Weeds & Seeds Swap

With Christmas coming the snow outside my window right now, with a backdrop of grey trees, is pretty…what we like to see at this time of the year.  But it is cold, and as time goes by, we tend to look farward to spring, and consider making escapes to warmer climates…where it is warm, and you see beautiful flowers like the one above that is native to Jamaica. Something you might see if you were to enjoy one of Jamaicas all inclusive resorts. 

Many, like my brother and his wife and daughter, like to travel to warmer places during the Christmas season, others wait until Spring if they have children and want to travel during their spring breaks. Then there are those who, like my husband and I, are no longer raising children, so can travel if money permits any time of year, and so inclusive Jamaica trips are appealing, as they provide you with everything at a reasonable price, tips included, so that you know exactly what you will be paying up front. This is important with the economy what it is today, and many resorts and travel destinations are doing what they can to help by providing reasonable pricing, and better ways like this to financially plan your vacation. This is what made taking this offer to share with you appealing…we are all trying to cut costs and plan carefully these days.

The website was beautiful when I visited, and there are places like Ocho Rios hotels to stay. Ocho Rios is the main cruise port to the Island, a wonderful place to shop, enjoy a wonderful variety of activities, including beautiful beaches, golfing, polo and famous Dunn’s River Falls for you climbing pleasure. Close by is another popular destination, the resort town of Runaway Bay, one of Jamaica’s most popular destinations, the home to Breezes Runaway Bay.

All the details you need and more are at the links provided. I hope you enjoy a little warmth just visiting the links during these cold months of winter.

Sponsored Post from LoudLaunch - Compensating bloggers for their unbiased opinions, reviews, and analysis…all opinions are entirely my own.

Sometimes when you’ve been working a blog for a while, great posts get lost at the “bottom of the blog”, and need revisiting, so with gardening season arriving for some of us, and always around for other lucky readers, I thought I’d point out a few helpful posts:

• Gardening in Containers - this post contained some thoughts and ideas for those who don’t have space for a garden, or just like the idea of gardening in containers.
• Keeping Deer Out of the Garden - another post with some ideas and a helpful article, we have only had trouble with deer during droughts when they try to make their way down to our lake.
• Tropical Climate Gardens - for those of you fortunate enough to be able to grow tropical gardens, this is another helpful post.
• Vegetable and Organic Gardening eBooks that you might find helpful.

Do you have any favorite gardening articles or posts to share?  Please let us know in a comment!

I have an extra-special special to tell you about at the end of this post, but first…Florida!  This is the place that many escape to during the Spring, right on through the summer, and into the Fall months.  But Spring is when most of the people from our part of the US head down to Florida.

For many, the first thing that comes to mind is theme parks, we’ve done them and enjoyed them, but if/when I go down again, it will be for a quieter visit…no rides this time, I’d love to take in some of the natural beauty of the area.

Here is a list of things that you can consider if you, like I, would like to take in some natural beauty in Kissimmee:

• The Central Florida Zoo and Botanical Gardens
• Florida Eco-Safari - in 4700 acres of Florida wilderness, on horseback, through land and water, exploring beautiful natural ecosystems of Florida.  There are MANY
• World of Orchids - those beautiful flowers, so many varieties to explore!
• The Heritage Trail - because I love to learn more about the history of the places I visit, this would be something I wouldn’t want to miss, with many museums and things to see along the way.
• The Bok Tower Gardens - I first saw this historic landmark an old linen postcard when sorting through some things obtained at an estate sale, and found it intriguing.  It would be a beautiful spot to visit.
• A Glass Bottom Boat ride at Silver Springs
• Bird Watching…this is something that doesn’t cost anything, and is so much fun, the unique birds in the area are so beautiful! You can do this at places like Lakefront Park, Peghorn Nature Park and Trail, Bull Creek Wildlife Management Area, Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area and more beautiful locations.

There are so many things to do, that the next time we go to Florida, we’ll plan much better, our last trip was with children, so mostly amusement parks and rides, but this type of trip will take more planning….and the www.visitkissimmee.com website seems to have all that’s needed to discover places to visit and plan.

Oh, the special I mentioned, it’s a Sweepstakes…..Kissimmee is giving away three (3) weekend getaways (3 days/2 nights) for two (2); and two (2) week-long vacations for four (4). 2 more drawings will be held on or around 5/1/09 and 6/1/09 (the first one has passed). Visit the site, and enter the Sweepstakes today, then look around at all the beautiful pictures and things to do.

