Saturday morning garden work and yard walk

Good Saturday morning everyone (or whenever you view this)! This morning I went out because I had soaked okra seeds to get in the ground. They were sprouting! I planted about 12 of them. They love heat and sun, so they should do very well. Below is a pic of some of the pink-eyued pea blooms...they are just so darn cute!

And marigolds in the peas.

A few shots of the succulents in the tires!





And lookie what I found this morning (only cause I haven't looked in the past week or so)...GLORIOSA LILIES coming up!!! My husband had sprayed some around this area with Round Up (I KNOW)...and I thought he had killed the gloriosas altogether, since my Mom's garden is chock full of them...but here they are...back again! Maybe they are really hard to kill. Yeah!!! I am so happy, because as you know they are a cheery orange and yellow and they make me extremely happy!!! It is almost worth the torture of summer to have them! Almost, I said...


Mr plastic pelican peeking out from his permanent home amidst the Oyster Plants! Are they not just so cool with the purple and green bad selves! I just adore them. Most people, as I have said before, around here regard them as weeds, but not me...I find them growing in other areas of the yard and move thmem in here for a gorgeous bed. I love to find huge beds of them...they are so striking!!! The best part is that they stay pretty year round, basically in sand!

Now, just in case the heat completely knocks out my tomato plants, I just wanted to show you the 4 fruits I have right now. I pray these will at least ripen so I can say I got something out of this whole darn experiment.


Here is a variegated jasmine on the fence and it is developing a few all white areas of leaves...I love this...so, so sweet!

Morning glories are all over the jasmine fence...

Here is a long shot of the vegie darden, sux tires and then beyond that are my flower filled tires! I love this view cause it makes me feel like a gardener! LOLOL! Such a small little plot, and not all that much work really...just a little here and there, but such fun! I would encourage anyone to start a small plot and just go for it.

Thought I would show you my butt-ugly wild Sansevieria hyacinthoides (????) fields! LOL. They are just scraggly looking, but have started looking some better. I often think of trying to relocate them and make a bed of them, and I think it may be something to conquer in the fall when it gets cooler. I think I would like that.



A shot of my beautiful, full, lush and totally stunning (to me) huge ferns in my front planter along front of house! All transplants from the back yard one day many years ago...and they need NOTHING...they just stay purdy year round with rain and no fertilizer at all. Perfection on a stick!!! :)

3 shots of this really sweet red and white hibiscus...it hangs downward and it so delicate. I have no idea of it's name, sadly. It surely needs to be trimmed again...maybe this evening when it cools down I can force myself to do it. I need someone with a big whip to get me out there!!! LOL.



And last but not least, the Vincas are getting ready for the 4th! I have two of these pinwheels, and sometimes I look over and see them both spinning full force. A very happy garden and gardener!

Any of you with aches and pains, illness, or just feeling kinda low, I pray my garden pics have perked you up a bit, and you will have the best weekend EVER!
xoxo- Julie

Elephant, pink eyed peas, wildlife and more...

OK, first, I apologize to all Cactus Monday folks that I have no cactus anything here today. I am just plain exhausted and cannot think about one more thing today!!! My daughter and I took the kids to a wildlife rescue, and we walked in the heat (although we did have a lot of shade here, from massive trees, thank God)...the pic below is of the three of them posing on a large cat statue there. It was a neat place with a new permanent black bear habitiat, which was really awesome to see!

I did 4 loads of laundry, and cleaned, and took the kids to a park for 1.5 hours, made dinner, fed everyone, and tended to the garden. Here is a pic of the first pink-eyed pea I took off my plants to check the size of the peas...and they were perfect! Of course, I had to share it with you, and see...they really are pink-eyed, rather than black-eyed! They are ultra sweet, and it sure is easy to see when they are ready to come off the plants due to the color change. I cannot recommend planting them highly enough. Of course, my middle name should be FUN, so these plants are perfect for me!!!

Here is Donovan's finished paper mache elephant! It turned out so cutely! He was so proud showing his mom and dad! Now we are thinking we must make some Fathers Day gifts from the left over glue/water mixture. I am thinking of fashioning an alligator pencil holder for my husband. He loves alligators!!!

Here are a few shots of Donovan's zinnia pot. The last pic is of the latest one, a very tall, ballet pick flower! This pic does not do it justice...it is really beautiful! Can you see how tall the one is compared to the others???


Thanks for stopping by!!!

Magical Pink Eyed Purple Hull Peas, and other fun stuff!!!

Today my DIL's parents took my grandkids to a zoo, and Donovan came to my house with what they had purchased for him!!! It was a paper mache elephant to make, starting with a balloon...and the final product was to be a pinata!

