Anna, what a gorgeous yard even if I can't see movement. My Lady Margaret passion flower is moving toward defoliation due to the caterpillars, but I put up with it. There are tons of butterflies on the fire bush which has grown a ton since the rain. I have new baby cardinals, the father feeding the babies the caterpillars. I love to see living things in my garden too (besides the plants and me of course.)
Nancy

Anna, your garden is awesome! What are those red and orange plants at the bottom of the picture? I've seen more butterflies this year in my garden thanks to a good variety of butterfly plants. Our possum, who used to live in my staghorn fern, has moved out,but we still have plenty of lizards and squirrels.

Regina

Anna, your yard is so beautiful. The colors and textures and sizes in your landscaping all work so well together. It has a soft peaceful look. It's perfect.

Hi Anna! Nice to have you back.

I think of your bee-you-teeful begonia nelumbifolia whenever I look at my pitiful little one. I don't think I've ever had a plant that was so hard to grow and that I wanted so much.
I've tried part-sun, full shade and now part-shade. It came with three leaves and keeps losing and replacing them but never getting any more leaves or bigger. You have the green thumb on those plants :-)

What is moving in my yard?
Today I got my first gold-rim butterfly laying eggs on dutchmans pipe which I dug up and brought with me when we moved.

It took 2 months but one BF found it. It was wonderful watching it flutter all around the plant and take a LONG time to decide where to deposit her precious eggs. The favorite spot is always at the tip where the most tender vine and leaves are.

I have milkweed too but no monarchs laying yet just zooming thru.

Denise

This yard is a dream! I want mine to look exactly like yours and Ricky's combined. (yeah right, that is not going to happen)

I am in NJ and finally moving my plants out of the greenhouse.

Simply LOVELY, Anna ...I agree with florah - it's a dream! and it's all shown in a spectacular photograph, too.. The framing and lighting is so soothing...no wonder you have 'movement' in your yard!!!

Your yard is beautiful.

I was just reflecting on this subject yesterday evening. Besides the movement of me dragging hoses, ugh, I saw three pileated woodpeckers and one downy woodpecker (thanks, MaNature!) cardinals and jays just yesterday in a short fifteen minutes. A few days ago we saw the movements of a magnificent yellow rat snake in the back wood pile. I saw a blue tailed skink in a partially dead tree and have been seeing many anoles, both brown and green. I have never been near one of my many african blue basil bushes without seeing a bazillion bees and some flutterbys. It is a great pleasure to walk around my garden each evening and visit.

Anna-your garden is picture perfect right out of a magazine.
Although my house is 25 years old the garden started when I moved here 10 months ago. Everything is very young and not as much movement as I hope to eventually get. There are lot of bees and little flying things visiting my cosmos. Some butterflies visiting the pentas and plumbago and milkweed. I've got another "crop" of caterpillars on the cassia and birds visiting the feeder but nothing unusual. I haven't seen my black racer. I don't know where he went.

Anna, if you were in the picture with a Southern Belle hoop skirt, I'd swear this was Cypress Gardens! Beautiful!

Well, this happens to be the best view in my garden right now. It was late in the day and the lighting was so nice... such a pretty day. Of course, I didn't show you the parts of my yard that presently don't look that great and that still have a lot of filling in and maturing to do.

Sounds like you all are seeing a lot of movement in your yards too! Did your butterflies seem to experience a population explosion after the rains? Sure seemed like it around here. I love listening to all the bird calls which are so prominent in the mornings. So much life out there right now.

Regine, you had a possum living in your staghorn fern? The pink/red plants are iresine herbstine (bloodleaf). I am trying it out as a groundcover/edging to this bed and I really like the color punch. So far, so good, but it has only been there since late fall. The orange flower is justicia golden flame. It is the most visited hummingbird plant in my garden. I've only had a few, but that is what attracted them.

Denise, I'm sure the other gold rims will find your dutchman's pipe soon, and then it will look bare! I have my begonia in dappled shade under that large oak. It is on a berm, so perfect drainage. I don't fertilize it except for a bit of compost or aged manure, and it gets watered once weekly with the sprinklers.

Melissa, I have loads of bees too. They seem to be everywhere now. Yes, it is a pleasure to walk around and see what and who is happening.

