How does your garden grow?

Peaches !Over run with 'em..why must they all ripen at once?

Belle always helps water the plants...

This hummingbird vine is taking over the porch again..Bob will be fussing about it climbing the roof!

My new gazing ball..Bob was working with the tractor taking away weeds, and he hit the old one with the bucket. The ball shattered and I'm still finding slices!

Another peachy picture..

Love these purple/bluish balloon flowers..amid the cone flowers and the pink bee balm clouds..

The wee horses are wishing for a treat..not getting these apples!

My tiny hay bale garden...2 cucumbers,2tomato's a zucchini and a summer squash..I had to do it, even though I don't have the time this year a few plants are a must.

The roses are doing pretty well since the move from the front of the house..Coneflowers ! So sunny and cheerful..

Thats a quick tour of the front yard and the hay bale garden, oh and some of the fruit trees..

My gardens grow very well, how 'bout yours?

Key's backcountry

I have posted some of these pictures on facebook, but for those who do not do facebook, I will put them here. This was taken from No Name Bridge. Talk about sunsets, there are none I have seen like these.

Lonny took us out snorkeling in the Content Keys in the Gulf of Mexico, which is just one side of the bridge on US 1....the other side would be the Atlantic ocean. Bob and Lonny don't enjoy just floating along looking at the bottom. There has to be a purpose...hence the spear gun.

This is a heron, I think a green heron, standing in the shallows of Bahai Honda State Park. I love that place..you can walk for miles it seems, and not go ovr your head.

I also love it because that's where Bob and I got married..right here at the campfire circle after a day of snorkling and a cookout...then the partying began. Great wedding.

You should visit the Keys at some point in your life and if you do, be sure to slide off US 1, and see the State Parks(John Pennekamp in the upper keys, and Bahai Honda lower) as well as the beautiful spots hidden back off the main road. Explore. You'll be glad you did!

Key West Flora

These are some shots taken while driving about in Key West. This is a banyon tree, and those hanging roots will touch down and become another tree connected to the mother tree.

The red flowers are the Royal Poincianna tree, another common Keys tree.

Bougainvilla spills over a wall, the tall palm is a royal palm and the corner tree is a Norfolk pine, planted for masts.

Different colors of bougainvilla, and some other tropical flowering plants.

This is so typical, and colorful. The square things are crab traps. The floats hang from almost everything. I had them hanging in my silver buttonwood tree when I lived in Little Torch Key, as well as orchids.

Just thought you might like to check out the flora as I usually go for the fauna.

I love the foliage in the Keys...Colorful like the people who live there.

Keys Critters

Keys critters are not all 'furry'. I have so many pictures and less time to blog, but I thought I would start this set of blogs with a few pictures of some of what I saw while back 'home' in the Florida Keys.


To the left is a white crane, this taken on a bridge in Bahia Honda State Park.

This is a very common sight in the Big Pine area, it's an iguana, and they get really huge, 4 or 5 feet but this guy is little. They swim and climb trees and the hot weather is perfect for them.


The Key deer are also common on Big Pine, and they are tiny. This one was grazing on scrubby plants and grass at the Blue Hole, and that is where the alligator is..its a fresh water hole that attracts the deer and lots of birds and yes, gators.

This doe was resting in the mangroves in my friends back yard. They are very friendly and have no fear of humans, which causes a problem, because everyone wants to feed them and that isn't a good idea for the deer in that it keeps them staying in one spot,defecating and reinfesting themselves with parasites instead of the norm for deer, which is grazing while travelling about a larger area. Another problem is them getting killed by cars. The speed limit of 30 mph is strictly enforced on the island interior, and God help you if you hit one !

The keys are a unique set of islands and the scenery and the flowering shrubs and trees are so beautiful year round...but that's another blog.