I got home really late today, lots of stuff to do at the nursery. I would love the feeling of being caught up on all of the little odds and ends. I went to Fence Outlet today in Ovideo and was really impressed with the whole organization. They have 3 stores and the selection of fences is more than I have ever seen anywhere and get this ,they are cheaper than the chain stores! They are located on Hwy 426 and I will suggest to all of my listeners as well as clients that they check them out when buying a fence as I could tell they are a quality company. If you need a new fence just check out their web site at http://www.fenceoutletonline.com/ and I know you will be impressed. Many of my clients use fences as a privacy creator and in the subdivisions of today privacy is a major concern. Some of my clients have homes where before a fence is put up they can actually see into 4 or 5 neighbors' pools. I don't know about you but I don't want to hear or see anyone outside of the family when I am in the pool as it is private personal time that I consider important family time. In fact, this is when I often learn details of what is going on at school and friends of my kids as my kids tend to be more talky when in the pool.

Today we landscaped an incredible pool in Apopka. It was a great work day as the sky was blue and the temperature slightly above perfect. The plants I used were Texas Star, Ilex, India Hawthorn, Firecracker, Yellow Holly and a Topiary. It was great as we preserved the view of the golf course and we had done the first phase which was the front yard about 2 months ago so I got to see how it was doing . Absolutely perfect , and they even had Christmas decor on the new plants.

Last night I went to a surprise party for our friend Suz-Anne. It was held at her sisters house and her sister is also a dear and special friend. You can't believe the food. First of all I should tell you that 2 of her friends flew in from the west coast where they used to live and when they came out there were enough tears to fill a small pond. I tried to fight off the emotion but I still was quite glassy eyed. Now, back to the important stuff, the food. Carol had a salmon flown in from the west coast and there were also salads, chicken, pork, beef sticks, and yes even escargo! I should probably go back tonight as I know they must have too many left overs! And the wine was a special Napa wine where they only made 300 bottles last year. So she was truly surprised and much work went into the party where 4 of them worked for 2 days to prepare. I have done this for my wife in the past and she did cry and I will never forget it as long as I live. I think I will do it again but I think it is too hard to ask friends to cook although I know they gladly would but it makes more sense to me to have it catered in my case as why should I tire out my friends. Actually I want to have a surprise party for the parents of some very special friends and as they were such awesome parents and still are I think that they remind me of my incredible parents and that is why I am so inspired. My parents have gone on to heaven now and it is unbelievable how much I miss them, we were quite the team and it can never be the same. I remember my friend Jerry said one time "you can't hug,kiss or love them enough while they are here on earth". How true that is. My friends at the party are the same group where we rotate dinner every month and we are truly a family and really appreciate each other. Last night when Suz-Anne did an emotional toast to all of her friends, it was so from the heart and so beautiful that there was not a dry eye in the house. So I had fun and loved every minute of it. I was able to have a great chat with my friend Harry and we love to discuss politics and the funny thing is that Harry is amazing to listen too as he assimilates the political machine better than anyone I have ever known and we all have different likes and dislikes and all of us somehow are so respectful of each others opinions and it is truly a great way to absorb another train of thought and is quite enlightening. Harry has worked behind the scenes in so many elections and has gotten to know so many of the last presidents and what unpublished stories he has. I mean first hand jaw dropping stuff that you can't imagine! But I will save some of that for another night. Bye for now.

Tonight was fantastic, we are part of a very special group of friends where I love being with them every minute! Usually every month we meet at one of the homes and are met with a gourmet dinner and the great thing is that each of us sort of has their own specialty and I mean it is really exceptional. Each dinner tends to be uniquely fabulous and we have lots of laughs. It was our turn tonight so we planned a restaurant dinner at a nearby resort which was to be the very special wine tasting dinner with the presentation speaking about the wines etc. But, it was canceled so we made reservations for 10 and had the dinner at the restaurant anyway which was fabulous. I did the first toast to Evel Kenieval as he was a boyhood hero of mine and all seemed to enjoy my story of meeting him. Other toast ensued and the laughter gauge rose to new heights.

My friend Harry did his comedy impressions of some of the old great comedians which are mostly all gone now and I brought up the great Marty Allen who is still alive and working in Vegas, He was so hilarious, I have sadly never been to Vegas but Maybe I should go to see Marty. If you don't remember him he was the one with the black Brillo pad hair that stood straight up! Then we talked about the great Toti Fields, just thinking about her makes me smile. I have always loved the old time comedians as they were part of the talk shows that were so popular when I was a teenager watching them after school. One of my all time favorites was Jackie Vernon, with his dry dry sense of humor, I can remember being barreled over in laughter with tears coming out of my eyes. Then there was professor Erwin Cory, Jack Carter, Pat Cooper who is 81 years old now and still performing.

