A Full-time Life

FLOATING FLOWERS

 

For FLORAL FRIDAY FOTOS .   Click, get your flower fix!   Thank you Nick.

  

 

In the Everglades, flowers don't seem to grow so much as they seem to float. 

  

 

 If not on the water, like the two above, then they almost seem to float in the air, as the plant below:

 

 

This plant is attached to the cypress tree.  Air plants grow everywhere  around here.   They are epiphytes -- plants that grow on other plants (usually trees, but we've seen them on telephone wires.)  They are not parasites, but get nourishment and nutrients from the air and rain.  

ANOTHER UNKNOWN *** (PURPLE ORCHID TREE)

FOR FLORAL FRIDAY FOTOS  AND TODAY'S FLOWERS

***ADDED after Friday's post:  Thank you to Nick (host of Floral Friday Fotos) who identified the flower.  Here's a copy of his comment with a link to his source (and also click on Nick's name for a link to his excellent main blog):  

Sallie, this looks like a Bauhinia purpurea or "Orchid Tree". See: 
http://www.exotic-plants.de/seeds/trees/Bauhinia-purpurea-purple-orchid-tree.php

 Posted by: Nick | March 15, 2012 at 03:04 PM

 Yet another Florida flower whose name I don't know. (All help welcomed!)    It is a vine and is growing in only one yard here in the RV Park.      Nobody I have talked to knows what it is.  But we all think its lovely.   

 

 

 

HAPPINESS IS....

Sometimes OUR WORLD isn't about new and different adventures, but about the little joys of everyday life!  

 Daffodils just make me happy!  There's no getting around it.   

We went to a different grocery store this week and Bill found bunches of "field daffodils"  in the floral section.  In Florida they are an exotic species -- this was definitely not buying local.  

But it was worth it.  Because there's a lifetime of memories associated with these golden beauties.   

 

  Thank you to the hosts of Our World.  

FLORAL ARRANGING 201

THIS POST is linked to FLORAL FRIDAY (hosted by Nick -- thank you!)  MOSAIC MONDAY (thank you Mary)  and RUBY TUESDAY.(now hosted by Gemma and Magical Mystery Teacher.  Thank you!!)

This is the time of year when I start to miss Spring flowers --  so it's time to play with the flowers we do have.   

The tradeoff for no Winter (as we used to know it) is no Spring.  So we don't have pussy willows or daffodils or violets or tulips.  Or really any of the Spring flowers we used to grow (or at least see) back in our other life.   

Florida flowers are more lush.  Show-offs really.  

 

But they're showing off under that blue sky you can see in some of these pictures.  So we think it's a pretty good tradeoff!

 

No flowers were harmed in arranging and re-arranging these Florida beauties.   

(ALMOST) A DOZEN ROSES

FOR FEBRUARY 14 NOW and linking now to  FLORAL FRIDAY FOTOS .   Thanks for hosting Nick!

 

 

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

 

RAINDROPS ON ROSES

FOR MELLOW YELLOW MONDAY

 

 Last month I titled a post "The Last Rose of Summer."  There had already been some grey, chilly days and it seemed certain that a frost wasn't too far off.  But it warmed up -- and September wasn't the end of summer after all, at least for the roses.  

Last week, Cyndi and I took walk through the Owens Rose Garden in Eugene.  While the blooms weren't as profuse as they would have been if we'd made it earlier in the season, there were still plenty of beauties. 

 

Sunshine after a night of rain was a treat for us ... and for the roses!

WHAT IS IT?

LINKED TO  RUBY TUESDAY.  Click the link to see red!    Thank you Mary.

Any guesses what fruit this is?

 
It looked good enough to pick for your salad (and maybe it is; I've heard they are edible.). 

   
These were the prettiest rose hips I've ever seen.  They were blooming on a hedge of wild roses, also at the recycling facility.

THE GARDEN AT BRING

This post is linked to MELLOW YELLOW MONDAY.  Thanks!

 

All these sunny flowers were blooming last Sunday in the garden at Bring Recycling Center in Eugene.  In the lower right corner you can see a portion of the fencing made from recycled materials. 

TRANSITION

FOR OUR WORLD hosted by these five wonderful bloggers:  Arija, Gattina, Lady Fi, Sylvia, and Sandy.   Thank you ladies!

It's a between-season time out here in the RV Park near the wetlands.   Most of the summer flowers (wild and tame) are gone, but there's not much Fall color yet.  It's still sunny most days after cool foggy mornings. 

   

Wildflowers are ghosts of their former selves.  Cattails (which would be perfect for Autumn arrangements) have already gone to seed.  A week of hot weather did them in. 

