Welcome to our little corner of South Florida

Monday, March 12, 2012

Busy weekend!

What a busy weekend we had! We spent Saturday adding new plants, mulching and really just enjoying what we have created.While Darcy was taking pictures of our progress, we caught this little guy in the act of eating and/or laying eggs on our poor little grapefruit tree. This poor little tree came from Dave's parents backyard in Palmetto Bay (the house Dave grew up in) and has had a really hard time accumulating to the backyard. It was moved from the shade to full sun and seemed to be doing ok but the bugs are getting the better of it. Not to mention it has never produced any fruit. We haven't given up hope yet!   








Staghorns are up!































We were able to hang the Staghorn Darcy mounted last week; however, Dave did not like it mounted for a horizontal hang and hung it vertically instead. As much as Darcy tried to explain that it wasn't mounted to grow vertically ... you can see he got his way. We only hope the Staghorns don't care and will grow regardless how it's hanging!


 


We decided to plant the strawberries since the were actually rooting through the pots.





flowers beautiful flowers!








finished Chickee/tiki hut



The Chickee is finished and we are now awaiting the decking guys to get out - hoping for this week or next! 

time for some chillaxing!






 

Saturday, March 10, 2012

A month of changes ...

 So a month as gone by and lots has been done! We added a Frangipani or Plumeria Tree which appears to be sprouting its leaves. We are really looking forward to its blooms! Not sure what color it will flower but know it will fill our senses when it blooms!

At the base of the Frangipani are potted strawberry plants. We are getting to the end of the season and we are not sure to plant them there. It's been lets put them there and see how we like it sort of thing. Also in that picture is a staghorn I just mounted on left over cypress from the Chickee/Tiki hut build. We plan on hanging it from the ficus.
Frangipani
base of the frangi covered with strawberry plants
We have five orchids- what kind I couldn't tell you.  Two of the five are currently in bloom - this is just one of them. 
blooming orchid!!
We bought this with the Orchids about a month ago from Fuchs down in the Redlands. I was really surprised to see it flower especially since we thought it was getting too much sun and relocated it. 


View from the entrance to the back corner
Red Bleeding Heart
 At the entrance to the backyard we planted spindle palms, donkey ears and ground orchids. Dave decided that they of course needed bromeliads and transplanted one from the from to the corner. I brought home a Florida Flame Vine and wanted it in the corner but my thought was vetoed. In the picture neither the Flame Vine nor the Confederate Jasmine had been planted yet.
Spindle Palms create a perfect backdrop for the entrance
purple passion flower
center island a long the fence

The center island(above) is complete as far as planting but of course expect it all to fill out. Not to mention on one side of the island is the red bleeding heart and on the other is a purple passion flower (also above). We expect it to be breathtaking once it is all filled in.

On the right side of the yard we have so much going on but then I think not enough. I bought a pincher plant at the Everglades City Seafood Festival and it is just loving our garden. I've read over and over not to feed it tap water and only distilled or rain water but mine doesnt seem to be a finicky eater!

What you can't see very well is the herbs that are planted near the red shrimp and behind  another one of Dave's Bromeliad. I used last years seeds and actually thought they didn't take but they are doing really well.

The entire back corner was supposed to be for my edible garden but after planting we realized it really wasn't a great spot. Once the pergola is done, the edible garden will go along the outside of the decking. For now we are concentrating on filling in the back corner. My thought was to place a monsteria on either side of the ficus to give it the fullness effect I am looking for. I think Dave has other thoughts. 
back corner


right side of tree/yard
We plan to work on the garden all day. Couple trips to various nurseries and our local HD. I'm really hoping we can hang the staghorn today too... I think I'm asking a lot Dave though!

and here we go!

Dave & Darcy's Tropical Oasis - A Life Experiment is a chronicle of us redoing the backyard. This is more than just relandscaping, its about our relationship with each other and mother nature. We live in sunny South Florida and are trying to create as much as possible a natural/native habitat while also providing space for our edible garden. Please feel free comment as you take this journey with us! 

Before photogs of the backyard. These pictures were taken at the very beginning of February, 2012:

back of the house

our previous small edible garden
our sad little grapefruit tree

back corner
Stains sniffing around







So as you can see the yard needed help! Even though we are only a month into it a lot has happened!

The rocks came February 3rd

back corner


creating an entrance



Since then we filled in some landscaping with various types of bromeliad - which if Dave had his choice it would be a bromeliad garden, Spindle Palms, a frangi pani that is getting ready to bloom, flax, ground orchids, Yellow and Red shrimp , Canna Lilies, a White Bird of Paradise, several types of flowering vines such as a purple passion, red bleeding heart, two different type of jasmine, and a Florida Flame vine, some aloe - which one is in the process of flowering ... I actually was told that I should have picked 5 plants for the entire garden but whats the fun in that! We even built a chickee (tiki) hut and I'm in the process of creating a timelapsed video of the build. Also, since this is our first blog or even an attempt to blog, We ask that you please bear with us as we take this journey. Thanks Dave & Darcy.