Anyway, next month we are going to a German restaurant then the highlight of my life will be February when Harry will be doing lobster stuffed with crab, with mussels, corn on the cob, etc and all of this will occur at my house as he lives in Ocala and is so far for everyone so as you can tell I am all ready excited about that.

The yard is looking the best it ever has and I have really been spending a lot of time outside in the evenings.

The sunsets over the lake are long lasting and amazing this time of year.

The first Christmas tree will go up tomorrow and the second one will go upstairs towards the end of the week, I have what I think is all of my shopping done early this year and I think I will now be proactive every year as it is such a great feeling to have out of the way. Oh, you should see my roses, I trimmed them and have fed them to be in full bloom right at Christmas time and I checked them today and I really think they may be in their prime in full glory actually on Christmas day, lets hope I am right.

All of my radio listeners in the midwest are getting a snow storm now and it is heading to the Northeast so I hope and pray all will be safe. Have a wonderful week and I have a real busy one coming up but I will try to write as soon as I can. Bye.

Evel Knieval died today. He was quite the guy. During my childhood in Fort Lauderdale, Evel lived in one of the beautiful mansions on the Intracoastal waterway. I had the thrill to meet him when I was about 16 or so. By this time my nursery was all ready 6 years old and there was a Hugh plant sale at the landmark War Memorial auditorium, where Chrissy Everett played tennis there on the public courts. I had a special invitation to sell my plants at a booth and was given the number one location right there in the front of the park, which was adjacent to the large circle drive that was in front of the grand entrance. I set up a bunch of tables and brought 3 truckloads of the plants that I had grown, all tagged with name and price and my beloved mother made bright orange table cloths that even covered the backside of the table as I wanted to store the plastic trays that I transported the plants in and didn't want them to be seen. The show was a 3 day plant sale and each day I was the first to get there and the last to leave as I enjoyed helping all the people and liked answering all of their questions about plants. A few people would ask about the fact that I was so young and many thought that my parents were making me get up early to sell these beautiful plants.

Well, we were the team, but they never held me back from what I wanted to do and always encouraged me.

Early on Saturday I was there arranging the plants, and suddenly I looked up and saw the most beautiful convertible jaguar drive and park right in front of my booth. Out stepped the man who I would watch on TV and instantly I knew it was my hero Evel Knieval. I raced over to him and not a sole was around and we began to talk about his beautiful car, he explained about the Mahogany trim and pointed out the custom features and opened the door and insisted that I sit in it and take a look. He was so cool and so kind to me and really took the time to ask about my life and he was quite impressed with my story of how I started with the nursery and really couldn't get over the fact that such a young man had his own business. What was so great about Evel was that he spoke to me like an adult and was very interested to know that in a time when so many young people were into drugs how was it that I was so focused on creating beauty in the world. I really didn't know how to answer his question so I just said,"Mr. Knieval, I can't explain why and all I know is that I somehow know , I mean really know , what I am here to do, and this it for me" He put his hand on my shoulder and looked me straight in the eye and said , Son you explained it very well I feel the same way about what I do" He then continued to be interested in my plants and was blown away that I knew all of the names of the plants. He was a true gentleman and to this day believe that it was one of my best days on earth as it was so exciting to a 16 year old. I proceeded to give him a tour of sorts of the show and as people recognized him, the crowds began to encircle him and the excitement grew. He was just as nice to all of the other kids and even introduced me as his good friend "Vince". He talked to all of the kids about the dangers of drugs and I could see that this was truly a mission of his. After an hour or so we got through the whole show and he said goodbye and said that I was even more powerful than him to spread the anti drug message as I was the age where kids would listen to me. He told me that he knew that God has really blessed me and that he knows that He will continue to do so and with an ending firm handshake perhaps like a awarded General would do he said ,"God Bless, son". I watched my hero drive away and knew that I had just been in the presence of greatness because Evel took the time with a stranger to be real, to be sincere and to simply make a 16 year old boy very happy.

Last Sunday we had a dinner party for 8 friends and we had a great time. It was a perfect weather day, the garden looked great and the dogs were all well behaved! What else could a guy ask for. I mean it the yard has never looked better and I have really been working hard. Last Saturday I did a lot of pressure cleaning and man oh man that machine really gives you a workout. We were so lucky as our friend Elainea brought me her famous rice pudding which is all I would need on a deserted island. I had the first bowl tonight with fresh Mango, and had 3 Carambola which I ceremoniously share with my son, we are really into the dwarf varieties as they are so sweet and juicier.

