Sunshine in the front yard

On August 13, 2025September 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants7 Comments

I planted sunflowers seeds early this spring in the tiny spot of dirt that gets full sun in our front yard. By mid-April the buds were coming up fast.

Another week later one was blooming and we were heading to south Florida for a few days and I was afraid I would miss the peak blooming.

I didn’t miss anything. Days after we got back from our trip the sunflowers were in full bloom and the few plants had a ton of blooms on them. I was thinking deer would come by and eat them all. Last year deer came by and ate half the plants right before they started to bloom and then squirrels started eating the sunflowers as they started to droop but this year we didn’t have anything bothering them except bees.

The sun comes up behind the house so most of the blooms did not face the street.

Buds kept popping up.

One of the stalks got top heavy and leaned over, almost to the ground so I got an old stick we had in the garage and tied it up to keep it standing. Luckily the stalk didn’t break off and continued to bloom.

SkyWatch Friday

Around the yard in early March

On June 2, 2025July 10, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants5 Comments

Things blooming in the front yard in March.

I was taking pictures of the flowers in the front yard and saw this ibis over by the pond across the street. I walked over and realized he had a snack (frog). He flew off with it in his beak.

The great crested flycatchers were back for the summer. I heard them calling when I was taking the garbage can out early one morning and ran in and got my camera. They stayed high up in the trees.

A brown thrasher was also in the trees in the front yard.

Swallow tail kites cruise along the golf course and they don’t hang around for long. I saw this one across the fairway from the window and ran outside with my camera. He flew close and quick right over my head and then flew off over the trees and was gone.

I don’t see snakes often in the yard so I was excited to see this harmless black racer cut across the yard. The first shot was through the window and then I crept outside and was able to get a shot of his face before he slithered under the neighbor’s bushes.

The bunnies have been coming by the back yard since January. They usually come right before dark and don’t stay long.

Nanday parakeets feeding on the bottle brush tree down the street.

Sunset from the front yard and across the street.

The full moon from the backyard in March.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

A rainy walk at Chesnut Park

On May 12, 2025June 6, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants3 Comments

My shoulder was bothering me so I went out for a walk at Chesnut Park in late February with only my phone. It had been raining the night before and had just stopped early in the morning when I headed out. Everything was green and swampy.

I saw some deer along the boardwalk and was able to get a video of her jumping up to get the good leaves.

The resurrection fern only turns green after a rain so the old oak trees looked really pretty with the fern coming to life.

The azalea bushes were blooming and the bright pink popped in the woods.

The dark clouds were still lingering over the lake.

The moorhens were busy chasing each other.

A turtle swims by.

Yes, there are many alligators lurking in there.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

Looks like spring in the fall

On March 3, 2025April 10, 2025 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants3 Comments

While most people up north may still have snow, this is what central Florida looks like now. These are from my trip to the Florida Botanical Gardens at the end of November. It was warm then and even though we had a few cold weeks it still looks like spring here now.

There were still a lot of blooms before winter here.

I love seeing the light up flamingos that are part of the holiday lights.

The bald cypress trees were just starting to shed their leaves.

I interrupted this blue jay trying to snack on the berries.

Parts of the gardens were still closed due to tree damage from the hurricanes.

My favorite trees here are the silk floss trees that bloom in the fall. There are two large ones here and this one in the parking lot is the smaller of the two as you can see by the shadow on the ground.

While it was past the blooming peak there were still a lot of the blooms on the tree.

Linking to A Stroll Thru Life.

Around the yard this summer

On October 21, 2024December 9, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants3 Comments

In June my sunflowers started to explode. There’s a tiny spot in the front of the house that gets full sun and I planted a handful of seeds there. The deer ate a lot of the leaves when they were half grown but didn’t seem to eat the buds.

This one big stalk kept blooming for a month. The smaller one next to it also bloomed but stayed really short and the blooms were tiny. I’m thinking it was a different sunflower seed. After it stopped blooming I cleaned out the bed and replanted more sunflower seeds, hoping I would get another bloom before winter sets in (around January here). I only got one small bud and it hasn’t bloomed yet.

