by Keri Byrum | Oct 31, 2015 | DIY Garden Projects, Plant Spotlight, Uncategorized |
As the weather begins to cool, fall is the perfect time to add color to your yard and landscape. While some of our more tropical plants will require extra care to get through cool night time temperatures, there are many annual flowers that will flourish in the cooler, drier weather. You will find great success during our Florida winter months by simply selecting the correct plants for this time of year. It can be difficult, however, to pick out the correct cool season flowers from the out of season plants that may still be offered at garden centers and this post will be a great tool in finding the best plants! Before purchasing plants, decide on the best location for your flowers.… Read Full Post
by Keri Byrum | Oct 26, 2015 | Plant Spotlight |
Have you ever walked by something so pretty you just couldn’t resist? Or maybe a piece of food that just smelled so good that you had to have a bite? Well, that is me and my love for Vanda orchids. I neeeed them. Vanda orchids come in the most amazing colors and have huge flowers that will stop you in your tracks. A single flower can be nearly 3″ across. Nowadays, florists use that species of orchids for making luxurious bouquets. Vanda orchids are distinctively different from other types of orchids in that they do not need to be in any type of orchid bark or moss, and prefer to grow simply hanging in the air. The name ‘epiphyte’ comes from the Greek word ‘epi’ meaning ‘upon’ and ‘phyton’ meaning ‘plant’.… Read Full Post
by Keri Byrum | Oct 14, 2015 | Plant Spotlight |
I am often asked, “Is bamboo bad?” I know that the fear is that the bamboo will go crazy, swallowing house, home and pool, but no, bamboo is not bad. The key is to make sure you buy your bamboo from a reputable source to ensure that it is a clumping, not running, bamboo. Bamboo is one of my favorite plants for screening in narrow areas. The very upright habit makes it ideal for creating privacy without taking up a huge amount of square footage. At our house we use Slender Weavers bamboo, Bambusa textilis gracilis, to hide the two story house behind us that looks right into our yard. As if reading my mind, Thompson’s Bamboo (my go-to source for all things bamboo related) writes, “This clumping bamboo is possibly the ideal bamboo for the residential landscape.… Read Full Post
by Keri Byrum | Oct 9, 2015 | Backyard Chickens |
I realized today that its been awhile since I’ve posted an update on our backyard chickens. Well, I know there are several people that find the story I am about to tell you very funny, but it is both infuriating and heartbreaking to me. The little chicks that we raised in our bathtub were doing fantastic. We were handling them several times a day to ensure they would be friendly, we named them after our favorite baseball players, and everything seemed to be going well. Our little chickies were growing so fast! When we moved them outside to their coop they didn’t miss a beat. They went upstairs to roost each night, still came to say hello when we fed them… it was great.… Read Full Post
by Keri Byrum | Oct 6, 2015 | Around Our Yard |
I woke up this morning to take the dogs outside and couldn’t believe it. There was a slight bit of coolness in the air! For Floridians who have been putting up with the unbearable heat and humidity since May, this slight break in the weather is a big deal. I am sure that many of you in other places are surprised that we celebrate 66 degrees. For a few weeks I’ve been trimming my summer containers back, trying to keep things in bounds and looking their best. These were planted in April, so six months later they are starting to go downhill. I am confident that if I gave them a hard pruning and watered more often they would come back well, but truth be told, I am ready for a change too.… Read Full Post