Today I did landscape estimates in Clermont and Windemere, I stopped at Subway for their Chicken Terriaki with vinegar and veggies only as I am trying to lose weight but its hard when all of our friends are gourmet cooks, we don't want to offend them you know. There is a little simple Thai restaurant near my home that is great and one of my listeners said his wife cooks my favorite soup called Tom yum goom or something like that. It has shrimp and lemon grass and ginger I think and I have suggested to the Wonder wife that I just bet she could make it. She didn't seem real excited about said new project but I will try to find a recipe on the internet as I tend to be persistent. If all else fails I think I can persuade my daughter to create it for me and yes I will help too if I have to, it's just that I would rather be outside every waking moment! So I will say bye for now as I need time to research that soup receipe.

Around the sunken garden are 40 Washintonia Palms that are about 30 to 40 feet tall. This palm keeps it's old fronds, which hang vertical hugging the trunk. Last year I did not trim them but we just had it done the other day and boy it sure looks good. These palms are between 15 and 20 feet apart and it seems impossible but the old dead fronds actually provided a lot of shade to the tropical exotics below. Now we have lots of sun but luckily the majority of the plants will adjust. It is so shocking that it can look so different and I prefer this clean, crisp look much better. If you could imagine each palm had about 150 dead fronds on them so we had massive piles around the garden that took an entire day to remove by trailer. The amazing thing is that there is almost no damage to the understory plants! We do have some tire tracts and I do have a rose that got flattened and some dwarf Mexican Petunias that could be picked up with a flat shovel but that is a small price to pay to have the canopy so beautiful now. The Red Cloaks are still in full bloom and I do have a photo of them on the plant ID page of the web site. I do want to add some annuals but I have not had the time as yet as so many folks want their jobs before Thanksgiving and Christmas. But that's ok it still looks really good and you would not believe the Tangerines and Carambola that I am harvesting, they are so beautiful and I now know why all artist want to paint a bowl of fruit. I am using Turf-Pro on the fruits and roses and they are popping with new growth, man I love that stuff. I also have been putting it on my palm trees so that they will not yellow this winter when the temperatures drop. It's all so natural and to all those other radio experts across the country who still think they have to use harsh chemicals to grow pretty plants I say just look at the pictures of my yard which depends on all organic Turf-Pro. I should get some crayons with an orange poster and put in front of the house in this country setting," Yard of the Year". Just kidding. Anyhow, I can't wait for Thanksgiving day as I intend to open a bottle of wine that we purchased in Switzerland and sit part of the time and enjoy the yard from different angles which is great when you live on 5 acres. Too many folks, I think, only see their yard as nothing but work but I see mine as the best psychiatrist on God's green planet. I'm serious plants have a designer built in energy that feeds us and I am very grateful that I discovered them as a child.

As I write this I hear in the background TV that Lindsay Lohan has served her jail time of 84 minutes, not 84 hours but 84 minutes! Oh, the benefits of being a talented star. It concluded that while incarcerated she did not receive any special treatment.

By the way the news was full of reports that curry and tumeric have incredible health benefits and I think this is true as these wonderful natural things that we have had available to us for thousands of years are truly amazing and I think as more research occurs we will continue to discover more benefits with other herbs and natural medicines. Of course I do know that they are not the cure-all for everything but in fact I do take a garlic pill everyday and I figure it hasn't hurt me so far.

I had a great day today, as we did a beautiful landscape in College Park and then did a large delivery in Minniola, both were absolutely stunning as the result was quite transforming and the second one was in a private country setting with loads of oak trees and the man is going to do all the planting himself so I reviewed proper planting instructions and told him to use some type of knee pads as after 40 it becomes quite hard to walk erect after standing up. We will deliver the second phase for him after the new year so at least he is ready for Thanksgiving.

The nursery looks amazing now and the stock has never looked better, I have a job next week where I am using many Bamboo so I am looking forward to doing that, I hope the weather holds up and I am definitely ready for rain but his time of year it gets cold after a rain so maybe I better rethink my wish!

I will write more when I can and I am very grateful for that kind e mail the other day from anonymous and it was so sincere and really made my day. God Bless.

Saturday was such a beautiful day for the yard, my son worked with me and we got so much done. I did some light thinning on the Carambola and Lychee trees, some weed pulling and picked up lots of Spanish moss. Tomorrow we have a few friends over for roast beef, which my wife is marinating over night and will have mashed potatoes and veggies. My romantic and sometimes fast paced Latin music will be on in the background.

