The New Gnome Village............

Yes, the gnomes picked up and moved across the flagstone walk and down the incline near an old dead tree stump. I think they like their new place. I know I like how they are situation much better than their old village. It seems like a natural place for a community of gnomes........

 

Woody (from Dolly Wood) seems to be fine with the new location. That's important because he is king of the gnomes and my favorite! He now rests in a bed of tiny green leafed ground cover that I got from a friend. She has very large areas of it in her back yard. It doesn't get very tall and can be walked on.

 

 

A wider shot and you can see the ground cover is covering a good portion and hopefully will spread through all the bare ground in the village. The tree has a perfect opening and is hollow inside. 

 

 

This picture was made with me standing on the flagstone walk that runs by my dining room window. The ground cover in the front here is a much bigger leafed kind. As the new one spreads I will pull back some mini-bark and let it cover as much area as needs it.  If all goes well I think it will be a pretty little place.

 

 

A close-up of King Woody.

 

 

 

My second to the favorite. He is called Sneaky. Doesn't he look a little guilty about something?

 

 

He is like me, he likes birds.  See the little one sitting on his hand.

 

 

 

Another second to the favorite -  none other than the Santa of the gnomes, resting on his big leaf. 

 

 

These three hang out inside the tree. They are going to look better just as soon as they get repainted.

 

 

Santa again with one of his little helpers.

 

 

Close to the opening of the tree is their patio, a mosaic piece I did a few years ago.  When you see everything up close and together it seems to work here. I have a feeling they use it as a dance floor at night.

 

 

In front and down the lane a bit more is this one.

 

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And, also this. "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step".

 

 

A little more to the left sits this little brick house and these whopper birds.  I'm hoping the ground cover will grow down this far.

 

 

Another paint job waiting here. The toadstool looked so pretty until it's creamy yellow paint faded. The new place is mostly in the shade and hopefully colors will last better.

 

 

This big inlaid-glass one is holding up better and is still pretty.

 

 

 

On the opposite end and around the tree a bit is this little chair with a fat frog. And, that concludes our little visit to the new gnome village.

 

Flowers of April - Wordless Wednesday

Spring has been so pretty this year. I have enjoyed more blooms than I have ever had at any one time. After working very hard the yard is in a neat place. Butterflies are abundant. Although it is beginning to really heat up here, the weather has been so pleasant. The biggest aggravation has been dealing with an abundance of lubber grasshoppers.  Of course I have the same plants that I have shown to you many times and you can probably tell me what they are all called so, I decided to make this a "Wordless Wednesday and very few words......

 

Bridal Wreath Spirea and red Salvia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salvia

 

Pincushion flower and Basil

 

 

 

 

Eyelash Begonia blossoms

 

 

 

 

A new White Plumbago

 

 

Penta

 

 

Outside wall hanging

 

 

Blooming Ginger bush

 

 

Yellow Bulbine

 

Florida Dogwood

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Walking Iris

~~~

I will be back soon with more spring flowers.

 

Ribbit, The Exhibit.......

Last month some special visitors came to our local botanical gardens.  My friend, Deborah and I made a point of going to check them out because we had heard these visitors were going to be there and Deborah loves frogs........

 

 

 

This is the first one we spotted. He is Willie Fisher, one of twenty some larger than life, whimsical frog sculptures by J.A. Cobb out of Wilmington North Carolina.  They are available to be on temporary display at Botanical Gardens. This week they were visiting Harry P. Leu Gardens in Orlando, Florida.

 

 

 

If I had to pick a favorite I think it would be Willie, sitting here patiently waiting to catch something.

 

 

 

Here is Skully the Scuba Frog, standing in the Tropical Stream.

 

 

The frogs range from 5 to 7 feet tall, sculpted from copper and bear the natural patina color.

 

 

He is Marvin - the marvelous lawn mowing frog. Marvin might be tied with Willie for my favorite. I didn't learn who was responsible for positioning and placement of the frogs but whoever did it did a fantastic job. They all looked like they were made for the place they were in.

 

 

Marvin looks happy to be doing his part to keep the gardens groomed.

 

 

Here is Emerson, former bean tester for Starbucks.

 

 

By the look on his face I think the beans used for his cup of coffee passed the test.

 

 

This is Deborah standing with Fred and Ethel - the American frog gothics. And, would you look at the size of those cabbages!

 

 

 

 

 

Edwardo, the tree frog found the perfect limb on this tree.

 

 

He was just sitting here watching the leaves fall.

 

 

Diana the Huntress - Roman goddess of the hunt, the moon and birth.

 

 

He is Axel Grimm - the frog with the golden ball. He is from the fairy tale (Grimm and the Golden Ball) about the princess who would throw a golden ball into the air until one day she dropped it into a pond. The frog that found it was told he could have whatever he wished.  If I understand correctly, Axel came to Leu from where he resides at our local Dubsdread catering.  By the way, I don't know the rest of the fairy tale or I would tell you.

 

 

This is the Jazz Trio. I don't know much about them but they did tell me, "where words fail, music speaks".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here we find Floyd and Grace, the dancers, a.k.a. Fred and Ginger. They were taking advantage of the music from the trio.

 

 

Sasha the dancer.

 

And, last but certainly not least, Cora, helping the garden grow!

 

It is growing quite nicely!

 

I have a picture of Freddie the Butterfly Boy but for some reason Freddie absolutely refused to upload to my blog.  He is in the folder with all the others but wouldn't budge. I tried five times. He had his big net and was in the butterfly garden. Maybe he is miffed because he didn't catch any butterflies. We missed seeing several frogs. We didn't have the brochure showing their locations.

 

I am glad Deborah, that you love frogs because I really did enjoy seeing the Ribbit Exhibit with you! I like these frogs.