Author: Pam

Spending time on the water is the best, and blogging about the sea life found along the saltwater river and ocean is what I do. I’m also a designer at Zazzle and sell products containing beach, tropical, and water themes.

Hydrangea Art and Photography For the Home

The beautiful hydrangea flower is featured on these items for the home.

When I lived in New Hampshire and grew hydrangeas in my yard, I took a lot of photos with my camera. Throughout the growing season I enjoyed seeing the changes that took place in the hydrangea gardens.

The Limelight Hydrangea Acrylic Print

I planted two Limelight hydrangea bushes right by my front door. They had the most beautiful, big blooms! As the seasons changed and Fall approached, the white flowers, that were tinted with green, began to turn pink.

I have found a few good photos of that Limelight shrub and this is one of the photos. This one is printed on acrylic. I bought an acrylic poster from Zazzle for my daughter this Christmas and was very impressed by the quality. It also arrived VERY well wrapped for safe shipping.

This acrylic hydrangea art is 24 x 36 inches. More sizes are available – choose 20×30 or 10×14. The image represented below is approximate to give an idea of the large size offered.

This image can also be purchased on a foam core board, which is much cheaper.

Limelight hydrangea photography print for the wall. Shown on durable acrylic, with cream and pale pink petals on fluffy heads.

Click on the images to see more about options and pricing.

Blue Hydrangeas

Blue hydrangea flowers are so popular that I began an entire online store dedicated to them. See BlueHyd at Zazzle for the full collection of stationery, gifts, and home decor.

Here are a few blue hydrangea photography images placed on art for the wall. Most have size selections and can be purchased on various materials, including poster paper, metal, wood, and acrylic. Most images can be transferred to your choice of medium.

Hydrangea flowers in a vase poster. Size 24 inches square, white, pink and blue hydrangea blooms overflow in a ceramic vase.

Wooden trays come in two sizes and can be customized with text along the bottom.

Blue hydrangea flowers wooden tray
Custom tray

Pillows are good sellers in my store, with square or round options. Fabric selections include polyester or cotton. Choose to have a zipper for easy cleaning, or not. They also come with an outdoor option where the fabric is treated to resist mildew and UV rays.

The blue hydrangea pillow below features end of season colors, when the blue petals begin to turn pretty shades of green. The back has a different hydrangea image that includes pink flowers.

Blue hydrangea flowers throw pillow
Square throw pillow with blue hydrangea flowers

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Fresh Dinosaur Kale Chips

Kale grew in the garden over our very short Florida winter. Now the heat is already here, so I am using the leaves and hoping for seed pods.

Last fall I planted organic kale seeds. Kale is a vegetable that does well in cold weather.

kale seeds organic

Now that “winter” is here, I am picking kale leaves to make chips. My leaves are not very big, but hot weather is already here, so I need to make use of the kale.

Kale
Dinosaur Kale

I eat kale because it is healthy and not necessarily because I love it. The two ways I use kale are either blended up for a smoothie, or baked in the oven to make chips.

On this day, I made chips.

garden kale
Kale for chips

Kale chips are very easy to make. Cut the leaves, wash, pat to dry a little, drizzle olive oil over the leaves. Use your hands to rub the oil all over the leaves and then place them on a sheet for baking.

Bake for a short time, checking often, and moving them / turning over as needed. Oven not too hot – I think around 325? Once they crisp up, they are done. Add salt and eat!

kale chips
In the process of making kale chips

I’m waiting for my kale plants to give me some seeds to use for next year. I’m not sure how that happens, so I am watching for a flower to form. Apparently then there should be seed pods.

My dill from seeds also did quite well. I ended up with more dill than I have room for in the garden. The black swallowtail butterfly loved it to and deposited her eggs everywhere. I had loads of caterpillars, but they all ended up being food for the cardinals! Such is life.

Propagating Milkweed to Fill the Yard

It is easy to create more milkweed for the yard by propagating with cuttings. Feed the Monarch butterfly caterpillars with local types of milkweed.

Anyone who has watched Monarch caterpillars eat milkweed knows just how fast the leaves disappear.

The photo below shows bare stems of my milkweed plant after hungry caterpillars devoured the blossoms, leaves and some stems!

Milkweed plant leaves eaten
Every leaf and flower is gone thanks to the hungry caterpillars.

Yes, Milkweed Propagates From Cuttings!

Because it had been cold, I decided to take a couple of cuttings from the milkweed growing in my front garden bed. I wanted to see if it would root, just in case the plant froze. And yes, it did!

I planted those stems, once they grew plenty of roots, and went out to cut a few more.

Little did I know that those second cuttings also contained eggs that turned into little caterpillars. They began eating my cuttings.

Once the leaves were gone on my two cuttings, I took the caterpillars outside to put them onto the milkweed in the backyard.

First New Milkweed Plant From Cuttings

This little milkweed plant came from my first cuttings taken in January. This plant currently has no leaves either, thanks to the caterpillars.

New milkweed plant from cuttings

Once the leaves were gone from the new plant, I took the caterpillars to a final plant. After this one, I had no more milkweed.

blooming milkweed plant
A week ago
Milkweed plant leaves eaten
Every leaf and flower is gone thanks to the hungry caterpillars.

Alternative Food for Monarch Caterpillars

If you search online, you will find that there are options for feeding these caterpillars when their food supply (milkweed) is gone.