The good local apples haven't appeared at the Farmer's Market yet, but abandoned old trees out along the street where we walk to the wetlands have fruit.   (These apples might be OK to make applesauce out of, if you were careful.  But because the trees aren't cared for, the fruit isn't good to eat out-of-hand.)  

These trees are survivors  -- planted years ago when people used to farm this wetland area.   Before the flood-control reservoir was built.

School started a couple of weeks ago, and while Autumn hasn't quite officially begun in this hemisphere, it always feels like Fall as soon as those yellow buses start appearing on our country road  -- -- even for those of us who are years and years past living on a school schedule.   

 

LAST ROSES OF SUMMER

FOR RUBY TUESDAY hosted by Mary at Work of the Poet.

 
 
Although it is almost officially Autum, the roses are hanging in there.  That's about it as far as flowers go -- the Fall color really isn't here yet and the other summer flowers are looking timeworn.

 

  This one is is a flower memory from earlier this summer.  Our two great-grandsons (and their mother) were here visiting their grandparents -- (our daughter and son-in-law).   (Here's the earlier post.)

The not-quite-two-year-old loved this flower.  At that point, he only had the important things in his vocabulary (his big brother's name, mom, dad, dog, football, grandma and grandpa, and, of course, no.)  But he was fascinated by the pink and blue hydrangea and, with the help of his grandmother,  added that word to his vocabulary.  It was fun hearing his baby version of this big word and knowing it meant that he'd be talking in paragraphs very soon.  (His mom tells us that he is now.)

 *DISCLAIMER:  The grandmother who taught him to say the new word was our daughter, not me!  (Bill and I are both called GG!)

 

IMAGINE

 

 
 "Imagine all the people living life in peace." 

 

 September 11, 2011  TODAY'S FLOWERS

John Lennon's "Imagine"  Click for link to the full lyrics and link to video.

 

ONE OF THESE IS NOT LIKE THE OTHERS

Visit TODAY'S FLOWERS.  

Our kids and grandkids used to enjoy gathering bouquets of wildflowers.

And now our great-grands do.  And so do I.  But I have a different method of gathering.

Here's a bouquet of (mostly) white ones from a recent stroll down the country road.

 

 

INDIAN PAINTBRUSH

This reddest of all the red wildflowers was a welcome roadside find on our summer roadtrip.   Linked to RUBY TUESDAY.

 

 

PRETTY POISON?

 FOR MELLOW YELLOW  MONDAY. (Definitely yellow, maybe not so mellow.)

   

This bright yellow wildflower (weed?) is growing in several spots along Jeans Road.  We didn't remember seeing it when we've stayed here in previous summers.  And lo and behold the local section of this morning's paper has an article about how TANSY RAGWORT is making a comeback in the area.  It's a weed that is lethal to horses and cattle and it was thought to have been eradicated.  Here's a link to the article and picture, which looks just about exactly the same as the one I took.  So although I thought I was going to post about the pretty little pools of sunshine growing along the side of the road, instead I am posting about a pretty poison.   

 

 

But the bees don't know it's dangerous.   

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

MAGNOLIA

FOR WEEKEND IN BLACK AND WHITE

 

We drove past the house we used to own the other day.  I'm glad we don't own it any longer, but I still want to check up on it whenever we're in the area.  (Are we the only ones who do that?)

When we first looked at the house, in 1971, we were entranced by the big beautiful Grandiflora Magnolia Tree in the front yard.   I wanted that house before we ever set foot inside.  It was a good thing that the rest of it met our needs!

The house has changed a lot since then, but the Magnolia Tree is still there and still as beautiful as ever.    I jumped out of the car for a quick picture and a quick fix of its beautiful fragrance. 

JEANS ROAD RAMBLE

That's My World

 

The dogwood trees along Jeans Road have been especially beautiful this summer. 

And as a fallen-away, non-practicing gardener, I am grateful for the dedication of these RV-Park neighbors. 

  

For more views of the world as people from all over know it, click the That's My World links.

 And join me in thanking the hosts for bring us this opportunity every week.



 

BUTTERCUPS ON A BUSH

FOR MELLOW YELLOW MONDAY.

 

 

When we're staying at Fern Ridge Shores, Jeans Road is the "default" daily walk. I never get tired of it. 

Between the wetlands and Lake on one side of the road and more wetlands and a few country homes on the other,  there's something new to see every day.  

One yard has a few of these plants.  I call them buttercup bushes -- I don't know what the real name is. 

They're a little straggly now (they were prettier when we first got here), but I love them because each individual flower looks like a giant buttercup.

