Lion Topiary at Busch Gardens, Tampa, Florida

Lion TopiaryDecember 16, 2010

We left the chilly north on December 8 to stay mainly at our vacation home in the sunny south, returning north January 9.  During that time we made two visits to Busch Gardens.  While this is an amusement park it very much has a garden setting.   Many of the plantings have name tags that I found quite useful.  It's nice to be able to see the actual plant for future

A year of magical thinking.............

A new year           a fresh start          
        chasing dreams           taking risks

New years resolutions? not for me.......New years dreams?........all over it!

My life quote is    "Leap and the Net will appear" 
In essence,  a belief in yourself with a willingness to take risks

Do you have a life quote?  One that sums up your being and your outlook?    

As many of you know 2010 had spectacular ups and downs, all shared here.

What to do? Realize that life indeed is short and seize the day. I am ready to stand back up and do so.

2011 will be the year of chasing dreams, of magical thinking

I am still away at school learning perspective drawing. Utter failure the first go-around, eight years ago. But the ability to draw remains a dream..............so I am in Las Vegas taking it again, for two grueling weeks. Wish I could say this go-around is successful, still waiting for that "AH HA" moment

Then home for a bit before I take off to England for my grand dream, to write a book. A major commitment of time and resources with no guarantee of success. A dear friend Sylvia, in Sherbourne England said "Come, come and get away, write your book here!"  

Ask yourself............how do you know if you do not try?

What are your dreams? Are you currently in pursuit? 
If not, what is holding you back?

Ringneck Snake

If you have been following this blog you will know we bought a vacation home last year giving me the opportunity to garden in two very different hardiness zones.  It has meant learning about various critters that visit our southern garden.  There are venomous snakes and spiders there so it is important to identify these types of visitors to avoid possible bites.

We had one of our friends and his

Unique Baths

Palm Trees

Palm TreesDecember 16, 2010
Palm trees are quite common at our vacation home.  I love them!  They are rather majestic looking.  We will be shopping for palm trees our next trip to our vacation home.  To my understanding palm trees are not without problems though.  The first problem we discovered is they attract palmetto bugs.  These huge and rather ugly bugs also known as the American cockroach

My High Hopes of an Orange Tree Were Dashed

I had high hopes of planting an orange tree at our vacation home during our visit but the hopes of that were dashed.  It was unseasonably cold with several days of morning frost, not the kind of weather for planting trees.  My orange tree will have to wait until our next visit.  That's ok though as I have a lot of plans for our vacation home garden.  I'm not impressed with the mulch we used so by

A New Year Awaits

Happy New Year!
My gosh, we have been at our vacation home throughout the holiday season.  Unfortunately it has been unseasonably cold here with frost several mornings.  Folks had their plants wrapped in sheets and quilts to protect them from the frost.  Our casualty was a potted poinsettia but other than that the gardens weren't harmed.  Here's to another great year of gardening at both of our