I am not raising caterpillars in my house. These are wild, and although I felt badly that they ate all the leaves from ALL of my plants, I did my best.

I did see them chowing down on the butternut squash shavings, but one of the bigger guys crawled away. I can only hope he will create a cocoon some place.

butternut squash for caterpillars
caterpillar crawling away
Bye little guy.

We Need More Milkweed

I have previously purchased milkweed plants at the local Home Depot. Currently, I don’t have a car so I haven’t been to the store. I called a local nursery but she said it’s too early for the growers to provide them with milkweed. Hmmmmm….

My goal is to create more new milkweed plants myself, by propagation. I know the cuttings will root in water, because I’ve successfully done so. All I need to do is wait for the plants to grow back their leaves and get into good shape. Then I will begin to create new plants from cuttings.

This one is ready for the garden.

ready to plant milkweed cutting
Roots on the milkweed cutting.

I hope to fill my front garden with milkweed and maybe the future caterpillars will have plenty to eat.

Helpful Links

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Cutworms in the Garden

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Ladybug Friends For the New Garden Season

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What’s Happening in the February Garden?

Butterflies are dropping their eggs, and some of my vegetable plants are looking much better, now that February in Florida has arrived.

Spring comes early in Florida. February is a good time to check the garden for signs of butterfly eggs and newly hatched caterpillars.

Swallowtails Laying Eggs

I noticed the black swallowtail butterfly laying her eggs all over my little dill plants. Now the black caterpillars are crawling around, eating and growing.

egg of black swallowtail butterfly
A tiny egg on dill
swallowtail caterpillar
The swallowtail caterpillar
black swallowtail butterfly
black swallowtail butterfly
butterfly in the garden

Monarchs on the Milkweed

Over Christmas we had a good freeze here in central Florida. Just in case my milkweed plants didn’t make it, I took some cuttings. Happily the cuttings grew roots and I now have a new milkweed plant!

So a few days ago I took more cuttings, not realizing there were eggs, or small caterpillars, on the leaves. The next day when I went to change the water in the pitcher, I found three tiny caterpillars on the cuttings!

The caterpillars eat and poop… so they began dropping little black turds everywhere. I didn’t want this. If I had known there were eggs on the leaves, I would not have cut the plant.

Every day I looked to make sure I could see all three.

milkweed cuttings in water
milkweed cuttings
monarch caterpillar
Monarch caterpillar
propagated milkweed
New plant from cuttings

Then, one morning the little caterpillar was nowhere! Finally I turned the vase around and there he was, on the side of the pitcher!

lost caterpillar

It was time to try to put these guys outside on the growing milkweed. Well, that was not as easy as you may think. I set the pitcher next to the milkweed, but they stuck to their original places. The tiny guy I picked up with a leaf from the new plant. When I went back later, all I could find was one big caterpillar who was still on the cutting! This is where he remains, although I leave the vase outside in a raised bed.

The cuttings are doing well, so hopefully I will have another new milkweed for the yard. I’m watching the one remaining caterpillar to see what happens.

That’s about it for the creatures, except for the unwanted white bugs. I hand-picked / squashed a bunch of these that were hiding in the tiny new growth on my eggplant. I’m not sure what they are, but probably some kind of aphid.

white aphids

Vegetables That Love February

Many of these vegetables were planted late last Fall. They survived the winter and are now beginning to love the warmer nights and not-too-hot days. I like February temperatures also. The humidity is lower and the days are sometimes hot, but bearable. A bit like a summer days in the north.

The pineapple had a lot of brown leaves. I had to cover some of these gardens when the temps dropped to near, or below, freezing.

Kale
Kale
potato plant
Potato plant
green pepper plant blossom
Pepper Plant
pineapple
pineapple
Lettuce
Lettuce
eggplant plant growing
Eggplant
Cherry tomato plant in raised bed
Cherry Tomato
dill flowers in garden
Dill flowers

The plants themselves are looking much better, but I’m not getting to eat from them. I have picked a few cherry tomatoes, a hot pepper here and there, and had some kale chips, which I made from my kale. I use the parsley and dill to cook, but all my basil died.

It won’t be long before the weather is too hot for the gardens to do well. I’m letting my lettuce to go seed so I can plant more next Fall. I do expect to continue to get peppers and also some eggplant soon.

Bought a Hot Frog Tumbling Composter

Recently I purchased a Hot Frog tumbling composter, which has two spinning bins. We struggled a bit putting this thing together, but in the end it’s pretty nice. I’ll update progress as time goes on, but here is my experience so far. A Serious Gardener Needs Good Dirt This year I am getting into gardening…

by Pam

Transplanting Eggshell Seedlings to Grow Boxes

It is now mid-March and my grow boxes have been readied for vegetable seedlings. Just as I was thinking that the cold was behind us here in central Florida, we had a night in the 40’s. That will be rare from here on out. I wouldn’t be in a huge hurry, but I know that…

by Pam

Florida Native Frogs or Cuban Invaders?

Summer brings an over-abundance of frogs to my yard. I often find them tucked down inside curling pepper leaves or snoozing on top of a growing pepper. They don’t hurt the plants, but the invasive Cuban tree frog can hurt the environment, by killing off our native frogs. Cuban Tree Frogs? I think these are…

by Pam
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