Hello Florida Gardeners,

Being new here I thought what would I say first, and this is what came to mind instantly:

August is one tough month here in Central Florida, and I always slow down a bit its true. The bugs, fungus' and such are at their happiest, and that formidable heat............; we will get through it though as we always do!

Here are some current pictures of what the gardens out front looked like week or so ago, and I really have some work to do now. At least the grass slows down in September for us now!

It's time for me to get those Winter greens going and the Tomato cuttings are looking nice and bushy now from last seasons. It won't be long before the Zinnias and Marigolds are replaced with cabbages, Kohlrabi, lettuces, mustards and the such as I do every year filling in annuals space in the front gardens too.

We are heading into a new season really fast. I'll be sharing more pictures and am looking to joining you guys and gals and seeing more of what you are up to too!

Happy Gardening...

David

Welcome. Beautiful gardens. I'm also getting ready for the winter veggie season.

Your place looks beautiful!

Just lovely pictures, David. Welcome to ATP, and the Florida Gardening forum.

So right about the summer being a tough time on gardeners. When my DH comments that our yard has become a jungle, I explain each year that in summer the plants speed up while the gardeners slow down, and as winter comes, the opposite happens which allows us to catch up to the weeds and reclaim a garden out of the jungle.

Don't know about you, but I haven't seen much sign of the growth slowing down yet. All this rain!!

Your gardens are gorgeous!

Thank you very much Jan, Hetty, Elaine and Terra.
I'm looking forward to parusing through the threads and getting to know what your gardens are up to too!; and I sure am really looking forward to Fall.
Terrafirma in NE FLorida and I will be fretting freezes soon enough though....You lucky gals in Sarasota, Naples, and St Pete.!

Got to get to work, but here are some sideyard pics I took a few days ago. I know Jungle well Elaine, and then some!!! The grass was 1.5 ft high over there an hour earlier. Oops! The flower is Sky vine (Thunbergia grandiflora). I'm sure one or all of you have it growing all over somewhere...Ha!

As the Sun is setting;...Good night Florida Gardeners. This is one of my favorite past sunset pictures from our garden here in DeLand. The flash reflected off the blades of grass creating the effect.

Sweet gardening dreams!

David

Good Morning,

Call me crazy but I'm feeling Fall in the air this morning. The first thing I'm going to do this morning before I get going is check on my Sweet Potatoes after seeing Damian's batch. I'd kind of forgotten them.

And off we go into September. Have a productive day!

Hm, all I feel in the air here is water! Thought we'd have a dry day finally yesterday, but no! It rained again between 6 and 7pm so the windows were fogged up all night again.

Must admit the orchids like it, but then so do the snails and fungi.

You all are going to love David, his ideas and his gardens. Its been so hot, I can only enjoy others gardens right now, mine are a mess.

How cool it is to find you here Pam. Of course I'm the newer one here and you found me first. I'm so glad! Thank you. I'll be looking forward to hearing and seeing what you are up to! My place is a mess in many areas too. I get a little lazy in August every year, and every year swear to myself that "This August is going to be different and I'm gonna keep everything perfect!".............HaHaHaHaHa! always the dreamer Anyway, its good hearing from you and tell Jean to join us!
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I can just feel that cooler air on its way Elaine!
Its ironic you mentioned slugs. This is the first year I've had a problem with them. Of course this property used to be a desert sandspur lot 5 years ago, and now I've created the perfect jungle habitat for them!

Oh, Pam 'a mess' is no excuse! You should see my garden. YOu just have to bushwhack your way around and take pictures of the good plants and try to exclude the weeds from the frame at this time of year.

I certainly can't show pretty landscaped vistas like David's. Even the gravel pathways are weedy. Lucky for me there is no lawn except the verges next to the road which my neighbor mows for me. (I give him free well water, so it's a nice trade)


A friend on the other forum says "there are two kinds of gardeners, landscapers and collectors". I am happy keeping a great collection going here. My DH likes to say his 'rule' is that he must be able to walk the pathways without any plants touching him, and that's about the best I can do in the summertime.

Last night I found a snail 8ft. up on the trunk of one of my big brugmansias that is in bud! I am wishing very hard to feel that cool air you're talking about.

dyzzypyxxy said:
A friend on the other forum says "there are two kinds of gardeners, landscapers and collectors". I am happy keeping a great collection going here. My DH likes to say his 'rule' is that he must be able to walk the pathways without any plants touching him, and that's about the best I can do in the summertime.

That is a great quote and I am definitely in the latter category. The statement on 'being able to walk the pathways' etc, my DH lost that battle ages ago

I love that shady tropical walkway!

I fear I'm the collector too. I've only been back in Florida 5 years. The older but extra well built home I bought also came with completely barren front and side yards with nothing but sand and sandspurs for vegetation from the road to the house. Everything you see in my pictures has been added in 5 years. (I'll have to dig up some early pictures......no maybe I shouldn't ha!) See what I mean. I've got things in pots now that I'm gonna' have to move something to find a home for! When I'm 80 I'm going to be "That old dude who lives somewhere over there in those bushes where I think a house used to be..."

Greetings all!!!!! I was going through withdrawl over on the other site. Tara said she had moved over so I thought I'd better come take a look. I've had my actcount over here since the beginning, but hadn't been around much. With all this heat, and my overgrowth of weeds, I need the inspiration that comes from seeing pics of David's yard.

I had someone come over & nuke my back yard with a super duper weed killer. I am tired of fence-to-fence Chamberbitter so wanted to get a jump on the Fall work by killing it off now. Everytime I mow the seeds get into the flower beds. Hopefully I'll now be able to move forward. Next week I'll start getting estimates for tearing out the front weed field & getting sod put in. Want to get some new flower beds put in, widen the one down the fence line, have and less grassy area than I have now. Guess they now call them "grass lanes".

HaHaHaHaha!.... Jean!

I can always rely on you to bring a smile to my face even if it's about a weed! The way you say things!

That Chamberbitter was 70% of the crap being rolled into balls today along with Air Potato vine today for garden trash day tommorrow here and I have tubs of it..........and mystery weeds. It seems like this one groundcover type Wandering Jew is trying to take over where grass used to be in huge areas of the back, but I'll be darned if I don't think its pretty and will selectively weed to give it a go! "Grass Lanes-R-Me!"...or maybe Wandering Jew Lanes in the future?

Today I learned that the seeds on Chamberbitter are usually non-viable if the plant is less than 3" tall. It is also tropical so will start to die back soon. Many doses of pre-emergent in the Spring may contain it.

Sure is getting dark & noisey here. Tracking a storm moving up 17 from Palatka.

That is very useful info. about the three inches tall thing, and it is also good to hear that it is seasonal. I really appreciate your research Jean, and heck! I never even knew what it was called until you brought it to my attention in past talks. Thank you.

Oh, David…That mystery weed,,,like wandering jew…I'll bet it's spiderwort! AARRGH!!!!! Certainly is a ground cover, and a take over!! I must also say, it does come up fairly easy, but I don't think it's ever completely eradicated! Good luck with that!

...and then some Tara!

With Fall coming, I'll have to be pulling these Bromeliads out and into the garage for Winter should a hard freeze come our way. My camera batteries are dead and this picture is a couple of weeks old but I like it a lot and it still looks the same. I need to pay attention to the experts in the Bromeliad Forum to identify a few. The good thing is that they are sunk in the ground to keep them stabilized in basic black nursery pots, which makes it easy.

Good night!