Being on a tropical theme today, I thought I’d look and see what videos are available for the tropical gardener, and I found quite a few!  I didn’t realize that, in the right climate, Banana Plants are fairly easy to grow, and also didn’t realize that they produce fruit at only 6 feet tall!  I hope you enjoy the following, there are other videos available by “Mr. Green Thumb” if you click the links that show after you view the video.  Enjoy!

We have had some Spring-like weather this week, and the snow has all melted. Valentines Day is tomorrow, and for some of us, there is romance in the air. My husband and I were talking last night about this being our 31st Valentines Day, including the one that took place while we were dating.

We were married in April of 1979, so our 30th wedding anniversary is coming up. It brings back memories of that busy but wonderful day when I married him, and our travels the next day to one of the caribbean hotels on the island of St. Thomas. We chose this Island because a friend of my husbands was able to help us find a good all inclusive vacation package, although we were on a honeymoon, not a vacation. Many weddings were taking place at that time, and I would say that a majority of our friends went to the Bahamas. Wherever you go in the islands, whether the Bahamas, in Jamaica, Panama, or the Dominican Republic (a neighbor of mine is vacationing there right now!) it is beautiful this time of the year.

Since this is a gardening blog, may I say that you get an eyeful of unique tropical plants that you will not find here in the US, especially here in the Northeast where many dream of escaping the cold for warmer climates, unless of course you are “into” skiing! I have many mental pictures, and some fading photographs in an album to remind me of those beautiful days…you who are living in this age of digital cameras are so blessed with pictures that never fade!

Whether you are thinking caribbean vacations or honeymoons, breezes.com will inspire you, and the pictures are so beautiful if you’re in a cold climate.

May I wish you all a Happy Valentines Day!

Bahamas Botanic Garden in Nassau image from bahamas.com

Over the past couple of years, our town has formed a sustainable gardening group, and have taken a plot of unused land in our Township, and turned it into something useful and beautiful.  There is also a beautiful “island” of flowers in the middle of the traffic light interchange in the middle of our town that adds color to an otherwise uninteresting spot year round…beautiful flowers in the spring, summer and fall, and decorative cabbage and winter pansies during  the colder months.

Project Orange Thumb grant is a program that encourages and provides the resources for this type of activity by offering tools and funding to start new projects similar to the ones I have shared, or to improve and enhance community gardening projects that are already established.

Please visit the Project Orange Thumb grant link, read all the details, and apply. Pass this information along to gardening friends in your community. Think of your garden clubs, groups like the ones I mentioned above, school grounds (a great educational opportunity in horticulture), parks, land that is unused but has potential to be something beautiful, there are many ideas…look around you and the town or city where you live. The application deadline is February 17, 2009.

Grand recipients will receive $1000 in green goods and $1500 in Fiskars gardening tools.

For six years, Fiskars’ Project Orange ThumbSM has provided over 100 community groups with over $300,000 to create and develop their own special community gardens.

Isn’t the garden pictured to the left beautiful? Not only was I attracted to it’s beauty, but the fact that it’s called “Claudia’s Garden” made it extra special since that’s my name. No, the garden wasn’t exactly named after me, but after the co-founder of one of the beautiful California theme parks in which this garden is located. How could I not want to share more about this park with you after a find like this.

What is wonderful about this park is that it is a pleasure for both young and old. There are rides for the children and young-at-heart, and they all are surrounded by, or inter-twined with a garden theme. The main focus of Gilroy Gardens, one of the most interesting California amusement parks, is to teach and inspire children to appreciate trees, gardens and horticulture, and do so in a fun setting. It is actually an educational institution. If you visit any of the links (the grey letters) in this post, you will find many more pictures, and information on how to plan a visit to the park. Imagine a boat ride or enjoying water park fun (40+ rides) in a natural setting intended to foster learning. I have never heard about this before visiting this site, and know that should I find my self in California again, I’ll be visiting the site to plan a trip to this fun filled garden paradise, one of the paramount parks. If I lived close enough, I’d consider the season pass offered, but for me, a native of the east coast, I’ll have to plan differently, but it won’t be hard to do.

Well gardening friends, this is a real find. I’ve enjoyed browsing the site…please comment if you’ve been there, I’d love to hear your experiences.