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"Possibility and promise greet me each day as I walk out into my garden. My vigor is renewed when I breathe in the earthiness and feel the dirt between my fingers. My garden is a peaceful spot to refresh my soul." Meems






Welcome to my Central Florida Garden Blog where we garden combining Florida natives, Florida-Friendly plants, and tropicals.

Monday, September 1, 2008

First Images of September


How can it possibly be September already?

I'm not an orchid grower. Working outside today for most of the day (you know - in celebration of labor day ) I noticed this lone white orchid blooming on the back patio. It's not as if I ever expected it to bloom. You see, it is one of the random orchids I buy at the big box store occasionally. They are used for cheery places indoors until the bloom is spent... at which time I typically cast them aside to live outdoors... just in case they might want to bloom there. Once in a while I get surprised by ... well... by something like the above bloom. It's a nice surprise.

Once my camera was in hand for the orchid bloom I took a walk around the garden to see if there were any other interesting sights. I found a few I thought to share with you on this first beautiful day of September. Beautiful if you like lots of sunshine and balmy, but a little breezy heat.

It's best just to go ahead and stay outside once there. If there is a need to come back and forth in the air conditioning it becomes very evident how very hot (and dare I say it, sweaty) one has become in this kind of weather. But if one can manage not to feel the contrast of a/c then one could possibly talk themselves into believing it isn't "that" hot.
During the summer I like to get started in the garden very early and just stay there for hours on end. That way my body temperature is able to acclimate to the higher temps as they gradually climb into the afternoon hours. It's that dreaded humidity that's harder to manage. But I'll not complain on such a clear, marvelous Monday as this.
Staying hydrated is a must. My choice of drink is mostly water. Sometimes in a rare instance, like today, I had a large glass of iced tea perched in the garage to sip on and ... chew the ice. :-)
There was grass to mow, edges to edge, weeds to pull, plants to stake, containers to water, cuttings to pot up, pathways to trim, and of course, photos to take.

All sorts of butterflies were happily keeping me company. I saw a whole lot more than I even tried to photograph. They were flitting around in two's and three's and singularly floating along with the breezes.
Intentionally I thought to photograph some things I've not shown on my blog in the past. The aloe plant is so pretty and plump right now. Being that I'm not a huge fan of succulents, it is the ONLY one I have in my entire garden. I keep it growing for medicinal purposes. It surely comes in handy with the slightest skin irritations ... especially burns.

Even though these dracaena look similar they are two different varieties. Sorry I don't know their names. I do adore the way they add color to the garden all year long without being a fussy flower. They are easily propogated like most dracaenas by clipping off a section of the top and simply putting them in soil being sure to keep them moist until rooted.
I hope you are having a great first day of September.
Our prayers are still going out to all the folks affected by Hurricane Gustav. It appears it wasn't as bad as they first predicted and we are grateful for those reports.
Happy Labor Day and happy September gardening. Meems

23 comments:

  1. Your garden is so pretty Meems. I just love succulents. I can't have many because I haven no place to keep them during winter. I do have an aloe plant like yours. However it isn't that big or pretty. Happy labor day to you too.

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  2. Beautiful blooms Meems. I love the Dracaena foliage and your Orchid is quite lovely too. Hope you are having a Happy Labor Day!

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  3. It is hard to believe it is already September. As always, the garden looks lovely. I am not surprised that you spend the day laboring away while the rest of us enjoyed a day of, well...doing nothing...at least not laboring. I am impressed with the orchid bloom. When my blooms disappeared, I just tossed it in the garbage, but I like the idea of seeing if they would grow outside.

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  4. Hi Meems, so glad you are safe and gardening. That is a gorgeous dendrobium orchid, obviously happy in its outdoor environs. The draceanas are wonderful, are they evergreen there? I agree completely about trying to not go in and out too much. The air has been hot and wet here the last couple of days too, I am dripping wet by the time I go in for a drink of OJ in the morning, ginger ale in the latter part of the day. A good cleansing of the pores!

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  5. hey meems! happy labour day weekend to you too! we did a turkey dinner today. so i am tired. but it was fun. your orchid is lovely and i love white. the three butterflies almost look acrobatic. i cut my big ole yard yesterday and today. and moved a few pots around, it made me think of you cause they were containers and just moving them made me want to try something new... so i will let you know if i have any success.
    the heat here is at it's worst and i have to do the same thing i'm either in or out not any going back and forth. it is just to boggling for the mind and body to take. so i make sure it is all done before i head back in.

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  6. I agree with the staying out or in--not both. Try to do some weeding late in the afternoon just before dark but mesquites are horrible. So for one that has slight allergies that's bad.

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  7. Happy labor day to you, Lisa. I think succulents are one of those kinds of plants you either love or don't... not much in between. My aloe plant surely comes in handy.

    Thank you, PGL, dracaenas are great for Florida because they add color and texture throughout the year. They are pest free and propogate easily.

    Orchids are not my specialty, mjm, although I hear other gardeners talk of how easy they are to grow. I just leave mine in the pots they come in and stick them outside. They get water when everything does and that's it. Once in a while I get a bloom... when I do... I get excited about it.


    Thanks for the dendrobium ID, Frances. I'm not sure what makes orchids happy but this one gets a couple of morning hours of sun and water when the caladiums sitting above them get their dose.

    Yes, dracaenas are evergreen and do very well here all year long. They should be blooming in a month or so which is another plus I forgot to mention.

