September in a Florida Garden

by Douglas Hunt

Some welcome rain brought the temperatures down and gave me a chance to go out and see what was happening in the garden. While one visitor definitely startled me, I was very happy to see the beautyberry changing color, a sure sign that fall is going to happen, even if our temperatures do not yet incline that way. Come along for a tour of what's in bloom.

gardening forida photo tour september, flowers, gardening

Spotted horsemint, Monarda punctata.

Beautyberry, Callicarpa americana

This is the second round of bloom for my vitex, Vitex agnus-castus "Shoal Creek"

A brown anole, Anolis sagrei, checking things out from atop a solar light

Leavenworth's tickseed, Coreopsis leavenworthii,

Bird-of-paradise, Strelitzia reginae

Here's the visitor who stopped me in my tracks, a black racer (Coluber constrictor), hanging out at about eye height in my thryallis (Galphimia glauca).

Firebush, Hamelia patens, a magnet for Florida's state butterfly, the zebra longwing

Yes, aloe does bloom

I have not been happy with the planting around these tikis, which were carved by a local artisan, so yesterday I ripped everything out and put in these wonderfully variegated bromeliads (Vriesea "Splenriet") and I I hope they'll be happy because I really like how they look here.

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Yvonne on Oct 08, 2014
Hello from South Africa ! I enjoy looking at gardens in other parts of the world. I live in Howick, a small town in Kwa~Zulu Natal, in the Natal Midlands (about 11/2 hour drive inland from Durban on the East Coast) and we have quite extreme temperatures, from hot summers and cold winters with snow 1/2 an hours drive away. I have a small gardening business, mainly gardening with containers for clients (maintaining and planting) ranging from a Spa, with indoor and outdoor containers and a shopping centre and restaurant, to an animal's Kennels. Enough to keep me busy! It is difficult to garden wit only indigenous plants and have to include some exotics for colour. Best wishes as you go into your Fall and we go into our hot summer. Yvonne. Flower Fantasy.

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- Douglas Hunt on Oct 08, 2014
  @Yvonne Thank you so much for stopping by, Yvonne. We would love to see some of your garden. Some things from South Africa do very well here in Florida.
  
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Zeebo on Jul 14, 2015
I enjoyed looking at your beautiful images, especially the ones with the little critters. The tiki carvings are fantastic.

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