 

 

 

FLYING FLOWERS

LINKED TO SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY  AND TODAY'S FLOWERS.

 

 
 

Taken during our visit with the kids in Colorado.  I was resting and admiring the wildflowers as Lisa hiked ahead on a trail at Hall Ranch near Lyons. 

I knew my legs needed a rest, but I thought my eyes must really be tired too when it seemed like part of the flower I was looking at just upped and flew away. 

Luckily, the flying part landed again a few seconds later so that I could get these pictures.

 

SPRING FLOWERS

SHARED WITH MELLOW YELLOW MONDAY     and     RUBY TUESDAY

Spring flowers are in bloom in Colorado!  It's great to be here to enjoy them.  We saw the yellow iris and red poppy at Benson Park.

 

 

 

ROYAL POINCIANA

  FOR THAT'S MY WORLD  Go visit it!  and RUBY TUESDAY at Mary's. 

 

The Royal Poinciana trees are just starting to flower.   They aren't in full beautiful bloom yet but I'm so in love with this tree I couldn't wait to share.  And the seed pods are interesting at this stage.

Here's one that's a little further along, probably because it's warmer beside the building. 

We posted a picture of this tree in late May last year -- click here . 

We didn't know its name then, but have since learned.     It's also called the Flame Tree or Flamboyant Tree and it is easy to see why. 

By the end of this month the trees should all be in full bloom -- the ones planted in more open spaces will make a better picture because of the beautiful contrast with Florida's blue sky. 

FLOWER FIX

 

 

                                                       

A recent visit to the local garden center was a great way to get a flower fix for the week.

 

(It's a good thing there's no charge for looking and taking pictures.)

We don't have space for outdoor plants here -- and pretty much the only way I can keep houseplants alive is through pictures like this one.

 

 

Spring flowers here in Florida are far more flamboyant than those we'd see if we were in Oregon (where we did do some gardening years ago).

 

 

    

The quieter spring flowers -- violets, primroses, even daffodils and tulips -- don't grow here and we miss them.  The potted African violets reminded me of the little purple ones that used to grow wild in our Oregon yard (and still do at our kids' place).

 

 

THIS POST IS LINKED TO TODAY'S FLOWERS. 

 

 



MEMORIES OF SPRING -- IN OREGON

FOR RUBY TUESDAY, enjoy these Oregon memories with us.  And visit Mary's lovely meme to click on more bright and cheerful reds.

 

We don't usually visit Oregon until late Summer or Fall and so we miss the Spring flowers.  Of course we have flowers in Florida, lots of them, but not the same ones.  These pictures, from our daughter and son-in-law's gardens, were taken in April 2007, the one year lately that we were there while Spring flowers were in full bloom.     Enjoy the memories with us.

 

 

 

  Isn't it nice of Cyndi and Jeff to do all the work while we just enjoy?  They both have great green thumbs, much better than we had when we lived in Oregon. 

 

CREPE MYRTLE

Linking this post to Ruby Tuesday.  Click on the underlined link below and then on the links!  http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com/2010/08/ruby-tuesday_30.html

 We have seen these lovely trees called Crepe Myrtles blooming everywhere from South Carolina up through Virginia.     

 

We'd never seen these trees before.  Some Southern flowers do quite well in Oregon, even if they bloom at a different time of year (magnolias, rhodys) -- but these must need more heat.  Even though it's been so hot, these trees don't look like they're suffering at all.

 

COREOPSIS

This post is linked at MELLOW YELLOW MONDAY .  See more bright pictures by clicking the links there.

Finally, we have a picture of a Florida flower we can identify.   This is the COREOPSIS.  A name which somehow I think sounds more like a disease than a sweet little flower! 

 We learned that this is Florida's official wildflower.  I first read the informational sign as "official flower" and wondered why they chose this relatively unassming little plant instead of one of the many more flamboyant subtropical flowers that bloom around here.    It turns out that the official Florida  FLOWER is the Orange Blossom. 

While the Coreopsis is only the official wildflower -- just a little spot of sunshine on the ground!

ANOTHER UNIDENTIFIED RED BEAUTY

 GO LOOK AT MORE RUBIES AND REDS OVER AT MARY'S RUBY TUESDAY .  AND THE GREEN IS A LOVELY CONTRAST AND FITS IN WELL WITH EVERYDAY LIFE-- where the theme for this week is "Green." 

Yet another unidentified Florida red.  We thought the leaves looked a little like a type of magnolia.  This tree was in the City Park at Cape Coral.  We looked for some plant identifcation information or somebody who might know, but no luck. 

