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.