We had some juvenile birds coming through including a cardinal and a northern parula.

The squirrel has been spending the summer afternoons napping on the birdhouse.

This again on our back door. At first I thought it was a fungus growing but after googling it I found that it’s green lacewing eggs (a type of moth).

The hummingbirds have been regular visitors all summer. There’s at least two females (I’ve seen them chasing each other around) and a male shows up every once in a while.

I was looking at the sunflowers through the kitchen window and saw a hummingbird buzzing around them. I got my camera and sat for a while waiting. She came back and sat for a few minutes but I didn’t see her feed off of them. I never saw them near the sunflowers again.

Summer skies from the yard.

A hot walk at the gardens

On October 10, 2024December 6, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants8 Comments

Update: Brett and I are safe, waking up to to the mess of Hurricane Milton. We are just north of St. Pete and Clearwater. No power and most don’t have water. As the sun comes up we will head outside to see the mess. Please pray for central Florida to get through this 2nd hurricane in 2 weeks. Thanks, Dina.

I made a quick trip to the Florida Botanical Gardens in late June. At this point it was too hot for anything longer than a 45 minute walk outside. I wasn’t expecting to see many birds but I did see a few smaller critters.

Color around the gardens.

The butterfly garden was already overgrown. I waited a while hoping to see some hummingbirds or hummingbird moths but neither made an appearance.

My favorite tree here is this skinny rainbow eucalyptus tree. The bark peels off in colors.

There are a lot of great old trees here. The tag said this is a kapok tree but I’ve never seen it bloom. Some kapoks only bloom once every 10 years so this may be one of them. The big kapok on the main road through Clearwater blooms big orange blooms every spring.

The big lake is getting all choked up. It seems like they would clear out the water hyacinth that is invasive. It keeps the water from moving through.

After the walk at the gardens I stopped at a fairly new farmer’s market nearby. There were a ton of tables here and most had exotic fruits and vegetables. The coconut booth had a lot of people around it grabbing fresh coconuts.

I came for some mangos but the exotic fruits were interesting. The top booth had a lot of lychee. My husband grew up eating it as a kid but he has lost his taste for it now. The bottom shot is rambutan. You peel the skin off and it’s like a grape underneath. I’ll come back in the winter when it isn’t so hot and look around a little more.

Mellow yellow at Myakka River State Park.

On August 22, 2024October 3, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, flowers and plants5 Comments

It doesn’t get much better than standing in a huge open field of yellow flowers. The pictures would have popped more if I had a blue sky but the clouds kept the heat down as I hiked out into the field. It was quiet and I was early enough that there wasn’t many people around, just a few others farther down the field.

I hiked down a side trail along the tickseed fields hoping to see some critters but this was all I got at the end of the trail. A big pond without a bird or critter around.

I drove to the boat ramp and got out and walked towards the big lake. I had to walk down worn paths through more tickseed. All of this area was under water at one time but the lake had been losing a lot of water over the years and keeps getting smaller.

I was walking along the edge of the lake but kept my distance from the water, keeping my eye out for alligators. This area may be under water right now during the rainy season but in mid-May when I was here we hadn’t had much rain for a while.

Another trail takes you where the water turns into the river and you can see the other side closely. This is where the alligators tend to hang out. The area closest to the water here is roped off for obvious reasons. I was using my 100mm-400mm lens to get these shots of the alligators napping on the other side. I love seeing them from far away.

The water was shallow here and you can clearly see them laying in the water. There were so many of them in this corner of the park. I counted 22 along the river area.

There were some interesting tiny critters along this trail as well.

As I stood and watched the alligators sleeping a black bellied whistling duck flew by.

There are some really cool old trees here. I took the above with my phone on the wide angle setting.

Some vultures were hanging out in the parking lot.

I always stop at this one area for a quick walk before leaving. You can see the river farther down but the trail is short. This is what old Florida looks like. I wish this park was closer to me. It’s almost 2 hours to get home with traffic during the day.

