Southwest Florida Gardening

It’s been a very long time since I’ve written anything… and a lot has happened in that time.

Where to start?!?

Well, we closed on the new property on November 22nd and drove from the lawyer’s office directly to our new home that same evening. We pulled up a few weeds from the front entry way and generally puttered around doing a lot of nothing but feeling the pride of possession all the same.

Georgia had to go right back to work in Miami the next day so I was left alone to get started on things.

First call was to the bug guy. He came out and treated the place for the usual assortment of bugs and critters because Georgia wanted to be able to camp out in the new house over the weekend.

Then I spent some time just studying the rooms and getting a feel for what we wanted to do with them.

Since then, I’ve put down new flooring in all rooms except one bath. That needs some other work done before worrying about the floor. The bedrooms are all freshly painted, too, although we haven’t painted anything else in the house as yet. We want to install new baseboards throughout the house but that can wait a little while.

We’ve progressed from staying here on the weekends to actually living here. Dad and Georgia have their rooms all fixed up and comfy but I’m still sleeping on an air bed.

It’s definitely beginning to feel like home.

Stay tuned for more details on the adventure. I have a lot to tell you!

I found an excellent article on growing amaryllis on the Brier Ridge website. I love those things… it’s one of the few flowers I can get to bloom indoors. 

The article goes into detail on how to plant and grow the bulbs and then tells you how to keep the bulb and get it to bloom again next year. It’s exactly the way I’ve done it for years and I know it works. Plus, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to be successful at it.

If you want indoor blooms for Thanksgiving or Christmas, visit that page and follow the instructions.

And then, if you live in Zone 8 or warmer… you can grow your bulbs THIS way:
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Growing Amaryllis in SW Florida

If you’re a transplant to Florida from a colder climate, as I am, you probably miss the lovely displays of tulips and daffodils each spring. Yep, we love our sunshine but there are a few things from “up north” that we miss. Tulips and daffodils are a couple of them.

So.. what can we do about it?

Last year I bought a sack of daffodil bulbs. Nothing special, just nice big King Alfred daffodils. They don’t do well in Florida. Everyone knows that.
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Forcing Spring Bulbs to Bloom in Florida