I cut some Variegated ginger today that was overlapping the sidewalk and it was too pretty to throw away so the prettiest ones went into a blue vase on the kitchen table.

Geraldo is starting now on Fox news so have to go , talk to you soon.

Jennifer Lopez and her husband Marc Anthony put on one heck of a concert last Sunday night at the arena in Orlando! We had amazing seats only 7 rows back from the front of the stage, and unlike other shows , the sound system was perfect. I collect some Spanish artist music but I am particular and tend to be quite selective. I previously did not have any of their music but that will soon change. The stage was in the shape of a "T" and the show opened up with a comedian , then the lights dimmed and Mark Anthony emerges out of the bottom of the stage and his act was high energy and so well done. Dancer's were a big part of the show and they were equally amazing. In fact it was the best choreography that I have ever seen, seemingly not one step out of place. When Jennifer came out the charisma continued and she was pregnant and her outfits were designed to support and were very beautiful, the first one was in the form of a butterfly. Her dance moves were fast, high energy and she was truly the master performer; the whole family enjoyed every minute of it. This was their second to last show before the babies arrival and she said it was actually the first tour that she has ever done. Towards the end of the show they came out together and they really have a great energy together as well. They are quite the classy couple and they certainly have a fan here.

I became imprinted with the Spanish culture when I was a teenager spending my summers in Costa Rica. So it turns out that I love the romantic as well as the high energy Spanish music, the architecture, and the whole culture, even the food. I can't leave out the tropical plants as they are a big part of the Spanish look and the style of my home is Spanish as well as the garden so you see it has had a real big impact. My all time favorite singer is Migual Bose and I put him into the Elvis category, I probably play more of his music than anyone else. I also like Pilar Montenegro as she is pop and fast beats, also there is a band called Van Gogh which is amazing. I have a lot of other music as well but the Latin songs relax me and really make me happy. The other thing that I appreciate about the Latin culture is that it is not afraid to use color and it is this passion that I relate too. The other singer that I love are Dolly Partin and Johnny Cash. Dolly writes many of her songs and the words are so beautiful and I have been a life long fan. Johnny's voice was just so unique that there is not anything out there even closely similar, his last album before he died had a spiritual quality and America lost a great man when we lost him. I'll never forget that when we went to Paris a large music store in the busiest part of the city had a big display promotion which was a credit to his genius. Oh, and how about Roy Orbison, now he knew how to do a song. Recently, while at a dinner party of our dear friends, Suzanna and John somehow we got on the subject of Roy and John Lent me a CD of Roy's and I truly enjoyed it, how odd that we have been good friends for years and never knew we liked the same artist. As you can tell I could go on about music forever so I will just stop and save some other stuff for another night.

Tonight we took my mother-in-law to Stonewood restaurant in Heathrow. We had not been there in quite awhile as we live on the very far side of it in another county. The food was exceptional as usual, they have a salad with a sesame ginger dressing that is out of this world. The whole family craves their salad every so often and that's ok with me. Afterwards, at home we had ice cream cake, so it's been a real good evening!

The poodles and the Yorkie all got groomed today and yes they are quite the show-offs now. The mobile groomer comes to the house so it works out great.

I had a little time late afternoon to cut some grass, but the rest I have to finish tomorrow. There is still some light trimming to do on the topiaries and edging to do so it's a busy day tomorrow.
I talked to my cousins today and invited them all up for Thanksgiving, but they're all going to Tennessee to their place up there. I like staying home for the holidays, why would I want to fight all the traffic? Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays next to Christmas as we usually have at least part of the family here, which means lots of kids and laughing.

We are still having lots of raccoons visit at night and the dogs go wild so it's quite the drama around here with the wildlife, but at least we don't have the otters eating the koi as we don't seem to have otters in this area of the lake. One of the customers I have had otter wipe out his entire pond, even though he had a net on it!

Looking forward to this weekend as the temperature is supposed to be in the seventies.

It was a great day today as it was cool and a great garden day! I did some trimming and cleaned the filter of the Koi pond. The family was at the bookstore so all the work was up to me, I mowed the entire side and backyard and did some minor weed pulling. It was so exciting I harvested my first Macadamia nut today. I tried hitting it with a hand can opener and it ricochet all over the kitchen. Next, I got a hammer and tried to open it , you know just a little crack, but nothing. Then I got really smart and put it in a large vice grip. Its was really good, fresh sort of like a pecan, but smaller. While mowing I noticed that I have several small Carambola, also known as Starfruit on many trees. One large fruit was on the ground but flawless. I think it will be ripe in two days, I have several varieties but they were not labeled when I got them so I can't tell you their names. I did find it interesting in the past that some varieties in the past were not quite the classic tart taste which is very pleasant. I just love that fruit and so does the rest of the family. I spent some time looking for new locations for more small Lychee Nuts here at the house but I still have not decided as it is a big tree ultimately and I want to make a responsible decision as these trees could be here for 50 or more years.

