MY JOURNEY TO THE DARKSIDE

Come on now I was referring to the side of my home that gets the fewest hours of direct sun. It is the northeast side and the part of my yard I don't visit that often. It serves as a sort of wild jungle of many plants mostly left to their own means to survive.





This trip revealed my Aloe plants gone wild. They are growing in a large flower pot that I had stuck into this planter box to get it out of the way so I could do some painting. As life often goes despite my intentions of replacing it back to its original location I never did. Now the pot is stuffed full of every size Aloe Vera that need to be thinned and given there own space. I am adding that to my list of things I really should do sometime. The Aloe Vera [ Aloe Barbadensis if you must ] is a succulent semitropical native of Northern Africa perfect for zone 10. It is great to put on burns as its sap takes the stinging away. That's why I planted it in the first place for its medicinal properties. This plant has over 50 different medicinal home uses dating back centuries. If I get a bug bite, scrape or burn I just break off a piece of the Aloe plant and rub the juice inside on it . Works for me. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------




This big Florida native is a Sea Grape or Coccoloba Uvifera. I planted two on this side of my house from seeds I found at the beach one day. I wanted to plant something to shade the air conditioner unit to reduce my electric bill and as a privacy shield of my backyard from the street. These Sea Grapes as you can see do both. These are tough plants and require little care just an occasional pruning .



You can leave them as a bush by pruning them or just let them grow into a tree. Mine after about three years has reach up to the top of my house. I think the Sea Grapes are really cool and I want to plant some more. Yes its official, I am adding that idea to my list of things that I really should do some time. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------





My other privacy planting is Gardenia or Gardenia Argusta if you insist. This bush produces large white flowers that smell like perfume. I look forward to its bloom each year and take the flowers inside the house. Their smell is sweet and sensual.



The downside is that everything attacks these plants here in South Florida. They like acid soil and of course mine is alkaline so I do give them some fertilizer for acid plants. They don't like to be planted by concrete as the alkaline leaches out of the concrete and gives them a tummy ache. The nematodes in the ground here attack them and mangle their root system. That's why The Gardenia grown around here are grafted onto a different rootstock to better resist the nematodes. Part of my master plan is to use compost from my poorman's compost bin around this Gardenia . Something about the compost is supposed to repel the Nematodes in that your average Nematode doesn't like compost. And yes, I am now adding this to my list of things that I really should do sometime.
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LEST WE FORGET

To all the men and women who put on a uniform each day and go into harms way to protect us.

And to the family's of such special people who sacrifice daily alongside their loved ones.

God bless you and thank you. Your sacrifices are not forgotten.

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ARE YOU A KNOTHEAD AND OTHER RAMBLINGS

---Click on any photo to enlarge it---

The term knothead as I understand it is derived from first time visitors to South Florida who stand under Coconut or Avocado trees during moderate to high winds. The falling fruit bouncing off a tourists head besides making an audible "thonk ", leaves a noticeable swollen knot. Hence the slang heard from Florida natives," damn ,that guy is a real knothead".---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have an Avocado tree situated in my backyard garden. You can see in the above photo taken in October that it is loaded with fruit. You can also see in the above picture how severely I had to cut it to remove the shattered limbs after hurricane Wilma several years back.

With the gusting winds here yesterday several of the fruits were blown free from the tree. I put a ruler next to some to give you an idea of their size.

I don't know what type of Avocado that I have but I have read that there are over 500 different variety's. I just refer to mine as the Cannonball species due to their propensity for firing off the tree and producing large holes in my fiberglass back porch awning. My metal shed has also come under attack from these two pounders. Any late November hurricane virtually guarantees the siege will be on and these Cannonballs will be flying.-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I figure if these guys had a load of black powder behind them they could really obtain some distance. Some pictures of cannon I took in Cartagena, Columbia this October. If you look at the bore size of these old cannon closely my two pounders would fit just fine.

Spain which owned Cartagena back in prior century's stored all of its loot pillaged from South America in this city.

Back in the 16th century Spain began building this wall with the cannon around the city of Cartagena. They had pirate problems as the pirates figured it was profitable to loot the city and steal the treasure. Spain kept their stolen loot inside the city until one of their treasure fleets could be put together to transport it across the sea to Spain. Seems to me they could have used some of my Cannonball Avocado's back then to ward off the pirate attacks on the city.

