Pink Friday

Hi everyone,
It is a hot and muggy Friday in Florida and it feels more like Summer than Spring! It has been in the mid 90's all day and we need rain badly. I have been painting a mural on the dining room wall of a client, so all week I have been very busy and am not finished yet!
On the way home today, I stopped at the garden center to see the new plants and it was just beautiful there.

I noticed a good bit of pink flowers! So here are some pretty ones I spotted.




This bougainvillea is mixed pink and white and has been trained as a tree, clipped round. It is stunning and is priced at $160. , I believe. My neighbor, Margaret, works in the garden center and this plant is her favorite! I just had to stop and see it, and it is gorgeous.



















I'm not sure of some of the names so here they are. Just look and enjoy! I am trying to decide just what I want to purchase for my flower garden. I have to consider the heat foremost and then the dry weather.

I think I definitely want some of the bromeliads. They love Florida weather!

Have a great weekend!

yellow day lilies and a Surprise in the garden...

Hi everyone from Ten Gables Cottage,
It is a hot time here....we are having temps in the high 80's. That has made the day lilies decide to bloom. I have yellow ones and orange ones. They are a cheerful sort of flower, I always think. It is too bad the blooms don't last longer.














Now for the garden surprise! Do any of you know the plant (or I should say weed) called Poke Sallad. alias Poke, Poke Sallet, Poke weed, etc. Well, I spotted a plant about a foot tall in the garden! Do you know that it is edible, although toxic! One must use young leaves and boil them three times, pouring off the water and getting fresh water after each boiling to help rid the plant of toxins. Then you cook them like you would any greens such as Kale. The Native Americans (Indians) used the root to treat inflamation. Others have used it for acne, tonsilitis and even weight loss. I am originally from Harlan, Kentucky and there they have a Poke Sallad Festival, one of only four in the U.S. I have eaten a bite or two of it and didn't find it appealing. And that was BEFORE I learned it is toxic! So..........out goes this weed; don't you think that is the best idea! One more thing.......I have heard "old timers" say to a child, "Well, you have gotten as tall as a Poke Stalk"!

Plug in the Bread Maker......

Hi everyone from Ten Gables,

Do you ever just get a craving for some homemade bread? That is what happened to me yesterday and I just got out the bread machine and in two and 1/2 hours, I had a delicious loaf of yummy bread.

I used a recipe for Golden Egg Bread that I had used before and found to be very delicious. One of the best parts about baking bread is the delicious aroma filling the house! Maybe someone should capture that aroma in a candle...call it "fresh baked bread". Maybe they already have done so..... I've bought a candle called "caramel candy" that I really like.

Back to the bread....Last night I made a chicken salad with apples and raisins and a dash of curry in the dressing, served up on a bed of lettuce, deviled eggs (in parts of Kentucky they are called "dressed" eggs) and cantaloupe with fresh baked Golden Egg Bread smothered in butter! A simple meal but delicious! Look hard at this loaf of bread and you can almost smell it!! Have a great day, Egretta

How does your garden grow?

Greetings from Ten Gables Cottage,

It is a lovely day here is South Florida, but oh! we need rain! I hear it is raining on the coast, so hopefully it will move this way later today. I took a little walk around the garden and here is what is growing.

Margaret has planted a lovely window box and I don't know the name of the flowers. I will have to ask her later---they are so pretty and sunny.

The crape myrtle is starting to bloom. When in bloom, crape myrtle is so lovely, but other times of the year, this deciduous tree is just not attractive at all. Often, I think I will just get rid of the brown stemmy looking thing and then , just in time, it blooms showy panicles with such lovely color that I end up keeping it. In fact, there are several on the property and they do make nice specimen trees in Summer. For all practical purposes, it is summer now and Spring is over! We usually have 2 or 3 weeks of nice Spring weather, then it turns hot!

Margaret has planted this lovely flowering vine on her fence and I think it is called mandavilla , not too sure, but it is really pretty there.

The roses here are putting on a big show right now and will continue to do so all summer. Roses bloom all year in Florida.

Even Kitty admires them!

And now to the vegetables! My purple cabbage looks o.k, not great! It needs more water, I am sure and also I have noticed a few bites are being eaten on the outer leaves by something, maybe grasshoppers. I think I will mix up some flour and pepper and sprinkle around the plants. Will that work? I don't know....I just got it off the top of my head!

Here is a tomato plant inside it's little cage. I will use some twist ties to secure it as it gets bigger.
It is getting tomatoes on it and this one is called a Big Boy.