Last night I think was a full moon or at least a very bright evening so I did not sleep much but that's the way it goes sometimes.

We are going to a fabulous Halloween party tonight where our friends have the most elaborate display of freaky things that you've ever seen. She is also a fabulous cook and everyone knows how I like to eat so it should be fun. We always look forward to going to their parties as there is lots of laughing, and the decor is outside and inside so you never really see it all.
I had a call today from a very brave friend of ours, Vicky who has a very rare form of cancer called, Thymus carcinoid. It is so rare and she has been through so much in the last 4 years but she is still hanging in there. She has gone to MD Anderson but they could not help her. She is now trying an experimental treatment so we will pray that a miracle can happen. Vicky has been the most inspirational person for our family, we became friends when she was our regular server at a restaurant we frequent, truly a brave hero. It especially saddens me as my own mother died of a rare form of cancer too so I know the feeling of deep and dark despair and I wish to never have those feelings again. It was bile-duct cancer which is pancreatic related, and they have not made big progress with this disease. I guess this is just a reminder that each minute counts, really counts so we all have to enjoy all that we can. I did not mean to end on a sad note, it's just that family and friends are important!

Today was a spectacular landscape day we did a job where the facade of the house was red brick and it was single story very pretty, compared to the neighbors houses. Along the brick house's foundation I added Texas Star Ligustrum and it's creme and yellow foliage was awesome against the red brick. Between the garage window I used a large specimen Loropetalum which was round and airy. India Hawthorn was used in front of the Texas Star and in a corner raised planter we used Hiawiian Ty and on the rounded left end of the planter we used cascading Firecracker. In a large island under the Sweetgum trees that have been there for 15 years or more I repeated the Firecracker in the center and staggered Aztec Grass around the rest of the entire island. This transformation was like night and day as the old landscape was mostly green and didn't compliment the beautiful house. We added some Pentas to the side of the house in between some existing Croton that looked good. My goal was to attract butterflies to the yard as one can never have too many butterflies!
I had no time for the yard today but tomorrow I have big plans to do lots of hard cleaning outside and I am getting new ideas for two parts of the yard. When these ideas come to me I get excited as the landscape truly is a changing artwork fabric. I also am trying to find new spots to plant more Lychee Nuts but the warm micro climates are becoming planted up so to speak and after all they have to fit into the design as with age they can get large. They are not consistent fruiters so my thinking is that if I have several of different varieties that I have a better chance of getting more fruit. I did harvest two Carambola, the Star fruit yesterday but they are not ripe yet but I knew that If I didn't get them then the wildlife might and I really do not want to expose the raccoon to an exotic taste that they could bond with! The Surinam Cherry has been a big success and I have had lots of fruit and I only planted it in the spring. All fruit trees are looking real good and yes I intend to cover them this winter as I will be broken hearted if the cold does some damage.

At the nursery the white Powderpuffs are looking real good, what a beautiful bush that is I wish I had space in the garden but I all ready have two red ones. Also, we finally do have some Red Cloak flowers available at the nursery, this is such a rare exotic and the one on my plant ID page is one in my backyard sunken garden, perhaps one of the most beautiful plants in Florida.
All of the dogs are fine and the Poodles continue to be the love hogs of the family, they really are a sweet breed.

I am looking forward to the local radio show tomorrow as I want to talk about adding fall color to the yard as this is such a great time for Snaps and Pansy. The roses are looking good and I added bone meal last week and I all ready see the results. These fall days are really getting pretty and I am looking forward to some great sunsets over the lake.

