My Happy New Year blog.

Your images are always interesting, Stan, as they are so "different!. Has your garden suffered a lot from the dry conditions? Weather patterns seem to have changed so much these days. Here in the South UK we have had no snow and not that much frost though the occasional night was pretty sharp. Further North conditions have been quite different. Neighbours took 9 hours to travel to Cumbria instead of the usual 5.

Happy 2018.

I agree Stan, your yard is very different from anything we are used to here! Thank you for sharing it.

Lets hope your climate is kinder to you this year. I think we have had your share of rain here in SW Wales - our little pond has been over its brimfor weeks and there is now moss instead of grass, lol.

Wonderful Aloe ! And I like the Euphorbias too. I used to have one of those Begonias, it had pretty flowers :)

Lovely blog ...

Thats some humdinger of a Cordyline.

Wonderful pics...and you class this as winter???? Happy New Year to you and yours.

Happy New Year from me too. That Yucca is amazing and certainly lives up to it's name, does it flower?
I like your corral, but wonder if they are corralled to keep them in or others out.
The Stromanthe tricolour is lovely, I have one in a pot indoors, but the thought of growing them outside is great.
One of our gardening programmes here has Monty Don carefully cutting back his potted bananas, moving the massive pots and wrapping them in fleece just to keep them alive!

Thank you all!
Eirlys- the eastern USA is in the grip of frigid cold and snow...out west here,we totally miss that.
Ster,My inlaws from Florida see much tropicalia every day..but!,There are no Tree ALoes,or Euphorbia's and other dry tropicals. When they visit they like to look over those strange exotic plants. They who can grow Coconuts!
Hywl,Yep,they do have nice blooms. I think they bloom in summer..maybe spring.
Diane,my mother would say humdinger all the time. Love hearing it again!
Waddy,its been near average BUT!..The total lack of even one night to frosty cold is whats different. A very moderate winter.
Honeysuckle..yes it flowers.Big white bells. I have had people ask for my Yucca flowers for some kind of Latin cooking recipe's. I guess its a delicacy.
Happy New year to everybody...every garden year is a good one now..

happy new year to you too Stan. We have had lots of rain a few hard frosts and even a little snow. the poor plants don't know whether they are coming or going. one weekend -3c the next +11c. plants I would expect to be dormant are still flowering. 3 of my roses are still producing blooms.
garden is too wet to dig and pond is also overflowing into a raised bed which is becoming very boggy.

Seagirl,I might look for a water feature this summer..something that makes the sound of moving water. No fish,I had to give that up as I get too much wildlife- Raccoons who catch and eat the fish,Herons ditto. I miss water in my garden.
Years ago,I had ponds all the time. Then,they knocked down old homes next to mine. That created a corridor to the hills down the street.. wildlife corridor. I learned the hard way how easy it was for Koi to be caught. I miss my Shubunkins too.