Undoubtedly if they had you would have heard the famous historical expression, "damn' them there pirates sure are knotheads". -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway enough history as I understand it.

My garden helper Yorkshire Terrier Odette. She became upset when I was taking pictures of the Cannonball two pounders in the grass. She claims every fallen Avocado as her property and she is very possessive.

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A GOOD DAY FOR RESEARCH

Today is a good day to stay inside and do some research. Tropical Storm Ida is out in the Gulf of Mexico and its low pressure is sucking air across South Florida to fuel it. Winds out of the ESE at 22mph gusting to 32 outside now. Just enough to blow my Avocado cannonballs out of the tree. Don't care to take a shot from a two pounder, Thank you.
I was able to find out what the white butterfly is that is so determined to avoid being photographed. It is a White Peacock or Anartia Jatrophae. It hangs out in The southern half of Florida and Texas as well as in Mexico.

This one is a Gulf Fritillary that is on the Mexican Sunflower bloom. I have never seen the Mexican Sunflower listed as attracting butterfly's but in my garden it attracts the most. It is one of my favorite plants to grow in the full sun. Try it in your garden and I think you will be pleased with the results.

I found out that the White Peacock butterfly uses this Ruellia or Purple Showers plant as its host to lay eggs. I was given this plant in the picture but didn't know it was a host plant for the white butterfly. I just liked the plant. It blooms daily with new purple flowers that fall off each afternoon. The next day it will be covered with a new crop of flowers.

This vine is a Passflora Suberosa or Passion Vine. It is the host plant of the Gulf Fritillary butterfly also pictured above. They lay their eggs on the plant and the caterpillars hatched then munch out on the plant leaves before becoming butterflies. This vine in the picture has sprouted up by my back patio of its own volition. Now that I know what it is I figure to leave it there to grow up the metal support poles for my awning. There are several of the Passion Vines at different places in the backyard. They never seem to flower though the caterpillars chomp them to pieces first.

Another question of mine was answered also. I never knew the name of this bush that is now covered in yellow blooms.

I put an inquire question and picture of the bush on the GardenWeb Florida Forum. It didn't take long till some fellow astute gardeners clued me in. This bush is a Christmas Cassia or Cassia Bicapsularis if you are so inclined. It Flowers in the fall and is tropical growing in the south United States. It is supposed to be the host plant for the Yellow Sulphur butterfly here. I have seen a few of the yellow butterfly's on it but my plant is hosting two foot long green Iguana's now. I think that they are eating the flowers and leaves from the bush. Yes, other areas have problems with deer eating their plants but here you deal with Iguana's. Only in South Florida,go figure huh. One last thing to add . I found a fantastic website that is helping me to identify some of the critters, butterflies and birds found in my neck of the woods. It will tell you a lot about butterflies and the right plants to host and attract them. Probably more than you want to know. Check it out if you are so inclined. I am definitely saving this one as a reference to {get some edication} as we say in the south. The site is : http://butterflies.heuristron.net/index.php .

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ANOTHER TASTE OF COSTA RICA

I added some more pictures of a fairly recent trip to Costa Rica.

NOTE: CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO MAKE IT LARGER.

Arenal volcano - it is active and smoking which makes it rather unnerving to spend the day here. Back in 1968 it erupted and destroyed the town of Tabacon killing 87 people there.

Of course the place we went is the Tabacon Resort. But it makes you feel better to know that the management disavows any responsibility if the volcano erupts. By the way have a pleasant stay with us.

Anyway once the feeling of impending doom wears off you can enjoy the tropical plants and landscaping.

I think this guy is a helionia Rostrata or common name lobster claw

One of the streams volcano heated around 1o4 degrees. Perfect to take a dip in the hot mineral water. When you get out you resemble the lobster claw plant above.

Or you can stand under this small waterfall and let the hot water cascade over onto you.

A cool looking tropical plant. I have no idea what it is called.

And lastly my friend the Costa Rican Lizard . This little guy followed me around for the longest time.

This is a really beautiful place in a country that is a tropical plant lovers dream. My advice is if you ever get a chance to visit Costa Rica take it.-----------------------------sanddune---------------------------------------------------------------------