The 50th Post

Wow, this is a definite milestone for Porch Pansy! I started this blog over a year ago as a tool to learn how to create content and explore one of my favorite topics gardening. It has been a lot of work and well worth it. Unfortunately, my workload has increased and I don’t have the proper amount of time needed to commit to Porch Pansy. I do hope to return when things slow down and maybe by then, I’ll have a garden of my own! If I come across some lovely gardens along the way I will post about them. Thanks for following and happy gardening!

Here are the top 5 posts by the number of visitors, followed by some of my favorites.

1. Koida Greenhouses June 7

Check out this inside look at a local nursery in Milwaukie, Oregon run by the Koida family. This also happens to be my favorite as well.

Koida Greenhouses June 7 

2. Alan's Front Yard June 26

My good friend Alan let me tear up his front yard and backyard in the summer of 2013. I had a lot of fun, planted a lot of plants and tried my hand at design. The first post to this string is just below as the third most popular, it may be worthwhile checking out first.

Alan’s Front Yard June 26 

3. Shaun's Vegetable Garden

Shaun is a miracle worker when it comes to cultivating a garden. He also excels at design and function. He introduced me to the flower world and taught me a lot. I also have a post on Shaun’s Containers and Shaun’s Perennials.

Shaun’s Vegetable Garden 

4. Alan's Front Yard May 22

This is the first post on Alan’s front yard and my very second post for Porch Pansy. I think it’s so popular due to that loveable character Cooper, Alan’s white lab (bottom right of picture). Did you notice Cooper looking at you in the above photo of Alan's front yard?

Alan’s Front Yard May 22 

5. The Desert Botanical Gardens: Part I

The Desert Botanical Gardens are located just outside of Phoenix, Arizona and are amazing. This is a must see for lovers of the prickly nature. This is one of my favorite posts too.

Desert Botanical Gardens: Part I 

These are three more posts that I really enjoyed.

Learning about butterflies was amazing as we got to watch first hand their development from egg to adult in our garden center.

Butterflies Part I: Monarch and Gulf Fritillary and Butterflies Part II: Swallowtails and Cloudless Sulphur.

My friend John has a knack for the exotic and his garden is full of interesting life. When I asked him what he thought were his garden’s best features, he said it touched all of the senses.

John’s Garden June 2

The Lan Su Chinese Gardens take up a city block in downtown Portland, Oregon. Take a stroll through this enchanting spot that offers a peaceful escape from the busy city, full of rich history and tranquil design.

Lan Su Chinese Gardens

Mable Ringling’s Secret Garden

Florida is populated with a long fascinating history. One such place is the Ringling Estate in Sarasota, Florida.  John and Mable Ringling built their Venetian Gothic mansion, Ca’ d’Zan, on 66 acres of the Sarasota Bay. John Ringling, with his brothers, were the entrepreneurs of the highly successful Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus that reigned as the quintessential entertainment experience in the early 20th century. The estate compound includes the Ringling Circus Museum, the Ringling Museum of Art and the Bayfront Gardens, including Mable’s famed rose garden and her secret garden.

Mable's Secret Garden

The secret garden is a smaller garden located north of Ca’ d’Zan. Trees surround it and near it are the resting places of John, Mable and Ida, John’s sister. The garden is small in comparison to the large Italian inspired rose garden or the large banyan trees that tower over the property. This garden contains flowers that Mable received from local friends and is a great example of a lot of the flora found in Southwest Florida gardens.

Left Side of the Garden. Their graves lie behind the statue in the right background.

 The Right Side of the Garden

Amaryliss grows here in SW Florida and blooms in the spring. They can take full sun and light shade and prefer moist soil. They die back for their resting stage in the winter and grow up to two feet tall in the spring.

Pentas are a hardy specimen that blooms year round and can take the dry and the wet season. They grow up to two feet tall and like well-drained soil and full sun.

Curcuma, also known as ginger and turmeric, emerges from their winter naps to display elegant lush leafs in the spring followed by short stalks of flowers. They prefer morning sun with afternoon shade and well-drained soil.

Crown of thorns come in colors of white, yellow and orange, bloom year round and have mean looking stems riddled with thorns. They are tough plants and do well in the heat, drought and seaside conditions.

Aloe vera is very drought tolerant and needs well-drained soil. They are easy to grow and require little maintenance, growing in clumps. Their red inflorescence flower stalks make for an interesting display in the garden.

