Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Slow Food On The Way


Slow Food is coming to the Merrick House this fall. About 35 years ago I had a garden in the back of the house that produced all of the vegetables that we needed for the year. I did it for at least 5 years. That was slow food before It was called any thing other then a vegetable garden.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

A Tent On One Of My Favorite Houses In Coral Gables


The house is has tented and filled with poison to kill the termites.This is the first time that I remember that this house needed the tent (at least in last 40 years). We have tented our house twice in that time. That's something that happens often in a tropical area.

Monday, June 28, 2010

A Brassavola nodosa Hybrid Hanging In Our Garden


I have had this orchid for 20 years and have never found a proper name for it. I think it might be Euchile mariae x B nodosa. I Googled that name with no answers.

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Granada Entrance

We have a lot of entrances but no city walls. This is one of the smaller entrances. The entrance is on the north border of our city.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

Bromeliad Plant Getting Ready To Bloom


The flowers are not open yet. They will be little yellow flowers on the top. The beautiful red leaves are what catches your eyes.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Coral Gables Alhambra Entrance


This is one of the lesser entrances, but it's a treasure.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Purple Allamanda, Flowering vine-like bush Cryptostegia grandiflora


More lavender than purple, the flowers are plentiful on this plant that differs also in its leaves from its cousin the yellow allamanda

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Douglas Entrance On The North East Of Coral Gables


This is the portal that most people used to enter our city. We weren't walled in, this was just a very pleasant way to come in. The road has been closed at 8th Street for about 40 years, it was a traffic disaster.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Lagerstroemia speciosa


It is important to the health store people. They sell a product from the Lagerstroemia speciosa that can help you lose weight. I think it only works if you believe. I know it as Queens Crapemyrtle a small tree with really neat flowers.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Myrmecophila tibicinis Is The New Name - I Know It As Schomburgkia tibicinis


This orchid comes from Mexico and all the way to Colombia. The large psuedobulbs are hollow with an entrance at the base and ants live in them. When the flower spike was growing the ants were all over the stem gathering nectar. The 5 foot stem and the flowers have nectar. Notice the ant on the flower. I let them alone because they bite.

Friday, June 18, 2010

Feng shui Lily


I thought that the lily would have damage from the cold winter. The flowers are bigger then ever.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Merrick's Neighborhood Is On Coral Way

Our street is lined with these beautiful oaks. It's surprising how many times that I see a tourist park their car and take a picture like this. Yes it's a Way, not a St., Ave., Ct., Tr., or Blvd.

Monday, June 14, 2010

Poinciana Place


This is the honeymoon cottage that George Merrick built for his wife. They used the house for a few years before they built their large home on the golf course. Poinciana Place was built as a one bedroom and one bath house. The major value of this home is the magnificent front porch with its view of the old oak trees that line the street.
This is one of the 289 pictures that were lost. I was very upset, but not any more. I saw someone that had lost a picture and I mentioned it to him. He said that the picture was in the right place. I finely found a friend that gave me the answer. My Firefox was the problem. Internet Explorer found all of the pictures. When I fix the Firefox I'll start with some more picture.

Friday, June 11, 2010

For The Last 40 Years These Blood Lilies Have Bloomed In May


The blood lilies are different this year. Normally they all bloomed at the same time for a fantastic show. This year they are not together. We will enjoy the flowers for 3 weeks or more. In the past we would have them for only one week.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

This Orchid Was Damaged By The Cold Winter


This Dendrobium orchid should have at least 12 flowers on this stem and a few more stems. I'm happy that it is alive and I have one flower. Like any gardener, I will do it better next year.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

A Nice Poinciana In The Parking Lot Of Our Church

Just enjoy them, they are all winners.

Monday, June 7, 2010

The Poincianas Are Blooming All Over Coral Gables Like They Did In 1941

Enjoy the Poincianas because it may take 60 or 70 years to see them this good again. The last time that we had a winter like this one was in 1941.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Friday, June 4, 2010

Midmorning Snack


The 18 month old took the chocolate cake out of the fridge and then his 4 year old brother brought some cereal. The parents were there, unfortunately not in that room. I can write more about our grandsons but the picture tells everything.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Hollyhocks In Our Garden



I haven't grown hollyhocks since the 50's. The northern hollyhocks with doubled flowers will not grow in south Florida. I was told that the type that I have came from Mexico.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Police-hen At Work



We have regular policemen and then we have this police-hen. Last August 10, 2009 we saw this hen guarding the Merrick house. The hen was out there on guard for a month. By the second day we were friends.
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