Bye, Vince

Last week I spoke to a wonderful group of women at one of the finer hotels. The subject was on the topic of choosing the right plant for the right spot. I explained that in Florida everything grows at such a fast pace that all need to be careful not to plant too close. It's important to understand that when this happens the plants grow together and the balance of the whole design becomes messed up. I also talked about and gave some examples as to how a proven professional landscaper is well worth the money and will actually save you money in the long run! All agreed that they have over many years made the wrong choice and then have to redo the landscape every 3 years or so. I then took questions and answers and they really didn't want me to leave so it really made me feel good. I appreciated the fact that as a club they get out and do fun things, such as simulated sky diving, etc... I also loved the fact that they raise money for charity. We had a fantastic lunch and several of them asked me if it was odd for me to be the only man in such a big woman's group. I explained that I prefer to hang with the woman as they are usually the ones who make thing's happen in the yard! I went on to tell them that for 15 years I have met with about 10 woman or so in a book club where we study popular best sellers usually with some sort of philosophical edge and that we have incredible discussions as few of us agree all the time! They all wanted to join my closed group but I told them that my bar-be-que is not big enough to have them all over! I am the sole man representing the man's point of view which is important as often we tend to think quite differently but that's the part I like and this is how we all learn from each other. My group is mostly school teachers who truly have a thirst for knowledge and we have a blast, laughing and sometimes emotionally helping someone get through a hard time with family, work etc... Many people often tell me that my purpose is to tell the world about plants but to tell you the truth I really think my purpose is to help the person in any way that I can. I know the trick is to go through life appreciating each and every minute and I think you get more out of life that way. In my motivational book, "Lifting The Mind Fog", I purposely made the first chapter, The Art Of Appreciation, as I think so many of us take the people in our lives for granted. So each day I wake up and truly look forward to meeting some great people that day, weather I am doing an estimate or a landscape job or chatting with the lady making my sandwich at the sub shop. Sadly, I do know people who go through their day very unhappy with their jobs, I tell them to change their job but they are not serious enough to do it. Sometimes I think they just get in the habit of complaining and it actually becomes a slice of their personality. Probably, not the best way to make positive friends. My best friend, Cesar, is a former Davis Cup champ, he never complains and we both make it a point to always build our friends up and we have some awesome friends. I also have a friend who was a Yankee baseball pitcher and he is the same way, very positive!
As you can tell this is a subject that is important to me.

I drained the lower Koi pond today, to give it a partial cleaning and all looks well except I found a small leak in one of the main pipes which I have to deal with tomorrow. I mowed all of the backyard last evening and 1 acre of the front today so I have a less intense day on Saturday!
I discovered that my Guava is not getting enough water so I need to adjust tomorrow. The Lychees have so much new growth, I know it's the Turf Pro! Also the pool area was cleaned today as I have 2 long narrow beds of Knock Out Rose that have no weeds as of this afternoon. Tomorrow, I personally have to deal with more weeds, and yes more mowing. I know that it sounds like a lot of work but I usually mow at sunset and I find it very relaxing.

Yes, the dogs are fine, I have been bonding with the all black Standard Poodle for the last two nights, giving him extra attention as he is the more mild personality and very soft so I don't want him to take a back seat to the other more crazy dogs. He stands on his hind legs and I give him big bear hugs and he is quite addicted to the loving. The Jack Russell tries to intimidate him sometimes and he is 4 times bigger than the Jack but Jacks are big Puffer fish .

Tomorrow we start our October Specials at the nursery and they are on my blog at Vince's Journal at www.gardenrebel.com

Today, we had lots of family visiting and that means lots of kids, so we took them fishing for the first time and my nephews had their cute little tackle boxes and brand new poles, I understand that the kids talked about this day for weeks prior. So I baited up the hooks with some weird looking lures that they had including a hot pink fuzzy, feathery one and sadly we didn't even get a nibble! Maybe we will have better luck next time.

The exotic red cloak flowers are in their prime now in the sunken garden and the family was real impressed so that made me feel good. Both my wife's side of the family and mine are very fun and positive but her side is far larger so that's where all the kids come from, and from all over the country so it's a big deal to have so many at once. My wife went to Olive Garden and got huge pan of lasagna which was great and a huge pan of Tiramisu which I had two pieces and as I write am actually craving more but I know better, lets hope I don't wake up in the middle of the night to eat it as it will be hard to explain to the rest of the family about the missing sections!
I read to my brother-in-law a new si-fi type of comedy that I just wrote for fun for family and friends and he genuinely seemed to like it, it's only one chapter and I don't know if I will even be inspired to write chapter two.

I am really excited tomorrow as I am doing a landscape for a friend and it is exceptionally beautiful and is in an old classic neighborhood in Leesberg, Fl, the other older homes have not really updated their landscapes so I expect that this will really stand out and get this I don't even have any more Sims Landscape signs to put up, so so much for great marketing! I intend to remember to get new signs ordered this week, lets hope I remember.

I tried to lower the boat to see if I could go out on the lake but no the water is not high enough and I still can't use the boat! Then I tried to go swimming in the pool and the water was like ice water even though I have solar heat and it was a warm day so I spent the extra time allowing the garden to feed me with it's beauty.