    MMMM... turkey dinner sounds good, Marmee. I'm a big fan of anything white too. The good thing about orchid blooms is that they last a while. Moving containers around to suit the occasion or the season or the mood is one of the biggest advantages of them... it's sort of like rearranging the furniture. When once you get tired of the usual ... just change it up a bit. I guess the rain you got greened up the lawn and made it grow???

    lola, The mosquitoes have been very bad this year. I've had trouble with chiggars too for the first time ever. Now I spray with cutter's whenever I am outside... day or evening. I don't like it but it's better than bites everywhere.

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  8. I love that last Dracaena, Meems, with the pink! Sounds like you had much the same kind of day we had here. It's supposed to be 92 degrees tomorrow and higher humidity, so I'll want to get out there early too,like you do.

    Everything there is always so pretty, Meems!

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  9. Hi Meems....the aloe and orchid are exquisite......indoor plants here.....I love to see them in your much loved and well tended gardens......you and I garden so diffently, mine is wild and full of gay abandon....it is wonderful to see yours, I really love to see the way other people view their space.....yours is an absolute credit to you.....I know from experience the work that goes into a garden......you have to love it to do it!!

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  10. Meems, lovely images of September. Everything there looks so green yet and not at all fall like. You are a Gardener for sure if you brave the heat to work! I just can't make myself get interested when the temps and the humidity are high. I am a fair weather gardener I guess. Those butterflies were beautiful and I was surprised to see the monarch. or some reason I thought they didn't go to Florida. (Duh!)

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  11. meems,

    Happy Autumn, the official meteorological start of autumn is on September 1! We are in the 90s with humidity high as well, so it isn't feeling like fall yet! Your plants are looking lovely and fresh! Are you sure it's not cooler there!

    One of the problems with working from home is the temptation to go outside in between clients...not a good idea on hot muggy days...oh but hard to resist! Once it's cooler...I can go in and out all day long and refresh myself with a quick walk around the beds!

    Wonderful butterflies visit you and you photograph them beautifully. Driving down the street I've noticed lovely yellow fluttering butterflies everywhere...I wonder if I can identify them on the internet.
    Were's the camera when one needs it;-)

    Take care and have a good day.
    Gail

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  12. I thought for sure I left a comment earlier. I think I had to go log in and let myself get distracted. They say the mind is the first thing to go. LOL!

    Your orchid is so pretty! I love them, but I'm intimidated by them. I always love seeing your caladiums. In my younger days, I thought of them as ordinary, slightly mundane, filler plants, but I really have taken a shine to them in my old age. 8-]

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  13. Beautiful orchid! I'm too intimidated by them to grow them. I've always thought that anything THAT beautiful MUST be hard to grow. lol

    Your last 2 pics look really similar. Could one of them be a Tricolor Cordyline?

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  14. As always, your photos are beautiful. I haven't seen those dracaenas before. What a lovely combination of colors.
    Marnie

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  15. Thanks so much, Kylee. Hope you didn't work too hard yesterday.
    Wow... 92 degrees in Ohio... yuck... but fortunately for you I think you are starting to cool down at night.We are holding at 78 still at night... it's 82 degrees right now.

    That dracaena is better known as tri-color cordyline and even some reports say they aren't really dracaenas and some say they are. No matter to me... they work really well here and that's mostly what matters.

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  16. I love your wild and full of gay abandon garden, Cheryl... and I really appreciate the fact that you know what it takes to keep a garden of this size in order. It IS a lot of work but you are right... I DO LOVE it... thanks for your, as always, kind words.

    No sign of autumn here yet, Beckie. Well except for the slightly shorter days and the slight change in the angle of the sun. It is always interesting to see what September brings down here. It is possible we could have a bit of a cooling off in the latter days of this month but sadly it is unlikely until October.

    It shouldn't be too long now and you should be able to start those breaks in the garden in between clients,Gail. Won't that be nice again? I am conjuring up memories of midday strolls in the garden when the air isn't stifling... it keeps me going until the weather changes.

    Those yellow butterflies seem to be especially fast... not staying in one place long enough for my camera lens anyway.

    Hope you had a great day.

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  17. Orchids intimidate me too, Sophie. That's why I just don't have any expectations from the few I recycle. Old age is good for lots of things and now I can add coming to your senses about caladiums. :-)

    GreenJeansThe last two cordylines are very similar but the last one is much darker at the base. I do think the bottom one is tri-color and the one above it is something else. What is your understanding about them? Do you think they are part of the dracaena family? I've read conflicting information. I grow lots of 'red sister' as well. do you grown any of them?

    I'm glad you stopped by, Marnie to have a look at the dracaenas. Fortunately for me they look pretty much the same all year long. I just lop out the tops occasionally and put them in the ground to start a new plant. They really like the humidity. Unlike the humans around here.

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  18. Your garden must be so beautiful with all those beautiful blooms. Not to mention the foliage of those dracaenas. I enjoyed looking at your blog.

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  19. Lovely pictures of your garden. The Dracaena foliage is great.
    It is really hard to believe it is Sept. all ready - where does the time go?
    Regards
    K

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  20. susie: thanks so much for stopping over to have a look at the flowers and draceanas. I'm really happy you enjoyed it.

    Karen: Thank you. With September's arrival you can just be sure the year is almost over... hard to believe.

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  21. More stunning pictures - love the one of the butterflies... it's lovely seeing some different plants than we get over here - you'd never get Orchids growing in France that's for sure - apart from in a conservatory!

    Hope it won't be such a long gap till my next visit to your lovely blog Meems... take care Miranda

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  22. Miranda Bell: Thank you. Always great to have you visit albeit in between your busy business season... I totally understand.

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  23. Hi Meems-I think those draceana are ti leaves, Cordyline. My aloes are all looking great, too. I have lots of different kinds of aloes and when they bloom they are so gorgeous. I love the bold, architectural forms of aloes and succulents.

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Have a blessed day,
Meems


September 2010

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Tropical Pathway