ONE TREE-TWO SHADES OF FLOWERS

MAHOT

NATURE IS NOT FUSSY when it comes to that...

Greetings,

Nature is the most easy to please companion. It asks very little of you at times and it gives back much more. When space is an issue for you wanting to have some green around...why not explore all possibilities?

All...

Anything you can add some dirt to, accomodate a little dirt will become a vessel for- green living.

An old tin can, an old vase, a tall jar, wooden box, and as you can see in one of the pictures---an old shoe can do the trick!

Don't limit self to containers bought in garden stores...if you have something, anything at your reach---

TRANSFORM IT...PLANT IN IT.

I have planted in pretty much EVERYTHING. I even planted a garden in an old toilet.

Yes, last year as a worker pulled out an old toilet and was making his way to the dumspter with it, I stopped him. The result today draws a smile everytime eyes see the blooming toilet in my yard.

I will add more pictures of odd items used as perfect planting vessels in my surroundings...

;-)



Kafe

WALLS separations and more...

Greetings,

In spaces where planting is done, at times due to expansion and ongoing additions separating or marking various areas is necessary.
Nothing answers distinctions better than-WALLS. Walls or partitions do create the needed focal point between one space and another.
At times, they can also BE IT...

In a space, a wall can offer more than an item to separate. It can become THE FOCAL POINT of the space. Utilizing every part of a space makes a garden into that special space it can be. Randomly adding diverse plants in between the rocks can be a fun way to explore new possibilities spreading textures, colors and-a new item to talk about in the garden.

Go ahead...use your walls as containers!

So, why not turn a plain wall into a beautiful backdrop in your garden?



More pics coming up-





Kafe

Gardens are like friends

* More pics coming up.


Over emails, through pictures and visits...I keep up with their growth. Little by little as Mimi added new plants I was given a visual treat...and as time went by I was able to have an idea of that space as it moved from empty to-magical!

Mimi, this one is for you-as you walk away from a B'day yesterday. I hope you planted a tree
to mark the blessing. When you do, share the new addition to the garden with me please.

Here is my tribute to a friend's garden in Haiti just as dedicated in playing in dirt as I am...

Kafe

ASOROSI...

Greetings,

In Haiti, people drink 'it' as a remedy for massive headaches or shock.
Others with a more daring palette soak the leaves in crude full proof local alcohol or rum for days to create a local fun drink...

The leaves is terribly bitter even to the touch, I can imagine having to drink it under any form. As for me, although a very invading plant, I prefer to see it crawl its way on my fences.

But-watch out---it grows inches a day...

If you don't keep up with pulling some out, in no time flat you will have yourself a forever expanding plantation of---Asorosi.

Anything colorful and alive in my yard, even if some call it weed or undesirable---I like!

I just keep an eye on their-activity.

A garden is like a child. You cant just plant it and LOOK AWAY.

Nah, you must keep paying attention.


;-)










Kafe

A small twig from Ile a Vache Haiti now grows in my Florida yard

MAHOT LA MER

Greetings readers,

When on a trip to Haiti sometimes back I was having a conversation with a native about the usefulness of plants, many specimen were brought to my hotel room gallery. One specific weak 'twig' buried in dirt caught my attention for its many attributes but I did not remember its name.

I planted it and it kept growing...I NEVER knew it flowered. To my surprise two weeks ago buds were showing. I wondered what they would be like-and behold a beautiful flower a few days later. Still I was curious to find its name. Although it appeared like a cotton, okra and hibiscus---it was rare to see a hibiscus like flower on a TREE.

I kept asking around and this morning via email a friend in Haiti---Mimi sent me a name.
And-I am now happy to have not only a name to my tree but many more info that I find-fascinating.

Indeed--- Thanks Mimi!


http://www.da-academy.org/dagardens_mahot_lamer5a.html

The link info are as followed:

Plant Family: Belongs to the Malvaceae or Hibiscus family, which includes the many varieties of the popular Hibiscus flower (Hibiscus rosa-sinensis), the edible Okra (Hibiscus esculentus), and Sea Island Cotton (Gossypium barbadense).

