Best Of Both Worlds

If weather was something you could eat, Florida has prepared us a feast!  It's been cool enough in the mornings to enjoy my coffee outside on the porch, yet, warming quickly to shorts and flip-flop temperatures.  I can barely stand to stay indoors in this gorgeous weather.
We fished yesterday for a little while, no catching, just fishing.  The small lake we live on has not cooled enough for the speckled perch (crappie to some), to begin biting very well.  We did enjoy our boat ride though.  I took a picture of what looks like the last water lily of the season...

Reflection...

We also saw a group of Ibis enjoying the day...

Back on dry land, there's a lot of color still happening in the gardens.  My first Japonica Camellia bloom, 'Laura Walker'.

  

My hedgerow of Sasanqua Camellias were planted three years ago.  They were tiny, maybe a foot tall, so even though they're still small, they have grown quite fast for camellias.

'Cotton Candy'

'Snow-on-the-Mountain'

'Stephanie Golden'

Roses are responding to this wonderful fall weather also.  Out on the front fence, 'Louis Philippe' is still blooming.

My two 'Red Cascades' are in bloom also, although, almost barren of leaves.

My pink, 'unidentified' OGR , is also in flower...

'Belinda's Dream' rose is the only hybrid tea rose that I would ever buy again.  She's truly an outstanding rose in my garden, completely carefree.  This is the only hybrid tea rose that I've grown that doesn't get black spot.  In Florida, that's quite remarkable. 

The 'Black- Eyed Susan' vine, growing by our entry, still says summer.

I've posted pictures of this hibiscus many times, but it's changed colors for the fall.  It used to be bright yellow, now more orange.

Clerodendrum 'paniculatum', or pagoda flower, is still blooming also...

 Clerodendrum 'ugandense', or butterfly bush...

Clerodenrums are certainly a diverse group of plants, as this vine also belongs to that genus.  Clerodendrum 'thomsoniae'...

I also grow the red and white bleeding heart vine, but I prefer this color.  I have it running along fences and trellised.

Long after the red flower drops off, the purple calyxes remain, making for a long show of color.

You know me by now, I can't close without a couple photos of the shade gardens.

Thank you for visiting.  I hope you all have a perfect weekend.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day~July 2015~Central Florida

July, another beautiful month in Florida, although the heat and the humidity have been brutal.  I  keep telling myself, remember this winter...when the dreary brown of the landscape made you hunger for spring.  Think back, to having to drink your morning coffee inside, instead of on the porch, observing all the birds and blooms.  So, I get another glass of iced tea, sit on my deck in the shade, and remember to be grateful for summer.  I appreciate the lovely green that surrounds me, and know that all my senses will yearn for summer when it comes to an end.

 This is what a 'bowlful of summer' looks like.

One of my first Rose of Sharon blooms.

The hydrangeas still have new and old blooms, multi color.

Just 'says' summer.

Penstemon and Fanflower.

Fanflower

Toad Lily, rambling around in a coleus.

This one loves the summer heat, but if you'll recall, I still need a plant ID.

Whatever she is, she's happy.

The clematis are on their second bloom.

Most of my daylilies are finished for the season, but not the reds.

The 'Lemon' daylily is the only other one still blooming.

Aloe is sending up blooms, and receiving daily visits from the hummers.

One of my small Bleeding Heart Vines, thought she would be red and white like my others, but she's just fine, like she is.

Heliconia

There are just a few roses that don't look completely fatigued in this weather, 'Valentines Day' is one of them.

'Intigue'

She looks better than most.

I hope 'summer' is treating you, and your gardens, especially well!  

Made in the shade...in Central Florida

The good news is, I'm through with the shade garden I dismantled  last week.  The bad news, I have to catch up on the weeding and deadheading that I've been letting go, while I've been playing in the dirt.  To bring you up to date...

We removed the rocks from around this bed, so we could join it to the garden running along the fence line.

After removing the sod and digging out a few, maybe more than a few, roots.

We added some good dirt.

I bought the trellis for less than half price , from a small local nursery.  It's got some rust, and my Honey would have been happy to sand and paint it, but I love it just the way it is. 

Two small Bleeding Heart vines, three hostas, three Persian Shield plants and a couple coleus.  That's all I bought (the first trip)  because there are so many caladiums packed in the bed that I'm going to separate.  I've got plenty more in other shade gardens that are over crowded.  I did go back and buy a few more hostas before I finished the bed.

Don't know how well you can tell from this picture, but there's two Confederate Jasmines on those trellises.  Oh yes, I knew better when I put them there...I'm trimming them every other week, so I'm borrowing them for the new garden.

Two Jasmines on the fence now, didn't lose too much of them.

Trellis in, a lot separated already.  A good overcast day, watered as I went, nothing wilted.

Bleeding  Heart vine on the trellis, looks tiny, but they grow so fast.

Most of my gardens look better in photos than they do in real life, it's just true.  This garden is far more beautiful in real life, it' an awkward corner to photograph.

Loving my new trellis

This garden is so busy, I decided to keep the pot material simple, Spider plants.

Thanks for checking out my garden.  I hope you all are having a great weekend...happy gardening.