MAYBE next season we'll have more time to work on our plant identification skills.  Meanwhile, although unidentified, these things sure are pretty to look at.

 

ORIGAMI FLOWERS

This post is linked to  RUBY TUESDAY.  Check it out!! 

 

We don't  know what this wildflower is, but on the morning we took this picture it looked rather as if somebody carefully folded it into pleats.  (It was growing at one of the nature areas where we walk sometimes.)  

This plant too looks a little bit like a paper heart cutout.  (I probably should have saved it for Valentine's Day). 

It is growing near our neighbor's yard and she says it is a wild bleeding-heart.  It does look a bit like the pink heart-shaped plant we used to grow when we lived in Oregon. 

But back then, we'd have been sweating as we weeded the wild grass from around it.  Now I'm not at all sure that it would have been any more beautiful for all that work!  

Still gardening the RV Way -- just admiring the beauty, not doing much work!

RED VINES

This post is linked to Mary's RUBY TUESDAY meme at Work of the Poet.  Click on it to see her beautiful Flag Day post and on the links to see other lovely red pictures.

This cheerful red vine is just blooming away all by itself where one of our neighbors has left for the season.  Since they left, I don't believe it gets any special care at all. The resort staff takes care of the grass and public areas, even during the off season, but not individual yards. 

If I still gardened, this would be my kind of flower! 

Same plant up close -- and even more cheerful:

 
  

NIGHT-BLOOMING CACTUS

Share your favorite flowers or look at others at  TODAY'S FLOWERS  and see creative shadow work at HARRIET'S SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY

 

This Night-Blooming Cactus is at home across the street from us --  in our neighbor's yard.  It's in partial shade, so if we're up early enough, we can see it bloom in daylight. (Must admit that most mornings, it is closed up by the time we look.) 

Didn't even notice the delicate shadow pattern on the top petals until I enlarged the picture.

A perfect moment saved by accident!

SLICED TOMATOES -- A (not-so) SIMPLE THING

THAT'S MY WORLD .  Today my link to this meme is different.  It is about part of my world that I  don't love.

 
(This picture was taken late last Summer.  Back in Oregon and after one of our amost daily raids of Cyndi and Jeff's garden.) 

Next season -- when we're finished with some of our projects around the cottage here at Upriver -- I just might have to stick a tomato plant in a pot out on our deck.   (Even though we haven't gardened at all for years and didn't really plan to start again.)

Buying tomatoes when we're in Florida should be the easiest thing in the world -- they grow really well here.  The town of Immokolee, a few miles from where we live, is the US center for tomato farming.  Many, if not most, of the fast food chains and many grocery chains  buy tomatoes from commercial growers based there.  However, the owners have, for years, gotten away with paying less-than-living wages to the farm workers.  There is a community-based worker organization called The Coalition of Immokalee Workers that is actively trying to remedy these conditions.  

A few landowners have even kept their workers in slavery. (In Immokalee there is a Museum of Modern Slavery -- really). This story from GOURMET MAGAZINE tells about just such an Immokalee landowner.  The trial, where several members of one  family were convicted of keeping workers in slave conditions, happened when we were here last year. 

After years of work on the part of the Coalition, some large purchasers have agreed to pay more for the tomatoes, with the added cost going to the Coalition for better wages.  These purchasers include Taco Bell, Burger King, Mickey D's and Whole Foods.  Kudos to Taco Bell and Burger King, but that's not, as a rule, where we want to get our fresh tomatoes.  And the only Whole Foods in our area is over at Naples -- close enough for a day trip to the beach, but not close enough for a weekly grocery buying trip.  (We wish it were closer -- for this and many other grocery-related reasons!)

Sadly, Publix, which is the major supermarket chain in this area (and the one closest to us)  has refused to sign on.   (The Coalition is asking Publix to pay one cent --  ONE PENNY -- more per pound for the tomatoes they buy.  That money would go to raising wages and improving living conditions for the workers.).   

Now, in the past we probably bought tomatoes from sources that didn't pay their workers fairly, without even thinking about where they came from. But you can't read these stories -- and drive past the exit to Immokalee fairly often -- without having to do something -- small as it may be. 

 CLICK HERE to read one article that also gives the Publix side of the controversy.  (I wanted to be fair.)

It's obvious which side we're on, so tomatoes have been off our shopping list except when we can go to local Farmer's Markets.  But just now in yesterday's local paper, we read an article saying that six tomato vendors at a private farmer's market in Immokalee have been served with misdemeanor violations for failing to comply with food-safety rules.  It seems that Florida requires tomatoes be sanitized to reduce microbial contamination and requires that they be harvested into plastic boxes.  HUH? 

