plant_lady_55

Thank you, Tony, for the name of the gold and red flower. It is a must have, and I will be on a hunt for it. I have several tropical hibiscus, too, and I bring them in the house each winter. They are older now and getting quite large. What do you do with your tropical hibiscus in the winter? I will have to check out Torino. I like anything orange.

Tony, I am anxiously awaiting the answer to what the beautiful gold and red flower is. The leaves look almost fern-like. I love your gardens. They made my day!!! Is the dog yours or a company mascot? I, like you, find it impossible to resist a new plant, even when not knowing where it is going. You have done a wonderful job, and everything blends together nicely. I like the different types. The hydrangea next to the spruce is nice, and the plant behind the spruce (not sure what it is) that is almost the same color as the spruce looks great. Thank you so much for sharing. Your garden pictures made a gray, snow covered day in Michigan brighter.

I love the voodoo lily, Carol. I wonder if it would grow in Michigan. I am going to have to look it up. I agree with wGardens -- we want to see more. Your garden is lovely!!! Want to see Penny's face, too.

Awesome, Jan. I love what you have done. Not sure what I like the best, but the bird of paradise is towards the top of my list. Is it safe to assume that there is some type of automatic irrigation in your yard so that items are watered when you are not in Florida? Pots, too? I'm very curious, as we have plans to live in Florida in the winter (reside in Michigan) in a few years.

I love all the hardscaping in your garden, i.e., the gate, the bricks, the boulders, the cement steps, the fences, and the beautiful cement sculpture. It all blends so well with the plantings. Most interesting!

Your garden is beautiful!!! I have been overcoming the desire to purchase Pow Wow coneflower all summer. Now I'm afraid I'm going to go looking for it before the nurseries are empty. It is stunning. How long have you had Hot Papaya? I added HP this year, but I have a hard time getting the hybrid coneflowers through our Michigan winters (zone 5/6). I love your plant combinations.

I could spend hours (maybe days or weeks) in your garden and be in my "happy place." Thanks for sharing. Awesome.

Beautiful. I, too, love hydgrangeas and have always wanted crepe myrtles, but was told they wouldn't grow in my Michigan zone 5. I will enjoy the pictures of yours. I like the obelisks. The white goes with the white arbor in the background on picture #4. Variety is good. It is a nice contrast to the deep colors of the crepe myrtles. I'm curious what zone you are in central NJ. I will have to look it up. Thanks for sharing.

I love every one one of your garden vignettes. They are so creative. I'm not sure which is my favorite. You have captured the essence of life in a trailer (in Florida, of course, with the flamingo), a Japanese garden, a beach, and a lovely backyard with an inviting bench. Kudos to you!!!

You are my kind of gardener!!! I love that you have roses, hydrangeas, perennials, annuals, etc all living together in harmony. Lots of texture, color, and sizes. I also love the garden art. I'm a flamingo collector, so I particularly enjoyed the flamingo whimsy. I envy your greenhouses. Would like to have my own. No room. You must have really good soil (unlike my Michigan clay) or you have some great compost. Everything is so healthy!! Thank you for sharing

Jean, you have my kind of gardens. I could stay there all day and be happy. Beautiful. What a stunning view of the sunset in the last picture. Doesn't get any better than that -- lots of plants and a beautiful view. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Spectacular!! Nature knows what it is doing if we let it.

I absolutely love the variety of your plantings. The diversity of colors and textures is amazing and so pleasing to the eye. There is nothing boring or ho hum. I am going to look at these pictures over and over and try to recreate some of these combinations. Thanks for sharing your lovely home and landscaping.

Leslie, you have a beautiful garden. I envy the acre you have as well as the warmer climate. The pathways are so inviting. I imagine it is quite a scramble when it's time to protect the "babies" from possible cold. Good that you have a "helper" and somewhere to shelter the plants. Thanks for sharing.

Your garden is lovely!!! I like the colors and textures and the hillsides. I cannot believe you have a Sango Kaku Japanese maple. I just bought one today for my son's home. I'm in the process of redoing their front landscaping. The nursery told me it would grow to 10 or 15 feet. When I got home and looked it up on the internet, it said 25 feet! That won't work. How old is yours and how tall is it? I heard that Sango Kaku means coral bark, and it sure looks beautiful in your picture. Thanks.

GreenGrowler - Yes, I bring the butterfly eggs and caterpillars into the house to increase the survival rate. Only 1% make it to adulthood. They fall prey to many things, including parasites. There is no acclimation when they are released. Once they are out of their chrysalis, I wait for the wings to dry (couple of hours) then let them go. I got a lot of information from Brenda in the Southeast Michigan Butterfly Association (SEMBA). She got me going on helping the butterflies, i.e., host plants, nectar plants, looking for eggs. She took me around her yard one year and showed me how to spot them. It's amazing to watch the process! I have two Japanese maples. I have a laceleaf in the front that is huge and has been there for 22 years. It is in a protected location right in front of the porch. The other one has suffered through the years and is much smaller now. Thought we lost it at one point, but it made a comeback.

Parb - would love to get pictures of the butterfly terrarium to you. Just let the last Monarch go yesterday, but I have 18 Black Swallowtail caterpillars in there now. If you are on Facebook, I could post there.
Tractor1 - good idea with the conifers. I don't currently have any. Most years I will leave some plants in tact as opposed to cleaning the beds out in the fall -- to leave seeds for the birds and have some "winter interest." The conifers are good for birds, too. Thanks! You can always teach an old gardener new tricks. :-)
Thegardencatkeeper - I love those frogs, too. My brother gave me those one year as a Christmas gift. I didn't put any real pet pictures in, but I have a dog and two cats. The dog loves the yard. One of the cats is always trying to escape from the house into the yard -- lots of nooks and crannies to investigate.

meander1 - We did remove two trees last year for different reasons. One was diseased and the other that was supposed to have been a dwarf was growing into the house and roots were too close for comfort to the basement and pushing up the brick pavers on the patio. Also, there was not one tree here when we moved in. We hated to lose both trees. It did, however, give us more sun. Of course, more sun means changing plants in that area from a shade garden to a sun garden. It was a lot of fun and an excuse for a few new plants. Yes, the seating is nice. Depending on the time of day , each lends a different vantage point to viewing the yard and/or butterflies and hummingbirds.

I collect flamingos, too, and have never seen any like yours. I love them. I will have to figure out how they were painted. Your garden is lovely. I like the orange poppies with what appears to be purple foxglove. Nice combo.

I second the motion for a travel club and going to Mr. Post's garden. It is absolutely delightful. I grow angel's trumpet in Michigan in a pot, but the season is not long enough to get it as large as yours. I can only imagine the scent. it would be like my Michigan AT on steroids. Ahhhhh.

Spectacular!!

I would love to chill out in this beautiful garden with the boxer boys. I wonder if Bosco would share that bench. :-)