Rosie's Garden. August 7, 2012.

 Welcome to Rosie's Garden.

 Lantana and  
purple setcreasea which has pretty pink blooms.

Both are perennials in my zone.

 Zinnias self-seed

so I have them coming up everywhere.

These are in pathways.

What a pretty surprise.

 I like this pink zinnia in front of my ice plant AKA delosperma.

 Dainty coral nymph salvia.
This self-seeds easily.

 Dahlia.

I have no idea how this dahlia got into this particular bed.
I did not plant it here.
This area is all foxgloves.

 My bottlebrush is just starting to bloom.

 My castor bean plant.

I'm liking this plant a lot.

It's tall.

This one is over five feet right now
and it's still growing.
Interesting flower stalks.

 I love the bottlebrush and the castor bean together.

 The castor beans are all volunteers.
I love those vibrant leaves.

 Sunflower.

More volunteers.

 Passion flower.

Plant a passion flower vine

and you will have never get rid of it.
It's a lovely thing.

They apparently grow underground

and pop up anywhere in the spring time.

You can dig them up,

but take care of them:

Dig deep,

 pot them,

keep wet,

and place in a shaded place to recover from shock.

Then transplant next to a fence or trellis.

This climbs 25-30+ feet.

 Patch of volunteer zinnias in my rose garden.

 This area is under my mimosa tree.

It's an area that's undergone much turmoil.
It originally used to be a side parking area next to the driveway.
I nixed that after one year.
I could see something else.
A glorious mimosa tree happened to pop up here
and I let it thrive.
Then I began to highlight the areas underneath.
I have white shamrocks in the back.
I have a beautiful bear's breaches that blooms in mid-spring.
I have cilantro.
I have white daisies.
I have fatsia japonica.
I have a water feature.
I have water hyacinths.
I have papyrus.
I have spider plants.
I have elephant ears.

This is another work area in progress.

I'm trying to do a tropical thing
 here around the water feature.

Daisy in front.
Elephant ear to left.
Papyrus plant in back.
Water hyacinth in water fountain.
Can you find my snake?

 Daughter Hawthorne found this little turtle in the canal.

I hope he can swim well
since I can't reach him with the pool net.

 A neighborhood gardener and new friend I met last year
(On one of my runs with Dixie and Giada and Junior.)
brought me this little crape myrtle last fall.
I just got it in the ground last week
and it's already blooming.
I must read up on pollarding.

I love blue flowers.
This is vitex,
another plant shared by a beloved fellow gardener.