Sunshine and Roses

This is the first part of the garden to see the sun when it rises in the morning.  Located on the east side, it is a sunny patch for about seven hours each day.

Roses are the anchor plants providing greenery and blooms all year long.  The ferny foliage of yarrow and the constantly blooming sweet allyssum  along with sedum 'Florida Gold' have worked well as ground cover all through the winter.

Spring brings a more exuberant flush of blooms to the roses but there are flowers in all the seasons.  Lots of re-seeding native salvias provide background and attract buterflies, bees and hummingbirds once Spring arrives.

Sweet fragrances fill the air and make me smile while I enjoy my morning cup of coffee.  Nothing like watching the sunrise over this beautiful view.

There are many reseeding and spreading companion plantings flourishing now that it is springtime.  I'm loving the yarrow.  Sure hope it blooms for me.  It has really multiplied since the warm weather returned.  The guara is looking especially good this year too, though it's hard to capture in a photo. 

Well, I guess it's time to put the camera away, take my coffee with me and finish up the morning watering chores.  Only, it's not a chore.  It's something I love to do.

 

Just Before Sunset

When the sun gets low in the western sky, the light cuts across the backyard and glows through the foliage.

The tropical leaves of bananas, cannas, gingers and cyperus are a bright reflection of the sunlight's last rays.

Even the common Purple Queen becomes a translucent beauty in this magic light.

The bog area which is usually pretty non-descript becomes a bright beauty. 

The last shadows play against the back fence and then the day is done.

(Just finished weeding and mulching this area along the back fence and wanted someone to see it before the weeds grew back.)

Sunny Blooms

Sunny garden areas at My Garden Path are very sparse but there are a few spots where sun loving plants grow and bloom.


The Tampa Vervain, Glandularia tampensis, which was purchased in February of this year is blooming non-stop.  The Sedum Florida Gold is showing some growth as well.

This little Bulbine frutescens was recently purchased and planted because of a post Ami at Southeast Florida Garden Evolvement wrote.  I think I flunked color placement by putting orange next to red, but I think the butterflies will like it.  That little plant is really only a portion of two plants I split apart to spread out in this area of the garden. 

This Bulbine, shown below,  is one of four I planted in February.  It was nipped by cold on the tips and it and its brothers have just been sitting there doing nothing.  So, I bought the ones that are now blooming to give these guys some competition.  Hopefully, now that I have some blooming Bulbine I can leave these alone long enough to let them recover if they will.  They appear to have a tighter clumping habit than my new ones and I wonder if they could be a different type of Bulbine.  If they ever get off the mark and grow and bloom it will be interesting to see if they have a different flower.  That's my butterfly magnet passionvine, Passiflora incarnata, in the background.  It dies to the ground every winter but returns every spring and soon takes over the trellis, the fence, and anything that stands still near it. 

At the beginning of February I planted my first two rose bushes.  This Knockout RADrazz is very small, I purchased it in a one gallon container, but it keeps up a steady stream of blooms. 

Plants are growing, birds are singing, a few butterflies have flitted past along with one or two bees checking out the emerging flowers, My Garden Path is on a path of renewal.