The African iris can grow in the sandy soil without much water, but flowers well in rich moist soil, and they grow in many drainage canals. The tall stiff leaves make a nice accent or ground cover.

The blue flag iris has lavender to purple blossoms and requires very moist conditions. They have sword-like evergreen leaves that give height to a bog or garden and bloom in the springtime.

This false agave has large sword-shaped leaves. This plant can grow up to eight feet tall and 10 feet wide. It grows for several years then blooms once, much like a yucca. It produces a tall spike up to 25 feet tall then dies off.

This variety of kalanchoe is thyrsiflora and has scallop-shaped leaves. They like well-drained soil and grow in small clumps.

Sansevieria, also known as snake plant or mother-in-law’s tongue, requires well-drained soil and is very drought tolerant. They can grow in sun or shade and spread in clumps. They come in many varieties, some tall or short and with thin or broad leaves.

Bromeliads make great landscape forms and often produce brilliant inflorescences that last for months. Most do well in the shade around trees, but there are more sun-tolerant varieties available. Small little pups spread out from the main plant. They get their nutrients from standing water in their cup-like centers.

Caladiums appear in the spring from their winter naps and do well in the Florida heat and humidity, though prefer some afternoon shade. They come in a variety of colors like green, white, red and pink.

Bougainvillea has small white flowers surrounded by brilliant colors of papery bract. They like lots of fertilization and grow well on trellises or fences. This one is very unique with variegated leaves and a white bract.

Many statues stand around the grounds, like this beautiful lady.

There is a lot to see and do at the Ringling Estate including Mable’s rose garden

Taking a tour of Ca’ d’Zan

Or exploring the wonderful treasures inside and outside of the Ringling Museum of Art

You can learn more by clicking The Ringling.

Butterflies: Part II - Swallowtails and Cloudless Sulphur

In Butterflies: Part I, we explored two of the butterflies that took up residence in the garden center I work in: the monarch and Gulf fritillary. This time around there were three more to explore: giant swallowtail, polydamas swallowtail and cloudless sulphur.

Giant Swallow Tail

The giant swallowtail is a beautiful butterfly. I had never seen one before and was astounded by its size. Their wings span from 4 inches to just over 6 inches. I found this one sitting as still as could be with at least a 6-inch wing span.

The giant swallowtail lives May through September in parts of the United States, but year round in Florida and the South. Here are two giant swallowtails mating.

Gaint swallowtails lay their eggs on plants in the citrus family. This female oviposits, or lays her egg, on a cocktail tree, a fruit tree that bears both lime and lemon fruit.

© Snyder 2014

As the giant swallowtail larva matures it turns to a brownish color resembling bird poop. This is a great form of camouflage. Giant swallowtail larva are cannibalistic, so they tend to be alone.

© Venema 2014

The larva transforms into the pupa or cocoon. This one has just recently transformed.

© Snyder 2014

The giant swallowtail's pupa stage can last many months. When they overwinter in this form, it is known as diapause.

© Snyder 2014

Polydamas Swallowtail

The polydamas swallowtail is a tropical species found in Florida, the Florida Keys and the Bahamas. This was a hard butterfly to capture with a camera, it was constantly on the move.

© Snyder 2014

The polydamas swallowtail lays her eggs in groups of 10 to 14 on the host plant pipevine or dutchman’s pipe. The group of larvae also feed together.

© Snyder 2014

As the larva grow bigger, they detach from their groups to feed their voracious appetites.

© Snyder 2014

The Host Plant Dutchman’s Pipe

Pupae may be light green or brown depending if they are close to foliage or darker colored stems.

Cloudless Sulphur Butterfly

The cloudless sulphur butterfly is a common Florida butterfly. Their habitat extends to some northern states during the summer months, but they migrate back to Florida for the winter. Their habitat extends to the West Indies and as far south as Argentina. Cassia is the host plant found in my garden center.

Cassia

The larvae reflect the different colors of the cassia plant. This larva feasted on the green leaves.

© Snyder 2014

This larva feasted on the yellow flowers of the plant.

© Snyder 2014

The pupa looks similar to a leaf and is either green or pink. This one is the small light green object in the center of the picture, it looks like a leaf.

© Snyder 2014

The cloudless sulphur butterfly's flight is very erratic and rarely landed long enough for a picture. This butterfly just emerged from its pupa, the remnants of the pupa is to the right of it.

© Snyder 2014