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