Description: Small, hardy, spreading, evergreen shrub or tree, up to 12 m tall (40 ft); leaves heart-shaped, shiny and alternate, blade up to 22 cm long (8 in) and 11 cm broad (4 in); flowers solitary and axillary, funnel-shaped and showy, 5-8 cm long (2-3 in) and up to 8 cm across (3 in), yellow becoming purple with age, with red or purple base inside petals; fruit depressed-globose, 3-4 cm broad (1.2-1.6 in), faintly 5-angled, with yellow sap; flowering and fruiting intermittently throughout year.

Natural Habitat: Tropical coastal regions on sandy or gravelly shores and at mangrove margins; especially suited to sea coasts; propagation by cuttings and seed; fruit and seed buoyant and adapted to long-distance dispersal by tides and ocean currents.

Origin and Distribution: Native of old World tropics; and now found in coastal regions throughout tropics and sub-tropics; naturalised in Florida and West Indies; in Dominica, found at Cabrits and Pointe Round.

Uses: As specimen ornamental, and in medians and parking lots; tough fibrous bark used for rope and caulk for boats; wood is oily and makes highly polished timber, but makes only small items since wood is often twisted and rarely found in large pieces; yellow dye obtained from fruit; medicinally, several plant parts used: ground up bark to treat skin diseases, dysentery and hemorrhoids; leaves applied to inflamed and swollen joints; sap of young fruit to treat ringworm and other skin diseases; roots for making a tonic; in Dominica, leaves soaked in Castor oil and applied to open ulcers; there is some modern investigation of the plant's effects on high blood pressure.

Indigenous Legends: Tahitians considered the tree sacred and grew it near places of worship.

End of quoted text-

AMAZING INDEED...that one tree has all these potential and many are still living careless of nature around them?

As for me, daily I am grateful for every bit of living things in my surroundings...close and far.

Kafe

HUNG HIGH...

Gardening respects no limits...

You can expand above too...why not explore hanging baskets as options?

Whether you are running out of space in your garden or-just wish to take colors and textures at eye level, using hanging baskets is a great way to go.

Try it, once you get the feel for it you will go wild adding more wherever you can...




Kafe

Wild life tends to get the point when you offer them a nice space...

Often they come to hide from the rain...
Offering me a closer view as they stay dry tucked
right under the roof off my home office's window.
When the sun comes out---they sing beautifully.
I recorded them a few times. I will post the sound clip in a future entry.

One day I heard Buddy one of my dogs fussing...and I walked out. In horror, he was trying his best to chase this huge iguana away from my three turtles in their pond...

Usually in pair, they come and linger over two specific spots over the fence.

Frogs love my gardens... I think by now I have about five frogs as full time tenants.
Faithfully, they can be spotted in the same spots at any given hour- day and night.

This is Pablito, he hangs in this hanging glass in the pool house. He is not alone.
Marco a bigger frog lives in a hanging bucket nearby too.
But, he only comes out at night to hunt over the pool house screen.

Three years in a row a family of wood peckers made a nest in my deck side palm tree. Although Hurricane Wilma chopped its top off, it was a happy moment for me to see two parents right back at it making another nest-much lower to the ground as dug previously.
Of course-we have had babies fly from those holes too.




Kafe

The basis of gardening...

Transforming a space is the basis of gardening. Beginning with a vision, one can take a regular patch of dirt, a corner...a wall, a fence, a container, a trellis... and with a medley of mixed textures/colors/shapes...it can turn it into something to wow about in due time.

Gardening-" its a good thing"

TAKE TIME TO LOOK AROUND
EXPERIMENT WITH PUTTING A SEED IN THE GROUND
SLOW DOWN TO WATCH IT GROW
WHEN MAGIC HAPPENS DO SHARE IN THE MOMENT WITH ANOTHER...
GO AHEAD FIND A SEED
BEGIN YOUR JOURNEY PLAYING IN DIRT
SAMPLE THE BOUNTIES OF NATURE
MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN YOUR SMALL CORNER
VENTURE
GARDEN
GARDEN
GARDEN