Looking great Hester! I'll hold off on further compliments until you inundate us with a hundred photos of your yard. (hint hint)

Yours is one of those yards I love seeing and reading about, and never seem to get enough.

Gorgeous as usual! I wish my desert rose looked anywhere near a healthy as yours! I love the native anole lizards and just snapped a picture of one that was sitting on my queen emma crinum.

Kara

Hester, your garden is breathtaking. You sure know "right plant, right place" and not only that, each one looks so healthy and Friday-at-five-o'clock happy. I could look at your pictures all day.

Your begonias look GREAT. The cuttings you sent me a couple years ago have done SO well. I just love them and think of you every time I see them. I give them extra good care. The tall pink cane begonias are still my favorite - and now Sylvia is growing them, too (from Wallisadi, I think, at the last Garden Party).

I also love your taste in garden accessories. I know, you told me before, you've picked them up at yard sales and Goodwill, but boy, you have a good eye. I am not big on garden "stuff" but I love your trellises, gates, etc. Just my taste, LOL. :)

I am not familiar with strophanthus so I had to Google it (link below). What a beautiful plant! Is the common name of yours Climbing Oleander?

Do you still have your Dombeya x Seminole? I still want that plant even though I know it makes no sense at all for my zone.

Well, it's all lookin' good!

Carol

Here is a link that might be useful: Google Images - Strophanthus

Wow what a beautiful spring display!

Beautiful garden! Always something new and blooming! Show more please...........!!!

Hester, you garden is a joy to look at. I keep going back to look at the pictures again and again.

I have the climbing oleander too. It is somewhat vine like and I have it climbing my fence. You might find it hard to keep small and bush like.

Hester

What a beautiful composition of plants! You have good taste in arranging them. Your garden is always full of beauty and good ideas!

Carol, I do love begonias and now I have a few beauties most of them came from Mark, I also have my oldest one from Anna.:)

Silvia

Do you do anything special to your Begonias? Something is devouring all of mine. :(

Hi all - such nice comments...thank you. And, as asked, here are a few more.

first, to answer questions.. Shear.cane begonias are easy for me to grow with not much attention. I don't know what might be eating yours. But they are so simple to propagate (just cut off a stem and stick in water) that you might want to start some new.

Foreverlad - if you really care, just type my name in the search box and threads with pics will appear!! In the meantime, here are some more for you and Mark.

Sorry, too tired to label - just assorted things!

Hester

Carol - I do have the dombeyas - they bloom twice a year.
Also, I'm glad you are enjoying the begonias. I have so many now, in pots and in the ground.
the strophanthus is often confused with climbing alamanda, the common name if poison dart plant. I have one as a shrub and the other vining. And, hey, let's have some pics of your garden!!

so beautiful . . . . I AM SPEECHLESS . . . .

Susie
(sittin' here sighing)

Hester - Thanks so much for posting pics of your yard. Such a pleasure to look at. What a nice view you have when looking out your windows! I am also impressed with your dessert rose.

Christine

Hester:
2nd picture, the hanging vine with the clustered blooms, what is that? My mother has one and loves it but she doesn't know what it is... and I've never actively sought to identify it for her.

Leekle-
It's a hoya ...afraid I don't know the variety. there are many, many different kinds. The one here has pink/white waxy blooms that are not fragrant (although many others are).
Easy care - little water - don't cut as blooms come from those long stems.
Try Google images to identify yours if you wish
Hester

Thank you, Hester. I think, after looking at images, she has Hoya carnosa, though I haven't seen the blooms on hers since last summer. I will pass this along to her. She's been kind of guessing as to the care of hers and so far has been fairly lucky. Now she can be armed with actual knowledge of her plant.

Thank you susie and christine!!!!

I never met a plant I didn't like.....sigh, sigh

Hester

Hester, photo 4 of 5, is that Devil's Backbone? Looks gorgeous, never seen it in shade before. Also, your black and blue Salvia, how big is that now? I've heard stories of the size they can attain, but all mine are still fairly small.

Yup - Devil's Backbone - I have it in both shade and sun - easy care plant!
My salvia gets kind of big for where it is and the more I cut it, the bigger it gets! You can really keep it at whatever size you want and the cuttings root easily in water. My cat sleeps on it and the plant recovers well! I just have problems cutting it back when it is flowering so I let the cat do it..
My salvias are two years old, so yours will get big.
Hester

Thanks for the pics! Your garden is beautiful and well placed, something I have never had a knack for! The desert rose and Hoya blooms are nice!!!! Devil's backbone blooming here too, only happens here in mild winters....

Mark - I didn't know that about devil's backbone and wondered why they were blooming this year. Thanks....
your garden is great, by the way
H