They had included two balloons, and both of them popped on us! My sweet grandson is sort of scared of popping ballons, so we made a command decision to use something else for the body. How about a big old clear plastic juice jug!

It is turning out really cutely. We have to finish it up tomorrow. It comes with colorful tissue paper to also paste on, but I think I will allow him to paint it with acrylics and I can speed up the process with a hair dryer! Speed is very important to a 5 year old!!!

Donovan just loved doing the paper mache. I told him he came to the right person for any more of this in the future! Who knows what we might come up with! I am always looking for a partner in crime when it comes to projects!!! He stayed up until 10pm working on this, and fell asleep instantly after his head hit the pillow!!!

Next to show you is my 2nd re-do on the version of drawing my EDM mug! This time using pastels...this was a quickie pic to do, but I just love what a soft thing you can come out with using the pastels...blending is a lot of fun!

Below are the first three tomatoes discovered on my Bush Tomato plants today!!! They had formed way down low on the plant, so I did not see them until they had gotten to this size already! The largest one is about 1.5 inches in diameter! Very exciting!!!



This sweet butterfly was flitting all around me today while I was out in the garden, and I thought of a hiaku as it flew around on the breeze.

Little Monarch on the breeze
Gliding in the air
Live free, and do what you please!


Now for the magical part of my so called Black Eyed Peas! I had forgotten that I had planted the pink eyed purple hull variety of southern pea, that is in the family of all different sorts of peas similar to the BE'd pea, but they all have different actual pea colors and with different colored "eyes".

My bean pods started turning purple and I thought there was something wrong with them, until I realized the variety I had planted! LOLOL!

They are turning a very dark purple. I am waiting a while to let the peas inside get bigger. The pods look like they are ready to be picked, but I want to let them grow a little longer. I sure hope I will have enough to make more than a handful!

I had given my friend 23 plants when they were seedlings, and now, it looks like we will both get a handful off...although my plants are still flowering...I wonder how much longer they will go. Hopefully all summer! Isn't tit so cool that with the colored pea pod, how easy it is see what needs to be picked??? I love this. Actually...I am contemplating planting more from seed. I understand that a lot of gardeners wait until after July 1 to plant to minimize pests. It would be fun to see if that really helps! I had to re-treat them today with a wash with the soap/oil/water solution, and then rinsed again with the hose so they would not burn in the sun. The soap in that solution is keeping the plants a real healthy dark green color! This is fun!!!

Have a nice Sunday everyone!

Morning beauties!

Got up this morning to check on things in the garden and found my pink-eyed pea plants in fairly good shape, except for a few areas infested with aphids, which I wiped off by hand. None of the other methods work very well for me.

I had found 1 ladybug in the BE Pea patch yesterday and they are aphid eaters!!! I was hoping more would come...hey, maybe they will!!! Keeping my fingers crossed!
These are my two longest beans...about 4.5 inches long now! I am amazed I have any. It is always such a lovely surprise when you see the fruit of your labor come to pass!

Two coleus close ups with morning dew!


My beloved Kalanchoe!!!

A couple of colorful succulent shots!!! (My lovie-dovey babies).


And the gorgeous purple color of these gosh darned eggplants! They are so pretty glistening in the full sunlight, and covered with morning dew. (It probably rained in the night). This bigger one will be the second one to touch the ground. The leaves on these two plants are just aweful looking...straggly and rough...even with every two weeks application of Miracle Gro solution. It is sad. I hope the plants will keep supporting the fruits until they are ready!

Have a wonderful Saturday everyone!

Fun in the south Florida sun!

Hi again!!! I found my largest eggplant starting to touch the ground yesterday and slid a giant seagrape leaf under the area to keep it off the dirt! I know I need to mulch, but I am just not getting it done due to time constraints and lack of funds! My neighbor had a ton of these seagrape leaves, so I try adn put them to use as I ee fit! They make a wonderful palette to paint on also (acrylics or oils). I will post a pic I have where a friend painted a lighthouse for me, and my Mom has a floral one I painted her in acrylics about 5 years ago. But back to the subject...below is my eggplant, Mr. Big Dude!!!

Another view of my flower tires! They sure are gorgeous to see out my kithen window.

And here is the funniest looking flower on my pink-eyed peas! I suppose it will open up more...not sure as this is the first time I have grown these! Isn't it interesting looking???

Here are my lovies playing tetherball and blowing bubbles outside in the sunshine!!! Life is good!!! Thank God!


Happy hump day! Half way through the week already!