Category Archives: florida wildlife

In A Vase on Monday – Tropical Elegance

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It is difficult to pinpoint what makes me think of these flowers as elegant. The long lines of the buds and stamens; the clear orange red color of the flowers in contrast to the simple heart shapes of the dark green foliage? I am not sure, so I arranged them simply in a brown pottery vase with Muscadine twigs.

Pretty simple. The vase I bought at our local charity shop.Something I am sure someone’s mother or aunt made and the ability to appreciate such things was lost in time or translation. My next comment was edited; as so, so many people don’t appreciate things made with our hands and hearts.

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The plants in this vase are very simple, Clerodendrum speciosum, Java Glorybower, in red orange flowers and Vitis rotundifolia, in twigs.

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It is what it is. Flowers and twigs. Simple and, hopefully, elegant.

On the butterfly front, here is another newborn:

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This is a Swallowtail, who grew up in my Parsley and hopefully flew away.

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In A Vase on Monday -Going Native

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One of the results of moving to Florida from a colder climate – sooner or later you go native. Winter Coats, who needs ’em? The coats are the first thing to go followed by socks, then shoes (sandals are an exception) and most long pants. One year my husband felt compelled to wear long pants twice. It was 50 degrees.

Plants for the garden are no exception. The first thing I had to quit desiring was Japanese Maples, followed by Yoshino Cherries. I got over Azaleas and Roses prior to moving south. Now and again I will suffer perennial envy, then again we have a plethora of great plants here in Florida – many are new to me.

I have always been a fan of native plants and decided to learn more about them by taking an online course about native plants on the Treasure Coast of Florida, taught by the guys behind the WordPress blog, Treasure Coast Natives. This one is for you, George.

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The flowers in this vase are all native and from plants included in the online course. The yellow flowers are Beach Sunflowers (Helianthus debilis), the white flowers are Spanish Needles (Bidens alba), the orange tubular flowers are Firebush, actually Dwarf Firebush (Hamelia patens) I planted the Beach Sunflowers and Firebush but the Spanish Needles appeared on their own and seed freely everywhere cursing me forever.

The vase is also a sort of native. A gift from my mother bought on one of her trips to the Southwestern United States, the vase was made by Native Americans of the Ute tribe and marked as such. One of my favorite things from my mother.

One of the benefits of native plants in the garden is the local butterflies love them. Here is a Zebra Longwing Butterfly on the Firebush:

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Firebush and Friend

 

Weirdness Wednesday

Pygmy Date Palm Flowers

I was walking through my house this morning and glanced out the side door for a moment and spied a large bird walking down the driveway. Like four feet long. Upon further study, I realized it was a Peacock! Very strange. I grabbed my camera and went out the front door to sneak up on the bird and get a picture.

And the bird was gone. Vanished. Had I dropped some acid last night and forgotten?

I did see the Pygmy Date Palm flowering and took a picture of that (above) Because, well, that is pretty weird as well.

Later I realized that Peacock must have been one of the ancestors of Frances Langford’s famous flock. Frances Langford was a movie star who lived nearby in the 1950’s and had a Polynesian style resort with a flock of Peacocks.

No acid was taken here. I did have another cup of coffee.