I can't wait to visit one of the Farmer's Markets that are NOT in Immokalee to see if they comply with these regulations.   I can't help but wonder.

Meanwhile -- I wish I had that tomato plant out on our deck. 

__________________________________________________________________

Bacon's bad for us, can't buy tomatoes.  Anybody for a bread and lettuce sandwich?

SPRING BLOOMS, FLORIDA STYLE

FOR  MELLOW YELLOW MONDAY AND  RUBY TUESDAY , two wonderful color memes.   

 

Here in  Southwest Florida, we don't see the Spring flowers that we used to love when we lived in Oregon.  

I miss lilacs and daffodils and tulips and violets. I am glad that we used to live in the Northwest so that we know what it is like to anticipate Spring blooms after a long dark rainy season. 

And glad that I remember how happy we were when Spring had finally arrived. 

Here where we are now, we don't have daffodils.  But we see this flowering tree.  I haven't learned it's name yet, but it is a beautiful yellow.

We don't have tulips,but we do have red blooms. 

In the Northwest, we called this plant a Christmas Cactus, because that's when it would bloom -- as a pampered house plant.   

It grows almost wild here -- below is a picture of one in our neightbor's yard.  This is a tree - not a house plant! 

We have a smaller one in our own yard that is in a place where we don't want it.  It is hard for me to think about digging it up. 

This one is in another neighbor's hanging basket.

 

 

I don't know yet what the plant below is really called, but back in Oregon we tried to grow it as a houseplant and it was called  bottle brush.

This one is a tree.  But the red catkins still look like bottle brushes. 

 

So, yes, I do miss Spring in Oregon.  But I am not complaining about Spring in Florida.   It is not Spring like we used to think of it, but it is beautiful!  And Warm!  And the Skies are Blue.   It is a good place to be right now.

STRAWBERRY FIELDS IN MARCH

Florida.  Strawberries.  March!  Yummm!

These are growing behind the farmstand nearest to our Florida home.  The berries are full and sweet; the cold (before we got here) and all the rain don't seem to have hurt the crop at all.

We used to do you-pick berries when we lived in Oregon -- now I do you-pic(ture).

Back then, strawberries were a favorite because they are the first to ripen and that meant summer was almost here.  But back then -- and back there --  they ripened in June!  We were lucky to have shortcake on Father's Day.  This isn't the first Winter/early Spring we've spent on the Gulf Coast, but we still marvel at having local berries this early.

Visit Mary right here at Work of the Poet for more RUBY TUESDAY posts.

 

 

A LITTLE BIT OF FEBRUARY SUNSHINE

 
Bill brought this bouquet of sunshine with him when he came home from his short but tedious daily job Friday.  I love these early daffodils with their promise of Spring!    

And I have to say that early spring flowers are a joy that we miss when we spend the winter in warm climates. 

It was gray and rainy on Friday and Saturday so that the flowers were the only bright spot we could see. 

 Today we had blue skies and cool sunshine, so the promise of spring is slowly materializing.  (Although any Oregonian or former Oregonian knows not to expect a steady path of sunshine this early in the season.)

Happy February.

MELLOW YELLOW MONDAY because lots of people love cheerful yellow, especially this time of year! 

COLOR SPOTS

 

  
 Our scenery right now is still pretty much all sepia and gray, so it's time again for a look back at some color.   

 

All these sunny yellow color spots are really just flowers growing wild -- otherwise known as weeds! 

The cactus picture was taken at Falcon Lake State Park in Texas, the middle two on the bike paths here in Oregon (in another more colorful season)  and the agave plant in Tucson, Arizona.

"Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories." (From the movie An Affair to Remember) and quoted on  THIS BLOG, one of my favorites: 

I feel warmer now! 

 

 

 

 

MELLOW YELLOW MONDAY

 

 

 

 

WE NEED A LITTLE COLOR

Here a few bright spots from past trips.  Just for some cheer during NOcolor NOvember.  

 
 (Click to enlarge any of the next ones)

 

 

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here's where they were taken:

Top picture:  Wildflowers on top of a mountain in Colorado (in June)

Marigold and butterfly in Vermont at a farmstand; fall flowers in Eugene Oregon (along a bike path); Butterfly garden in Seattle

Japanese Iris at Denver Botanical Gardens; exotic plants in a conservatory in Charleston SC;  blooming cactus at Falcon Lake State Park, Texas

Just some very brave wildflowers, blooming along a dusty roadside near Ocala FL; and wild roses (being pollinated) along a roadside in Alvadore Oregon