Beautiful Flowering Variegated Gingers

Spring is one of my favorite times of the year in subtropical Florida.  The Captain and I visited Busch Gardens this month and will be featuring plants and landscaping from the beautiful gardens.

The first in the series is 

Variegated Gingers

Flowering variegated gingers were featured in this raised bed at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida.

A close up shows the beautiful flowers that remind me of clusters of pearls.

The variegated ginger is a green tropical perennial which grows up to ten feet tall outdoors and 3–4 feet tall indoors. 

They do very well in the shade as well as the morning sun, however, they don't do well in the hot afternoon sun.  They are reasonably drought tolerant with little insect or disease problems. 

For more information on these showy, easy to grow plant, visit my webpage dedicated to growing gingers.

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Yard Art ~ Spoon Plant Markers

Yard art is like jewelry for the garden!

What a fun idea for those yard sale, thrift store and flea market finds that you can pick up for almost nothing, but can make such an awesome impact in your garden.  I've seen some really cute yard art projects using old spoons . . . guess I won't be passing these up at future thrift sales anymore!

Want to make these for your garden?

Click here for the tutorial!

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Growing tomatoes in winter

Although we experienced our first night of freezing temps last night, my thoughts are on starting tomato and pepper seeds early this winter.  It has been a mild winter for us in Zone 9 Florida and I've done it before, but it has been a long time since I experimented with this theory.  

Once the seedlings are big enough to transplant, they need to be grown in containers so they can be moved inside in case of a prolonged freeze.  We may just leave the containers in our carport area where they are protected.  It is worth a try to get a jump start on the growing season.  The containers are currently sitting out there empty . . . and seeds are relatively inexpensive.  

Time to order seeds!

Check out the Customer Favorites Tomatoes, now available at Burpee.com!

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The Path to Serenity

There is something about paths in the garden that can transform a garden into a serene sanctuary that creates the mystery of where the path leads, especially when connected with secluded garden rooms.

I love the randomness of the pattern and diversity of materials used in the featured path.  Very clever idea for stretching out the more expensive pavers by mixing them with less expensive items.  Very cool!

Click here to go to the story behind this path!

What an awesome path that can be duplicated with relatively inexpensive items.  

For those who love to create with concrete like me, the pavers would be so easy to make!  

I'm ready to mix some concrete :)

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Fall gardening checklist

The autumn leaves are changing colors, 

the temperatures are coming down, 

in Florida it is less humid.

At a loss on what to do in the garden?

Fine Gardening's website has an awesome series of

videos and articles on seasonal gardening.

Click here to go there!

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Fall gardening for subtropical and tropical climates

This is one of my favorite times of the year for gardening in our Zone 9, Central Florida garden.

Soon the black eyed susan vines that have seeded themselves all over the Paradise that is now a jungle will provide a much needed splash of color.  Another season has gone by, leaving the Paradise neglected and way overgrown.  The coleus and impatiens that used to grow wild are few . . . the past winters have killed the reseeding process that was going on.  Hopefully we can at least get those going again to bring more color to the garden.

Now is the time that I prune and propagate.

For guidelines and reference, please refer to my Florida gardening page for lots of links to the websites I go to for everything I need to know about gardening in Florida and similar zones.

Click on the Florida Gardening graphic to go to the page.

As the seasons are changing, we have been utilizing our outdoor dining area again . . . much to our delight!  

It is time to get the container plants in the carport jungle going again.  We are looking forward to planting more tomato and pepper plants.  Our pepper plant is still putting out delicious hot peppers!  It will be nice to have a greater variety.  The lime tree is still putting out some awesome juicy limes :)


We'll be visiting Busch Gardens soon and will post photos of their Fall gardens.

Happy Fall!

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Nasty Grasshoppers Caught In The Act!

Not only have they chewed up most of our

 plants, but now we caught them in the

 act of having sex in our front yard.

Shameless grasshoppers . . . I hate them!

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Summer Reflections

Another summer has come and gone . . . 

Paradise still remains like a jungle.

Of major note . . . the lime tree that was a memorial gift from JR's aunt when he died started producing very tasty and juicy limes that we have really enjoyed in cooking and sharing with others.  It is still putting out limes like crazy.  After waiting so many years for it to produce fruit, it was almost like JR was sending a message that he is smiling from heaven as new love bloomed and a new life has begun with my new husband, The Captain.

The grasshoppers invaded the Paradise with a vengeance . . . and they are still here.  Honestly, I don't know how anything survived as they devoured and chewed up leaves of most of our plants.  

We managed to get some tomatoes from our tomato plants, but all in all, that endeavor was disappointing.  Guess we started too late for optimum performance and didn't start them from seed.  They were not super healthy from the start and the grasshoppers put a dent in fruit production despite our attempts at spraying with our organic concoctions.  They were pulled up a few weeks ago :(

We did grow some awesome hot peppers that have continued to produce those hot and spicy treasures.  Hot pepper plants are one thing that we have been able to grow with no problem in our area . . . they thrive!

The basil is barely making it . . . 

the rosemary didn't last long, it died a quick death.

However, it has been a summer of health problems, in and out of hospitals with several members of the family and we got married . . . gardening became a low priority as the heat and humidity rose and health problems made it impossible to spend quality time in the garden.

We look forward to better health, cooler temps and quality time to start over again soon . . . especially with tomatoes, peppers and herbs.  Hopefully we will finally make it to the back yard that was Paradise turned into a jungle littered with fallen limbs and weeds the summer storms encouraged.  However, since most of the world has experienced devastating weather, we are grateful that we are still high and dry in Paradise.

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Nature's miracle . . . composting

It is estimated that yard trimmings and food scraps account for 26 percent of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream.  Why not recycle them into the best fertilizer you could ever buy?

Utilizing nature's fertilizer by way of composting is the economical way to revitalize and nourish your garden using these every day waste items usually thrown away as trash while helping the environment by saving landfill space?


Take advantage of one of nature's miracles and start a compost pile in your back yard . . . it is easier than you think . . . and the benefits are awesome!


Click here for more information about composting from the EPA.

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Soil recipes for container gardening

What a gorgeous tropical container planting!

Container gardening is my preferred method since I detest digging through tree  roots and I really don't enjoy using a big shovel . . . guess it is a girl thing.  It is so much easier to plant in containers . . . much easier to manage!

Grouping the same type plants with the same nutritional and drainage needs is a good idea for optimum plant health, using a specific soil mix that is well suited for the plants.

Click here for a listing of recipes for various types of container plantings.

Photo/Illustration: Steven Cominsky

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