The Saturday Market Was Bringing Out The People Yesterday

A Little Fountain At The Prado

Peafowl Visited Our Garden

The 3 peahens visited our yard last year. They left the peacocks home. Luckily they didn't come back. While they are very beautiful, they are noisy, dirty and they stay in a neighborhood once they find an area to there liking.

The Glass Has Been Tested By A Hurricane

The glass made it through the storm.

Mayor Don Slesnick Cut The Ribbon Yesterday

The 80 year old Prado Entrance to the city has been repaired. The city and county worked for 12 months.
Take a look at some the pictures.
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Cold Weather At It's Worst

The damage did not show up during the cold weather. Now with warmer weather the damage shows up a little more each day. Five days ago I thought it was one of the worst cold spells that we ever had in this area. Today I must say this is the very worst damage that we ever had.

It Was Nice For Christmas, But Now The Blooms Are Opening

The Saturday Farmers Market

Waiting For The Class

In January through March we have a Saturday market with classes in the garden of the city hall. Sometimes a restaurant will have there chef make one of their recipes and you even get to taste what is made. There are horticultural programs and some about Coral Gables history.

Morning, Noon And Night

Brunfelsia pauciflora is called morning,noon and night because the flowers start blue and finish white. It makes a nice hedge, but seldom seen.

Condos Are Popping Up All Over

The large condos are not allowed in the residential areas. Thus we can be two blocks from buildings like this and not see them.

Caimito / Star Apple

I started this caimito tree form a seed 35 years ago. This is the first time that the leaves dropped because of cold weather, down to 34f. The leaves started to drop 3 days after the cold spell. All of the leaves fell in two days. The formal name of the tree is Chrysophyllum cainito.

You Wouldn't Climb This Tree

The flowers of the silky floss tree make up for the thorns.

One Of The Older Condos

When it was built in the 80s it didn't look like it belong in our city. Now the trees have grown up around it and it looks fine to me.

The Breadfruit Tree Can't Take Cold Weather

After 8 days of cold weather the breadfruit tree had only a few leaves that were green. Then in the last three warm days the green disappeared. The dead leaves just hang on the tree. At this time I don't know if the tree is dead or just damaged. March will let me know.

Now That's A Driveway

The large driveway is for one very nice house.

The Best Of 2009

This is 1 of 12, because each month had a favorite picture. This orchid was one of the 7 plants that was brought into the house during to cold weather.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants

The Weather Is Killing The Lizards

Our native green lizards will hibernate if the weather is 40f. If they are in the open the birds eat them. After a week of cold weather the lizards died in numbers that the birds could not keep up with alll that food. The weather is also killing the large iguana.

The New French Village

It's a condo, I'm not sure that it should be called a village.

And This Will Be A Large Circle

There is a new circle, one block north of this spot. That one was opened in Dec.08 after 6 months of construction. We are told that this one is going to be finished in 4 months. In the mean time the traffic is a terrible.

Round-Abouts Are Popping All Over The City

Our Laundry Room

You're not likely to see a laundry room in a City Daily Photo blog. This is the longest cold snap for south Florida in 25 years. Last night was the coldest of the 6 nights. There are at least 1,000 orchid plants in our garden that where in danger if it went down to 32f. We were lucky, our back yard dropped to 34f. I only took 7 plants in to the house. On the 15th I will show you my favorite orchid. This one was the first one that I took in to the house.

It All Started Here

Forty years ago only the Biltmore hotel could be taller then 3 stories. Then the city was forced to allow the building of our next tall building, the David William. This hotel is now a condo with a few hotel rooms. In the last 20 years we have seen a quaint little town turn into a large city.

It's Still Cold

The city planted flowers at the Merrick House for the winter and spring. The cold weather will not damage them. It would take a frost to damage an Impatiens.

Miracle Fruit (Synsepalum dulcificum)

The last 4 or 5 days have been very cold in south Florida. No snow or ice but we still are hurting. Our garden is filled with tropical plants and some of them are having a problem. But this little fruit tree is doing very well. A man in Lauderdale is selling the fruit on the Internet for $2 for one fruit. I started with 2 seeds 45 years ago. Read about this miracle.

Jaboticaba And Almost Ready To Eat

It was 41f this morning and the jaboticaba looked pretty good. It will just take a little longer for them the ripen.

A Good Climbing Tree

It was a great climbing tree when I was a little boy and soon it will be time for our grandson to climb this tree. Unfortunately the tree will not wait for him. The tree is one of the ficus trees that is dieing from the little white fly.

The Four Year Old Showing His Little Brother The Way

That was on Christmas day and it was 78f. It's 41f this morning and I'm not going out until it warms up a little more.

364 Days Old

Our little grandson was checking out our back yard on Christmas day.

A Party To Bring In 2010

Theme day topic: Changes

This orchid, Cattleya skinneri, was bought 30 years ago. The name has been changed in the last 5 years to Guarianthe skinneri. The purple flower looks like the wild ones in the jungle.

This is also a Guarianthe skinneri but it's been changed by man. This species rarely have white flowers. This is also my favorite picture of last year. Click here to view thumbnails for all participants