Hey Roselee! The statue in your second picture needs a figleaf!!! ROFL.... I really did laugh out loud when that caught my eye. Immature, I know.... but then again who really wants to grow up???

I too have two cantelopes on the vine. My first year growing them and I can't wait to sample. Got my first nectarine off of my little first year tree today.... To die for! Thanks for the pics and for the grins :)

Kristi

More great pictures. Thanks Roselee.

Those cantaloupes look great, maybe we'll try them next year.

Very pretty, Roselee. Does that Voodoo lily put on all that top growth each year?
Poor David. Maybe if you moved him to full sun? Ha!Ha!
I also had,.. no, not cantaloupes, but bird poop cats! Way more than my little Meyer's lemon seedling could handle.
Jim

HAHAHA, as my grandmother would say, "shame, shame" LMAO

I would dearly love to have a bird poop cat , LOL
I have never seen one in "cat"

I hope your cantaloupes are really great, it won't take much to be better than grocery store loupes
We grew them last year and we went away for a few days and decollate snails got in them
So really hope you get to taste them
I love that yellow canna is that the one that has striped bengal leaves?
Do you get babies from your voodoo lily? I might have changed my mind on them, lol

Cloudy days make me think I can grow things that you and Jim have

I love looking at your garden pics and I wish everyne could see it in person, there are so many beautiful plants and and garden art pieces, you can't even take it all in .

If you cover that lil thing, I'll never come visit again, lol
Poor David indeed, hehehehe

Yes Jim, the Voodoo lily plant dies to the ground in late August or early Sept. and comes back around mid to late May from a large bulb with a single layer of foliage in the form of an umbrella. When it blooms its single stalk with the interesting dark maroon lily it does so in April and then the bulb dies leaving several little bulbs around it.

And yes, I think moving David to full sun would be a good idea ;-) He doesn't seem to be highlighted enough as it is ... LOL! (How could I have ever thought no one would notice him?)

Really though, the white cement has gotten so stained over the years I'm wondering if I should paint him, and maybe finish the job with a light antiquing. What do y'all think?

I forgot to mention, I believe the succulent is a Echeveria
check out Echeveria elegans or Echeveria runyonii, not topsy turvy tho

Thanks for the names Jolana! I looked them up and it's one of those. I'm going to tag it so I won't forget.

Canna Bengal tiger leaves have even more distinct stripes than Striped beauty. It's a larger plant and the flowers are orange.

I hear you on the Voodoo lily, but the scent that attracts flies as polinators only lasts a day or two and you can stand that for the beauty of the foliage.

The bulb multiplies. They go really deep down in the soil and since I use re-use potting soil (dirt is a very precious commodity around here :-) they sometimes come up in the strangest places.

Thanks for your kind comments, but the yard really looks better in pictures since I don't let you see all the unpretty parts ... LOL.

We'll try to watch that snails don't get into the cantaloupes.

How's this?

I really want everyone's input on whether to paint David. It's a nice copy of Michelangelo's masterpiece and deserves a nice finish, don't you think?

Here is a link that might be useful: Michelangelo's David ...

Nice pictures, Roselee.

How about a "mossy" look for David? I read once an article from a gardening magazine showing how to make moss grow on a statue. It said that all you have to do is to blend a mix of moss and heavy cream and apply all over the statue. You also need to keep the statue "moisted" spraying water over it several times a day for a week or so. According to the article the dairy base would allow the spores of the moss to grow on the concrete. I never tried it but I thought it would be an interesting experiment.

Omar

I say leave David the way he is as he looks better with the old ruff texture.Just my thought....

Rigo74

I love the patina that David has. I think he looks like he's part of the scene rather than plopped in...

Roselee,
Such nice colors, feel like taking a stroll in your garden.
I have a suprise cantaloupe vine growing. I thought a squash vine came up from the vegetable scrap I threw in my garden. I put a trellis and let the vine grow vertically. I cut one off the plant to get a closer look and thats when I realized it was a cantaloupe. It was not ready yet,I let it ripen for a few days. It was quite good, I am sure it will taste great had I left it on the plant till it was ready. I have some more on the vine and I am figuring out a way to give support to those Cantaloupes. I read old panty hose may work good. Any ideas ?

I cast my vote for an "as is" David. I'm growing my cantelopes on a "cage" and am using old mesh bags that I purchase oranges in to make hammocks for them. I hang them with small bungee cords attached to my concrete reinforcing wire cages. So far so good and I'm praying for more little cantelopes to "make"

Kristi

David looks good in the setting with natural patina. Adding some mossy texture would also work nicely. It can be hard to get the moss to look right but worth trying as a test.

Thank you all very much for your opinions and ideas. I value them very highly.

Thanks also for the ideas on supporting young cantaloupes. Mine are all laying on the ground. The idea came to me this morning to lay them on a piece of heavy aluminum foil that had the underside sprayed with oil, like WD40 or Pam, to keep the snails off. Between the melon and the foil I could place some sort of porous material like nylon or plastic netting to allow air circulation. Do you think this might work?

Any other ideas on whether to refinish the David statue, or not, will be welcomed.

I vote all naturale, lol

R --

I say leave David as nature intended...nekkid as a jaybird ! As is he looks more like the original statue, as he should. I think painting would look too much like having a plastic statue in the yard. I don't do plastic anymore.

patty

Okay -- y'all win! I think you're right.

It'll be a lot easier to leave him as is anyway :-) Besides, that fig leaf keeps falling off ... LOL

Thank you all for your input!!!