Dogs in the garden

Size check... Elsie and Annabelle Beep-Beep

Elsie at 9 months old. The Cutest Dog in the World.

Annie at 9 months.

An update on the Perfect Pine forest

Here's a link to my original post about the Perfect Pine Forest:

http://shelleyperfect.blogspot.com/2009/01/perfect-pine-forest.html

Shot in 2009 when the trees had been in the ground a short time:

Shot April 20, 2011:

Some views of the garden

Tiki head with hair plants.

The blue salvia is going wild out front. The honey bees love it. You can hear the buzzing when you walk out there and see the movement as they go from bloom to bloom.

The dark green plant to the left with the orange just beginning to show is a wonderful hummingbird attractor. The hummers also like the bottle brush trees and blue salvia in the front yard. I see hummers once a day but I think their time is limited ... I'm sure they are just stopping by on their way north.

My key lime bit the dust two years ago so I decided to put one in a movable pot and so far so good. This one is covered with tiny limes. I see pie in my future.

Annie loves to be outside.

In the center of this garden I used to have a HUGE fishtail palm. It is still there, it is just slow growing back after the last two freezing winters.

This year I bucked the trend and advice of The Expert Gardeners and fertilized and pruned right after the first frost. I figured...the fertilizer takes a while to break down and be absorbed by the plant... then the plant has to generate new growth... so, why not give them a boost in January. My theory worked... just after the massive application of milorganite and pruning the brown growth mother nature rained a few times and now I see the fruits of my early labor.

Even the bamboo is doing great. New growth, sprouts, cane... I know I will have to repeat this process in January but I'm happy to have so much new growth and color this early in the year.

Elsie and Annie napping

I guess they are dog-tired today.

Miss Daisy Helping Herself

I was filling Daisy's feeder. I walked away to throw away the empty bag and turned around to see this:

Happy Birthday Tracy - At Ace's with Kenny Neal

Tracy prefers pie to cake so I surprised her with a stop at http://millersdutchkitchen.com/ and let her pick her birthday pies. Dutch Apple and Peanut Butter Chocolate. Oh My. We ate a slice of each and sent the leftovers with the band. Kenny sang just to us it seemed.

Selwyn Birchwood took the stage for a couple of songs.Shelley and Charlie Paul, Kenny's manager. I met these guys a few years ago at Skipper's but tonight I learned that Charlie is also a former NBA player. http://hoopedia.nba.com/index.php?title=Charlie_Paulk

Kenny and the girls. Photo by Scott Lynch.