Butterflies and a baby hawk

On August 15, 2024October 3, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn bird photography, flowers and plants6 Comments

I’m still working on my butterfly shots. The perfect place to do that is Folly Farm in Safety Harbor. There is a great butterfly garden there.

While shooting butterflies I noticed a plant that had a lot of the grasshoppers on them. It was mid-May and these guys are just starting to show up. These Eastern Lubbers will get even bigger and turn orange when they are fully grown. They can eat through plants very quickly.

The red shoulder hawk was sitting on the first tree in front of the butterfly garden.

A few trees over was the baby. The nest was in an open palm tree but the nest was pretty high up. I waited a while hoping one of the parents would come and feed it but that must have happened much earlier that morning.

Before going to Folly Farm I stopped at the mangrove boardwalk near the fishing pier for a quick walk.

It was pretty quiet. Only the usual birds were there including red-winged blackbirds and a yellow crowned night heron.

The sea ox-eye was in full bloom along the boardwalk. Also called sea marigolds, it lives in salt marsh areas. The only other place I remember seeing it is at Fort Desoto.

Morning walks in early June

On August 12, 2024October 3, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn Florida animals, flowers and plants3 Comments

My husband is now working part time from home and has more flexible hours so in early June he went with me on my morning walk around the Safety Harbor fishing pier. He hadn’t been to the pier in years so we started there before walking around the area. Since he’s not much of an early bird we didn’t get there as early as I usually do. We were lucky to catch manatees coming up for air.

A short video of them coming up for air. They were close to the pier and I was able to get them with my phone.

Looking up from the manatees, I saw a flock of pelicans go by.

Brett taking a few moments to take it all in on the mangrove boardwalk.

I was able to catch a mangrove crab on the boardwalk. These guys are usually skittish.

The next morning I went out a little early by myself for a walk at the Dunedin marina. Right when I got out of my car I saw a mallard couple swimming across the marina with some babies. They were moving quickly and went under the dock.

I had forgotten the night blooming cereus blooms along the street nearby. I turned the corner from the marina and saw the flowers along the fence. They usually only bloom at night but if you are here early in the morning you might catch them right before they close up for the day. There are a lot of these plants in Dunedin and Safety Harbor and sometimes people have parties at night to watch them bloom.

The lily-of-the-nile was blooming along the walk as well.

I came for sunflowers but the cows stole the show!

On July 29, 2024July 29, 2024 By dinajohnstonIn flowers and plants8 Comments

In May I made the trip north to Jimmy Mc’s Farm to get a handful of sunflowers. All you can fit in a hand for $5 is the best deal in the area. The farm doesn’t have activities like some of the sunflower farms do but they don’t charge to get in so it’s a deal if you just want sunflowers. I got there right when they opened and walked past the big sunflower field to see the cows. When I got to the back fence the cows all started walking towards the fence. Where they coming just to say Hi? It was fun to see the calves.

They walked right up to the fence. They were hoping for a sunflower handout.

A few minutes later the farmer brought them some food and they left me, immediately taking off and heading for the food. It was time to pick some flowers.

It was a beautiful morning to be picking them. I walked up and down the aisles and struggled to choose them. They had to be perfect. No bees on them. Not popped out yet (when the center pops out it means the blooms are older and don’t have much longer). I brought 2 big handfuls to the table to check out.

The cows had moved closer to the entrance and were standing near the fence. The owner had a handful of the flowers and were letting us feed the cows with the sunflowers. When the picking season is over at the end of May he lets the cows into the field to eat the remaining flowers.

I stopped on the way out to take a shot of the windmill.

I thought I checked them out for bugs but when I got home this guy crawled out from under a petal. I ran and got my macro lens to shoot the above before taking him out to the backyard.

I gave a few to my neighbor and we still had a lot of sunflowers around the house.

I took this with my phone in portrait mode (stage light setting). I like the way the background is blacked out. My phone takes some pretty neat pictures.