Laura, my garden is two and a half years old. The large trees were there, but the rest was started from scratch with cardboard and lasagna beds. You have made some incredible progress in your yard in less than a year. What a wonderful transformation it has been! It is quite beautiful already and I'm sure it will continue to fill in quickly. I have some cosmos seeds I need to plant. Thanks for reminding me.

Anna

Anna,is really good to see your beautiful and inspiring garden. The blue goddess water lilies are growing and doing very well. I really appreciate you sharing them with me.
Each time I see them I think of you.
Movements in my garden? Big toads jumping into the pond in the evening,knocking pots in the pond and scaring the dogs causing me to laugh. Black snake swimming with his head out of the water looks beautiful. Allot of butterflies and my bees getting water to the colony. There is allot of honey to be harvested soon. Lizards running. Lots of cardinals,tuft
tit mouse,black cap chickadee,mourning doves,blue jays,mocking birds,blue birds. One of the kittens caught a baby blue bird and killed him. Blue heron flying by causing
fear as if it was a prehistoric predator after my lonely
coy.
Rain? what is that?
Felix

Oh, Felix, I'm so glad the waterlilies are doing well for you! It must be so fascinating watching the bee colony and really special to harvest the honey.

Speaking of movement, my dog loves to set chase to the mourning doves, herons and egrets. She destroys my plants trying to catch them. Of course, she barks all the way to them, just to give them fair warning, making sure they get away in plenty of time! She would pee on herself if she ever got too close to them.

Anna

Anna,

Your bloodleaf and justicia, do they spend most of the day in dappled sun filtered by the oak tree or does it just appear that way due to the time of day you took your lovely photo? And, it is a magazine cover worthy photo!

Anna,

You are an inspiration. I don't know if I will ever get that grand "sweep" of garden you have there, though I have the space. It's beautiful!! I will definitely have to try bloodleaf as I love foliage color almost more than flowers as it is more constant.

Movement in my garden this week....baby snakes (have seen quite a few), woodpeckers, families of cardinals, lots of butterflies. We've also been adopted by this guy apparently....

Anna, as always your photos are just lovely! That's another picture that to me says "Florida at it's finest"! I would love to have a live oak like yours!!! As far as movement in my yard right now I seem to have lots of butterflies and found some BS cats yesterday on the dill! Large assortment of birds at the buffet line every day all day and a HUGE black racer seems to have taken up residence under the air conditioner unit. He's startled me more than once over the past couple of weeks.

Adroidgardener, congrats on the new kitty! He sure is cute. Love those pale eyes.

~Betsy

Anna, you have been missed - honestly. I have been wondering where you went (though I myself post sporadically with not enough time)
Beautiful picture! Lovely description of the life in the garden....

I love my garden and the movement in it....Going organic sure does pay off: tons of butterflies, lots and lots of birds. Last night I saw a couple of birds (Marcia, you here?!) that were so tiny, and so cute...with a bit of yellow on the throat...They were drinking water from the plants as I was watering.
Orchid shadehouse is full of toads, tiny little frogs hiding in pots and lizards..One toad is a resident - hides out in sphagnum moss and gets all grumpy when I water during the day...
I spotted a woodpecker nest in one of the old trees..So interesting seeing him get in and out

Aroidgardener , that is one gorgeous cat ...oh I love kitties (you think, with 10 of my own, and almost as many fosters!)

Living so close to nature and observing it throughout the year - what is not to love and be happy about every single day?!
Olya

Nativemel, it is a long row of bloodleaf. Most of it gets shade till about noon, dappled till 2 or 2:30, then full sun till about 5:30, after which it gets dappled. These areas do the best. The areas that get more full sun are shorter and more bleached, the areas that get less are leggier. I planted them late last year, so the roots were established for this dry spell, and they are doing quite well with little, if any supplemental water (once weekly sprinkling). The justicia I have here, and it looks better than the one I have in all-day, full sun, although it tolerates even that. Very grateful plant. I really, really recommend this one.

Aroidgardener, like you, foliage plants are my favorite. I'm always looking for new foliage stuff to try. I'm sure your beautiful kitty is offering lots of fun-to-watch movement in your yard! Gorgeous!

Tannatonk, I have been nurturing parsley for BS, but it has not been found. Go figure.

Olya and others, thanks for the welcome back. You're right, we are so lucky we notice and enjoy God's creations.