January 2014

This January has been the coldest we have had since moving to the Hammock area of Palm Coast, Florida. There have been several nights of 30 degree lows and one night the bird bath was frozen. This has been a challenge with so many tropical trees and ornamentals. The one night that dipped into the upper 20's we covered all of the fruit trees with sheets and covered the trunks of each one with air conditioning insulation. The two royal poincianas are on the south side of the house next the the wood fence so they didn't get covered and they seem fine. The angels trumpets! Leaves are gone now but they seem to be alive and all of the plumarias look okay.

This is a three day weekend for us so I am planning to get some planting done when it warms up tomorrow.

January 2018

Winter is here! We are experiencing the coldest temperatures in central Florida since 2014 and they say the cold is going to last longer this year. All of my tortoises are unhappily stuck inside for the next week or so... I spent most of the day yesterday preparing all of my tropical plants for the cold weather. Now I just have to wait and worry about what will make it and what won't.

Meanwhile, I am trying to forget the cold weather for a while. I have been looking at tropical plants online. Here are a few nurseries I have found that I plan to visit this year:

Gardino Nursery in Delray Beach.

Spring 2016

I started this blog two years ago as a way to journal and keep up with what I have in my garden and then got busy and never kept up with it. I am going to try again....

March 31, 2016 Franklin, my  fifty year old+ red footed tortoise passed away today. After months of going to  different veterinarians and trying out different medications and treatments, Franklin was finally diagnosed with liver cancer. Franklin was the tortoise who started my whole new gardening trend, gardening with tortoises in mind. Planting things that not only were good for tortoises to eat but also not planting anything that could be toxic or using any chemicals in any of the gardens the tortoises have access to. Franklin lived in my library garden at school for 9 years and came home with me on Christmas and summer vacations, so I had to maintain two tortoise friendly gardens. Franklin made many human friends over the years, both children and adults. I know there have been many children over the years that only came to the library to visit Franklin and it gave me the opportunity to try to hook them into reading something while they were there. Franklin and his garden even had a full page article in the newspaper a few years ago. He will be missed by many, but mostly by me. I will never be able to walk into my library garden without thinking of his sweet face coming over to see if I have a treat for him.

                                

April 2, 2016 My greenhouse is finally finished so next winter my orchids and other delicate tropicals will have a happy place to live (besides my downstairs bathtub). An electrician is out there while I am working on this, putting electricity in the greenhouse so I can have a heater in the winter and a fan for circulation in the summer. That way a tortoise or two can live out there at night. 

        

I have loved gardening since I was a little girl, my dad and I planted a garden together every year and my mother loved her houseplants. But now that I have my tortoises, it has given me new interests and new things to learn about and research. 

Last year we started making outdoor areas for the different species of tortoises that are now part of our family. We started with the cut off pieces of pilings from the dock that we have put in and then we got permission from our dock builder to come by and get the discarded piling pieces from his trash pile behind his business. They are a perfect fencing and fit right in with our nautical style. 

January 2014

I live on the intracoastal in the Hammock area of Palm Coast Florida. This winter has been very cold for us. Several nights of 30 degree lows have been a challenge for us and all of our tropical plants! I walked around today and checked on everything and although there is a little frost damage to a few things, it looks like we didn't lose anything.

Many of the plants and spaces in the garden are designed and planted for my pet tortoises. The tortoises live in my garden at school but need to come home with me on holidays and summer vacation. Since they are vegetarians, I like to grow a variety of organic plants, flowers and trees that can be on their menu. Their favorites are lettuces, dandelions, different species of hibiscus flowers and leaves, and mulberry leaves. I often find different weeds popping up in the yard and when I find out what it is and if it is edible I will add it to their plates. 

Tortoises' temporary home

     

Spot is a baby Red Footed tortoise

Franklin is a 50+ year old Red Footed Tortoise

Boris is a 7 year old Herman's tortoise

Shelldon is a Golden Greek tortoise