Water for Water

This morning after a heavy rain last night, the pool reflects what water is left behind on the screen above it. The grass appears refreshed and ready to take on the heat of the new day.

Then all the charm
Is broken--all that phantom-world so fair
Vanishes, and a thousand circlets spread,
And each mis-shape[s] the other. Stay awhile,
Poor youth! who scarcely dar'st lift up thine eyes--
The stream will soon renew its smoothness, soon
The visions will return! An lo! he stays,
And soon the fragments dim of lovely forms
Come trembling back, unite, and now once more
The pool becomes a mirror.

[From Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Picture; or the Lover's Resolution, lines 91-100]


Miss Kitty has no manners and no sense anymore. She sits on top of the tablecloth still wet from last night's rain.

This small tree rose by the front porch appears to be taking a bow for having weathered the storm. Her name is Our Lady of Guadalupe.

A Time for Pruning

Once I got done mowing and trimming our acre in Florida this morning, I took a closer look at the roses surrounding the house and found them in dire need of pruning. In the northeast corner of the lanai, this Knockout has taken over and is beginning to rub against the screen.

Here, an unnamed daylily (purchased at a box store real cheap!) struggles valiantly past the Knockout to reach some sunlight.


This lovely tree rose is Honey Perfume. I definitely need more of this one. It has grown taller than any tree rose I have ever seen. It must be over six feet tall. The Thuja look like green sentinels protecting the rose from any harm. Fortunately, they are a slow growing variety and very fragrant themselves. I think the name is Emerald Green. Quite fitting, don't you think?

Here is another jungle, only this time in the flower bed at the front of the house. As you can see, the Loropetalum (I have trained it into a tree) is trying to make a comeback as a shrub, sending shoots out from around the bottom of its trunk. Can you spot the small lion (Peanut) roaring at me from her shady hiding place? I have a lot of work to do this weekend. An absence of several months can spell trouble for this gardener who likes her growing spaces to be in order. I can see that this morning's mowing was just the beginning.