I have some green onions here and there (I don't plant in rows because my veggies are mixed in a flower garden). It is kind of cute to see veggies growing among herbs and flowers! Never one to follow normal ways of doing things, I try to get a creative, artistic look to my garden. Later I will show you a photo of the whole thing. At the moment, it needs a little tidying up.

Green peppers are doing well. I have a banana pepper plant and a red one, as well.

The Chives are growing so well and are yummy a number of ways. I love them chopped on baked potatoes with sour cream.














Rosemary! My favorite. I love it in soups, on roasted chicken, in almost anything!

And here is an update on the pineapple. It is growing well and in a couple of months, should be quite large. It will be ready to eat in July probably.

That is my garden today! I hope you enjoyed the little tour. Happy gardening to you! Egretta

Lilies and Squash

Hi Everyone,

It is a lazy day at Ten Gables! After church, I took a quick walk in the garden. It is fairly hot today and I am anxious to get in my studio and work on my latest painting.


I was surprised to see that the tiger lily is blooming and it usually doesn't until last of May or first of June. Seems everything is a bit early this year.


The Peace lily is just full of bloom. It is in a shaded area, but still the tips of most of the flowers are suffering from the heat and lack of water, and are turning brown.

The Easter Lily is in its glory and smells so good. I wish the blooms would last longer.

Speaking of blooms, I have been seeing blooms on the butternut squash and upon a closer look, I see squash is forming. Here is a photo of a little one. That is so exciting for me, as I have never planted it before and it is getting so hot I was afraid the veggies wouldn't develop. I must keep them watered! Hope you have a nice afternoon and evening.

A Flock of Flamingos......

Hello from
Ten Gables,

Man, is it hot and humid today! It is 92 degrees with humidity at 46% and just out for a walk melts you right down! The forecast for the next 10 days is very hot, and my poor garden is not liking this one bit! The squash leaves have wilted today and look so pitiful. The squash is blooming great, but I don't know if this weather will ruin it or not. I hope it survives!

In Florida, our main garden is in winter and for a summer garden, you must plant very early, by Feb. 19th or it just gets too hot. I did plant early, but now we are having unseasonably hot weather.

Check out this flock of pink flamingos. Aren't they just gorgeous.? I think they like it around the old oak trees! Well, I like them there---they are plastic! From a distance one does a double take at first glance. From the highway in front of the property, they look like the real thing. I bought them at the Dollar Tree today. Just could not resist getting a small flock and actually may need a few more for a real splash of color. What do you think? I know an odd number of anything is better than an even, so I got 5 of them, but now I am thinking maybe 9 would be good. Can you have too many of a good thing?

On to some photos of the flowers that are prettiest today. One good thing about the heat is we do have some lovely tropical flowers. Here is the huge bloom of a yellow hibiscus. I love the deep red center.

Well, I did find a nice little pepper today on one of the pepper plants. Don't remember the variety, but it is a sweet pepper, I am sure. It is a pale green, whereas I also have the regular green ones coming on and have picked one so far.

Here is the yellow rose blooming profusely. The leaves don't do so well in hot weather (black spot), but the blooms are good.

The orange double hibiscus is absolutely full of blooms. This seems to be their best ever.














At the very top of this post is the Florida bleeding heart,one of my very favorite plants. It is different from the regular bleeding heart in more Northern climates, and is a beauty in its own right. I do miss the beautiful pink bleeding hearts we had in Kentucky. Every area has its own beauty, though, and we can appreciate all.

Now here is a question for you. How do you get rid of stray cats? We have a stray mother cat who has had kittens here. We trapped the kittens and took them to the animal shelter, where they will get them in homes, but the mother cat is trap savvy and we cannot catch her or get near her, yet she roams around the property and sleeps under our renter's cars. I put out moth balls today under the cars and around the property (they also deter snakes).I even bought a water gun and tried to douse her and she ran away into the bushes. Any suggestions? She has brought in 2 Tom Cats,too, so we will have more kittens again, I am afraid. As far as we know, no one here is feeding her. Help!

Family matters

Hi everyone,

I hope you had a wonderful Easter. My grandchildren were here and after church we had an Easter Egg hunt. The eggs were filled with coins, so that made it extra interesting to them!
Austin is opening all his eggs in this photo and getting out the money.







Andrew turned 13 on Friday, and this photo was taken at Jaxson's in Dania, Florida. He is ready to dig into a huge strawberry waffle with ice cream and topped with a birthday sparkler. Now he is officially a teen!