I am looking forward to the fall season as it always stimulates me to have even more creative ideas and I have some time late afternoon to work in my own garden tomorrow where the yellow hollies need trimming and it's a lot of work for a guy with tennis elbow but gardening isn't for wimps so I will get it done!

Yes, the dogs are fine, they survived all the family kids, I spent quite a bit of time with the standard poodles today, they are just the sweetest most innocent loving type of dog who just loves attention, I let them jump on me and I firmly hug them and they just eat that up. I almost forgot to tell you that we have had for the last two nights a visitor in the form of a opossum and he has come directly on to the patio looking for fallen dog food. Needless to say the dogs went wild and woke everyone up so not good. As I opened the door to scare the critter away so the dogs would not hurt him, the Jack Russel went through my legs and chased him around the corner and when I turned on the light the opossum was horizontal on the floor, playing dead I thought and checked first thing in the morning and sure enough he wasn't there..... I am glad I didn't take the time to draw a chalk line! I hope he doesn't come back tonight as we need some sleep!

The other day I added a Silver Dollar Ecaliptis to the garden which is something that I wanted to do for years but never really had the right spot so I just took something out to make room and it looks great. I mowed the side yard today and sat and enjoyed the waterfalls a bit at sunset, I also checked the fruit trees and all look really good. I intend to get some new frost blanket to cover them as needed this winter.

This past weekend we were at a beautiful resort that has a pool that has a winding river through lush tropical plants and cascading trees. I took many notes as I found that I was uniquely inspired and couldn't wait to get home to enjoy my own garden. Of course I appreciated the beauty but as a landscape designer I can't help it as I constantly try to tweak the design even though the resort is not my customer! I telling you though I know I could make it even prettier as there was not enough contrast and color so I had lots of stuff going on in my imagination! It was also a weekend for eating and no one tried to stop me so I just ordered the biggest desserts that were available and enjoyed every minute of it. We watched some football and a movie or two and I spent some time with the kids in the video arcade which actually was a good stress relief.

Oh yes and now the dogs! Honey , the Golden retriever and Rascal the crazy Jack Russell, { yes I know that crazy and Jacks are redundant} got out today and this rarely happens but when it does they run into the woods and come back in half an hour all dirty and I feel really lucky that they always come back here in the country but I guess they know they have a good thing going. When I got home from work today I noticed that my wife had put on a feminine type shirt on Barcello, the all boy Yorkie. This concerned me greatly as I really prefer that he remain the manly Yorkie that I know he is, in fact it was more like a prom dress that had glitter and somewhat silky, not good at all. The standard Poodles are just as crazy as ever and need constant loving which they get here. See you next time.

Today friends was a somewhat gloomy day here in central Florida. The only work I accomplished was simply mowing the grass but wow does it look good! I had no energy for the rest of the afternoon so I watched a documentary on WW 2 . I had the kids watch it too as their grandfather, my father was a veteran. They had no interest at first but as it went on I watched out of the corner of my eye and saw that they were intrigued. I did check most of the fruit trees and all look good except the Avacado which has never been a spry specimen, but I will not give up hope, no never or at least not until it's kindling wood. Just 2 days ago I harvested 4 beautiful Carambola which were sweet and tasty it's one of my favorites so I have many of various sizes. The beloved lake is so low that I can not even use the boat for if I do it potentially could suck up mud into it's jet engines. It is very hard for me to stay on land as the lake is my special time to commune with nature like the gators, the birds and the otters that play along the wooded shoreline.

Tonight I am off to dinner with the family and we are going to have Thai which is my favorite! I will see you on the national show tomorrow. Bye for now.

Yes we need some rain, the lawn is definitely showing signs of stress but not a whole lot we can do about it.

The heat is increasing so I am having to water my new fruit trees, I have fed them with Naturize and am getting new growth on most which is exciting. It seems the Mango and Lychees are doing the best at this time.

I will pick up my pressure washer tomorrow as it is being repaired and boy do I need it, as I need to clean the pool deck.

We cut back all of the Knock outs that finished blooming so they should look great again in about 5 weeks or so, I will give them epsom salts, Naturize and rose food and this mix really gets me results. The butterfly perrennials are amazing this year and are in their prime right now.

Yes all of the dogs are fine and little Barcelo is 5 plus pounds now and is playing the role of Todo in the school play, it seems to be his calling. It is a lot of work for us but we like living with a snooty dog star.

The standard poodles are still hyper and very demanding but such sweet, loving dogs they just are attention hounds. One of my great clients gave me a metal heron which is the scarecrow for the koi pond and I have not missed another fish since the statue was added. So I went from 43 to 16 and I am really sad about it but that's nature, it's so weird as the heron's didn't bother the fish for 4 years, then suddenly it was sushi for the whole lake community.

