The rains have been amazing and we are all very grateful. The only problem is that the grass is growing way too fast, I just mowed on Saturday and now it is ready to be cut again! The good news is that the plants all look wonderful, but be on the lookout for aphids on Crepe Myrtles as well as the Asian scale hold on all Sago's. Keep om doing as much trimming as needed now and the payoff will be prettier plants in 5 to 6 weeks. Also keep an eye out for the mites on the Knock out Roses as the new growth can curl this time of year especially.

The other day I was doing estimates in Altamonte Springs and came across what I thought was a stunning landscape. I literally drove back by the house to see it more clearly and I noticed that there was a plant that we grow that was the main focal point, my first thought was wow, that is a great design. But the one Topiary just looked like one of our plants as I did not recognize any of the others. Well I called my designer and told him about it wondering if it could have been his design and YES it was. I was so impressed and he did an amazing job and i want to go back to take photos.

Yes, that's right we have a new Yorkie! Her name is Coco and she is 5 pounds and already trying to boss the other dogs and has the Standard Poodle on high alert. It seems my physician brother in law got the 8 month old pup from one of his secretaries who was having a baby so decided to give Coco up. He got the pup with the intention of giving it to my son. Then he falls in love with the little guy and never mentions anything about the dog at all, I can't blame him as she is so unbelievably cute. After 3 weeks he finally realizes that it is not fair to the dog as he has long hours and felt that Coco needed lots of cousins which we have. The next thing I know, one weekend my wife goes to visit her brother and I get a phone call telling me of the new family addition. I ask for immediate cell phone photos which I promptly got and couldn't wait for them to get home. She has bonded the most with my son, as she never seems to even want to leave his arms!She sleeps with him every night and curls in a little ball much like a cat near him for warmth. This dog has hit the dog jackpot moving into our house. Barcello, the other Yorkie has been quite disgusted until recently and finally just the other day started playing with her. The Golden acts like she doesn't exist and the Jack Russell is a bit jealous as she is always in someones lap, but so is he. The Poodle plays with her and is amused and even nibbles her as if to clean and the Bishon that we are only baby sitting seems to ignore all the dogs and just sleep most of the time and definitely likes me the most.

On a green note, I finally got the yard under control this past weekend, it the kind of yard i can't ignore or it talks back. The weed issue is so time consuming.

Last weekend we had a surprise party for our friend Suzette who is moving to New York and it turned out beautiful but so bitter sweet. So sad to see a special friend leave but she will be back lots and lots of times as her family is here.

Last week I harvested my first ever Passion vine fruit, how exotic and such a wild taste. It is something so easy to grow with fruit in one year! I have basically finished fertilizing everything which is good as we had those rains and wow what a difference.

Oh, I almost forgot, I had a great Father's day this past weekend, after the show we all went to the movies to see "The Hulk", then home to Bar-be-que steaks. Really I just love being at home, nothing like jumping in the pool and doing nothing except walking in the garden. Of course, it's only fun when the garden looks good or you'll see work that needs to be done and get depressed.

The fruit trees are doing great as I have kept them well fed to get some bulk on them.

I did a beautiful landscape in Sorento the other day at a brand new home and the owners absolutely loved it, I used lots of the Red cascade ground rose as a groundcover and I think that was a big hit.