PARADISE ISLAND, A SNAKE AND A BIRD

This corner of our property was covered with plants that looked like Missouri (read that not tropical). We like the jurassic look with big tropical leaves and palm trees so we cleared the area and found a bunch of crap buried there too. There was a big pile of concrete blocks, a couple of old tires, several dead tree stumps and a lot of crappy old viney dead plants that have not rotted all the way yet.

Paradise Island area begins along the right side of the Bridge/Road on the left

After extracting all the non organic matter (tires, concrete blocks) we leveled out the land and built a frame out of 2x12 boards that are 10 feet long. Eventually we want the boards to rot away or we'll remove them but right now they are supporting all the top soil we're adding to build the land up with good plant growing matter.

View from farther back

We've grown a pair of traveler palms from seeds, the largest of which is going to be planted in the Paradise Island garden. We'll remove the pot that is acting as a placeholder and try to install the plant in the placeholder hole causing minimum damage to the plant.

In the rear behind the wooden board frame we're going to add a Cocoa palm which we bought at Home Depot when he was a tiny ugly runt. Since then he's grown into a beautiful vibrant palm which is very slow growing. This is good because their leaves act like a privacy fence between our property and our neighbors.

S N A K E ! ! !
Jason our lawn tech god spotted a big snake while cutting the grass, he was sure it was a water moccasin. He told me and we went to investigate. By the time we got there the snake was no longer sunning himself on shore, he had headed into the safety of the pond.

I had my iPhone and shot the best photos I could so we could hopefully identify the visitor. His round eye shape makes me think he is a common banded water snake which is not poisonous. 

I grew up hating snakes but I've come to appreciate them as beautiful and part of our environment so I'm no longer scared of them. They eat biting insects and rats, both of which I really detest. 

Anna

The anhinga is a wonderful and strange bird. It flies through the air and it flies through the pond underwater trying to catch fish. She dives under the pond surface for up to 30 seconds at a time and covers the full length of the pond sometimes.

Anhingas use their wings and their feet to propel them under water. After they do a round of fishing they must sit on the shore for a few minutes and shake the water out of their wings so they can fly away. 

Anna looks prehistoric sitting on the shore with her outstretched wings. 

We love when she visits, some of our pond fish pay with their lives but a birds gotta eat! I've never actually seen her eat a fish, unlike our other visitor, the cormorant, who also swims completely below the surface catching fish. We named him Cory and we have seen him come up with a fish in his mouth more than once. 

NEW BAMBOO AND BANANAS, THANKSGIVING 2017

Mary could not stop herself, she was out bright and early every morning over Thanksgiving break. She was chopping broccoli, moving banana plants and carving out new bamboo from some of our Emerald.

Here is how you make bamboo, dig down, cut the rhizome and you've got a new stick of bamboo ready to plant

Look at those roots, this bamboo is excited and ready to start a new stand of Emerald

We love the green color of the Emerald bamboo

Four new bamboo plants planted in the shady area near our irrigation pump

These are the new bamboo from Rockledge Gardens plus one Emerald from our inventory

Baby bamboo we planted less than a year ago, growing nicely, very fluffy

Another view of Rockledge Gardens new bamboo plants

One Emerald cane in the midst of Rockledge Gardens bamboo, this one is from our Emerald

This group of bamboo was planted over the 2017 Thanksgiving break. We bought four Emerald and two Hawaiian-Stripe bamboo plants at Rockledge Gardens nursery. 

Mary dug and carved out more Emerald bamboo from our own growth. 

Ants under ground

The banana circle is flourishing, but no bananas yet

These bananas were floundering by the bridge, too much water so we moved them to a new area

The banana orchard

Angel Mist

Original Recipe Bamboo - Propagated

Emerald bamboo - propagated

Alphonse Karr

Black bamboo - almost left for dead after ignoring him for a year, and with a little water he's sprouting green

Another Alphonse Karr

Original Recipe Bamboo - Propagated (2nd of 2)

HO-Fo, One of our $10 Home Depot banana experiments

THANKSGIVING 2017, RID'N THE WILD SWALE

On Thanksgiving morning we realized our main pond was too high and not draining. We went to investigate the overflow area and found that the run-off swale had become clogged with tree roots, palm sprouts and dirt.

Mary started the day with a two-hour dig to begin opening it up. I joined her and we spent another eight back-breaking hours digging, sawing, hammering, chopping and clearing the swale so it would drain. Just in the nick of time, we had an inch of rain fall and got to see the fruits of our efforts, it was finally draining. We still need to improve it but we reduced the pond level by a few inches which took pressure off plants at the far end which were drowning in too deep waters.

Peacock boys passing through the drainage area

We love our wild Peacock friends

The Peafowl hunt for lizards, frogs and tasty bugs around the property

Part of the drain canal

Another view of the drain canal

Opening up the drain and letting the water out

Massive tree roots were blocking the drainage of water