Our garden

Despite a lot of greenery to choose from, I have decided which of the plants in our luscious garden is my favorite: the canna lily. There it is behind me, with 2 red-orange blooms on top (1st image). Canna grows so fast (time-lapse here) that you can almost hear it (to me, it should sound like this). It's in the back of the house (3rd image) where I do my yoga and strengthening exercises in the morning (that's a yellow theraband under my hand) surrounded by the aromas of a sweet almond tree and night-blooming jasmine. Also in back is the succulent garden containing another of my favorites: devil's backbone! My stepfather and my Mom each have an outbuilding - a garden shed (2nd image) and an art studio (4th image). My room opens onto a deck (5th image) with a good view of the lake across the street and easy access to the herb garden from which my Mom adds rosemary or sage to the evening's cuisine. The windows to the south (6th image) overlook the scented garden, and those to the east look out at the weeping bottle-brush trees and at part of the paved driveway, beyond which is a locally-owned orange grove, which also gives off a strong perfume in March. Nice.

I was ready to publish this post much earlier in the day when my Mom gave me access to her gardening file to give you a better idea of the yard's vegetation. Here's a partial list: abelia kaleidoscope, African iris, allamanda, beach daisy, beach sunflower, bleeding heart vine, blue daze, blue fortune anise hyssop, boxwood, cape honeysuckle, Carolina jessamine, cilantro, clock vine, coleus, common blue violet, crape myrtle, duranta, dwarf garden juniper, euphorbia diamond frost, ferns, fig tree, fountain grass, holiday kalanchoe, holly bushes, honeysuckle vine, hypoestes, impatiens, ivy, juniper procumbens nana, lantana, lily of the Nile, lily turf, loropetalum, Mexican bush sage, Mexican flame vine, Norfolk Island pine, oakleaf hydrangea, oleander, peace lily, peacock ginger, perennial peanut, periwinkle, Philippine violet, pineapple sage, plumbago, podocarpus, polka dot plant, portulaca grandflora, purple queen, queen's wreath, ruellia, sandpaper vine, scarlet sage, snowbush, sprenger asparagus fern, sweet olive, sweet-potato vine, sweet viburnum, thryallis, tropical red sage, variegated sinensis privet, and woodsorrel.

Quoted in a local magazine in 2007 when her garden was on the tour, she said, "Most of my plants are drought resistant and frost resistant. That way my garden remains beautiful throughout the year. I try to use as many native Southern plants as possible to conserve water and eliminate the need for pesticides." Thanks to my Mom for the photos, and to her and Del both for putting so much hard work into keeping our private park such a place of beauty!