Garden books for winter reading

Gardeners in the temperate climates have a hard time over the winter.  How can you garden when there is a foot of snow on the ground?  How can you dig a whole when the soil is frozen solid?  Garden addicts get their fix in the winter by living vicariously through books.
Gardeners leaf through page after page of lush landscapes, fantasizing what plants they will plant in the spring. They get new ideas and inspiration in the winter.
Three great books are reviewed in the following YouTube videos. Enjoy the reviews and let your imagination grow wild.


Building Soils Naturally by Phil Nauta

Any Size, Anywhere Edible Gardening by William Moss

Florida Gardener's Handbook by Tom MacCubbin and Georgia Tasker

Luckily I live in the subtropics of South Florida now, so I get to garden all year long.  The winter days are too short to garden after work though, it is dark.  I miss gardening after work.  It is a great way to decompress before heading into the house to prepare dinner, go through the mail and  do all the many household chores.  Sometimes it is easier to be at work than to be at home in the house.  Thank you for stopping by my blog and see you again soon and at the other social media sites.  

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Election Results: Re landscaping an established garden

There comes a time in every garden when you have to have an election, and vote in new plants and remove incumbents that have worn out their welcome.  Some plants in the garden have outgrown their usefulness and have to go.  New plants get voted in to enliven and invigorate the garden.

Shrubs I started from cuttings from other areas of the garden were planted in my side yard by the street, voted in due to their beautiful foliage and ability to fill in  blank spaces between two Tabubia street trees.  Within several years, their original promises were indeed fulfilled and they looked marvelous.  However the maintenance to keep them properly pruned became overwhelming.  They were up for reelection  and they were voted out of office.  The short video below is how they were forced out.

Certain plants looked great in three gallon pots at the nursery and got voted in.  I have a lovely fishtail palm that I used as a screen to block the view of the street and home across the street.  Over time as other plants grew up and matured, the sprinkler became partially blocked and the fishtail was not getting enough water.  The tips of the leaves always were browning and affected the aesthetics of the palm.  Over the years it became too tall and was inching its way up to the power lines.  It was voted out of office via chainsaw.  Video below demonstrates the process.

Beautiful new plants were needed to fill in all the empty spaces of the plants removed.  Voted in were bromeliads.  I planted a single bromeliad in a pot and  itmultiplied and needed to be divided anyway.  They would unify the area and add a  bit of formality to the jungle.  Another plant got voted in, a wonderful phildondron native to Brazil.  This plant is wonderful and I also use it for hydroponics class in nursing homes.  This is how it was done.

Whatever you feel about the election and who wins and who loses, mother nature takes care of us all and we need to all get along in the garden of Eden.  Thank you for visiting my blog and see you again soon.

Please subscribe to my YouTube channel for free!
Like my Robert's Tropical Paradise Garden
Subscribe to Miami Garden Reporter articles
Follow me on Pinterest, Google+ and Twitter.