privacy screening not only from side views but also views from taller adjacent buildings. It can help as a sound barrier as well. There are even cold hardy bamboo varieties that will withstand harsher winter conditions. Bamboo grows from rhizomes so has a spreading tendency that can become invasive so it is best to use some type of containment to keep the plant from spreading too much. 
