Replacements

Last year's gaillardia = blanket flower produced sterile seed (what kind was that anyway?) and only one of the sprawling plants came back. I like this replacement. The Meyer lemon tree bit the dust. Only the wild growth beneath the graft came back with a vengeance. The new guy on the block is still tiny: a sambokan lemon.Our Chinese fan palm was successfully set on its way to plant heaven by "you know who you are." I managed to finish it off. Now, its spot is graced by a calamondin orange which grows as a bush and is supposed to survive temperature drops if we believe one book or will die if we believe another book. Calamondins become marmalade.
Calamondin oranges are more sour than lemons. I was secretly declared insane by the nursery owner who ordered the plant for me. Secretly because she is a Southerner who would never ever make impolite remarks to anybody's face.

Broadhead Skink

Broadhead skinks are the largest skinks in the southeast. This guy, in a J-town backyard, was 10 inches long. Mouse over title for a description of skinks.

Bald Eagles

Neigbor Linda Bork took this picture right here in Legacy off Meandering Trails.

 

In the Courtyard (2)

My friend's Magi amaryllis thrives in the courtyard and has the most gorgeous red of all the amaryllis I have ever had (and killed). This is the first amaryllis that has ever survived a winter in my care.Our blue water lily has courageously sent up a bloom as well.The creeping red cat's tail in the forefront loves its place. We hope that the red hibiscus will do just as well.
So far, our coconut palm (at the left) has survived all cold spells unscathed. I wonder when it will explode out of its clay pot.The dwarf cavendish bananas tasted delicious but not better than storebought bananas. Both plants sent up multiple pups after we told them that we would replace them with a better banana.We planted our Schefflera in the ground. It was given to us by our realtor 30 years ago when we bought the NJ house. At that time, it was small in a planter with several other green stuff that has since gone to plant heaven. If I hadn't cut it back regularly, it would have swallowed our house several times over. At one time, it bloomed and had blue berries which became so messy that I cut off the blooms the following year.The areca palm and the variegated ginger are in bloom. The christmas cactus turned red in the Florida sun - it sits in shade most of the day and under a screen!

In the Courtyard (1)

I added two planters and filled them with the caladium that had struggled last year when it was exposed to the constant wind in the backyard.To lighten up the dark red, I added lime green ipomea and white impatiens.
The ipomea will be cascading down on the sides of the planters - that's the idea. It grew luxuriously in NJ before our resident groundhog gnawed it down to the nub in one single night.

Osprey

Remember the bald eagle nest I thought I had seen? Actually they are ospreys which also have a white underside.
Reinhold made these spectacular shots. Do not copy his photos from my blog. I made them smaller than usual anyway.

Behind our Home

Hot lips salviaNative ground orchid whose name fell victim to a senior moment
Beefy gaillardia is barely able to survive its native conditions.
Our lonicera sempervirens did its Latin name pround by blooming throughout all cold and drought cycles (coral honeysuckle).
Our new neighbors planted a loquat tree in 'our' corner, delicious fruit. You see the back of their house.Our canary date palm grows a new set of fronds while the dried out oldest ones rustle in the wind.