I have had tennis elbow for weeks now and it is very painful and it seems everywhere I go I have to shake hands which is not good for healing, I really wouldn't know what to do if I couldn't play the rest of my life so I will hope and think positive.

Well, friends it is now official the newest member of the family is Barcelo the Yorkie and his official weight is 6 and a half pounds! He has bonded with Honey the older and wiser Golden and she seems to mother him and they do sleep together with Honey becoming Barcelo's pillow.

The wild Heron's have stopped eating the Koi for now as they can not reach the ones in the deeper lower pond.

On radio news my good friend Bill Dryburg will be my guest for the whole show on March 11 and we will discuss roses as well as everything else.

The weather will be very cold this weekend but I still have a full weekend in the yard to keep up with it all which I enjoy and look forward to.

My Fertigator system has worked great automatically throughout the winter and so the plants look pretty good.

Anna Nicole Smith

Wow! what a sad, sad story. I think and wish that she could have been helped. Clearly, she had many issues perhaps from childhood. It seems to me that there are self esteem issues, drug and alcohol issues and some dysfunctional personal problems. Here's the thing that bothers me, her friend Stern in my opinion, must have known that she mixed drugs and alcohol on a regular basis. As an educated man he surely knows that this regular abuse can lead to death. He was always with her he knew her weaknesses and still partied with her as they left a new borne in the Bahamas. Priorities, people. Kids come first and a party can come third or fourth! He must have seen her pass out from long party nights many times but instead of doing an intervention and giving her a chance to reach her full potential by getting her into rehab, he was more interested in boat shopping! Any man that treats a woman like this is nothing more than an opportunist and many things possibly worse. This story is still unfolding and I think more shocking details will come out even more. So I guess all of our mothers were right it's important to choose your friends carefully! A true friend helps a friend in need and she was crying out for a long long time. News reports say that she was isolated from her friends and family and this is clearly a form of mind control. Yes, Anna was ultimately responsible for her choices but although clever was not an educated person and clearly did not have the skills to pull herself out of the deep black hole that she and others helped dig. Stern on the other hand was an attorney who was a proactive thinker by nature and could have sought her help. It will be fascinating to see the upcoming twist and turns and I just hope the baby will soon get the love and care that all babies deserve. It seems there is little talk about the baby but I just hope that she can have some sort of normal life away from the greed, the drugs and away from the people with no integrity. All of this is only my opinion and I feel strongly about it as ever since I was a child I could never stand anyone taking advantage of someone else.

Today I was out doing a landscape in the Villages which is north of Lady Lake. I am so happy with the way that it turned out as it was not crammed and overdone like all the others and we used Abelia, Nandina Knock outs and Juniper and for extra color I used Golden Globe. The homeowner was so happy and a walker stopped to meet me and tell me it was now the prettiest on the street.

I didn't have any time for the yard today as I have been doing desk work all afternoon until late this evening but it's nice to be caught up.

For the new year I have been giving away as a gift my motivational book to my customers and they all seem to relate to it and truly appreciate it, it's called :"Lifting the Mind Fog" The best part of what I do is meeting all the fantastic people who are from all walks of life and especially interesting. Tomorrow I have a huge job in Casselberry and then the people will put it on the market to sell. So tomorrow a whole other set and adventure.

Dear Friends,

This winter has been so fantastic that all the plants are blooming! My papayas should win some sort of award as they are loaded with fruit and for the first time in my life I really can't eat them fast enough. I am making a papaya smoothie everyday and I hope the rest of them will slow down on that ripening process.

I have started the trimming of the roses and yes due to the warm temps the weeds are still coming too. It seems the heron's have stopped eating the koi for the last week or so as they have a hard time in the lower pond as it is too deep for them to catch the fish! I am mowing about every 2 weeks or so which isn't bad. I in my spare time am prepping the beds for my future spring fruit trees, yes I am in my fruit tree phase now so every potential spot with sun is a possible fruit tree.

I played tennis tonight with my friends and what a great workout it was. American Idol is on so the family calls.....

Dear friends,

I don't think I have mentioned to you about this great new garden gift called Naturally Pampered. Not a single day goes by where I haven't used at least one of their products. The ones that I use the most are the sore muscle rub and the lip balm which is great in the summer and other seasons for we who like to work outside all the time.

They also have a great gift basket just for gardeners so whenever a friend or relative needs a special garden related gift I always give them a gift basket. I have given the entire line to my family and friends and all of them want to give it as gifts as well as use the grouping all the time.

You can check out their web site at naturallypamperedonline.com.