My cat Rudy has taken to sitting on our bathroom cabinet looking out the window to the backyard. This vantage point puts us at about eye level when I stand beside him. It also gives me a unique view of my garden, not to mention—and why Rudy sits there—a good location for bird watching.

Lately my young daughter (who wants to do everything Rudy does) “asks” to get up to look out the window too. I used to get impatient holding her there looking out, but now I’m finding it is a good excuse to zone out and really look at my garden and the bare bones it presents in the middle of winter. I haven’t come up with any genius design solutions or planting plans yet, but it has given me lots to think about.

Standing there for five minutes at a time also reminds me to water my myrtle topiaries, or rather, my myrtle topiary (since two have died recently from a lack of liquid refreshment).

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Monday, February 26, 2007 3:16:37 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [3] 

Sitting at my desk with the sun streaming through the window, I can almost imagine I’m back in Mexico. But then I step outside and am faced with the reality of our newly arrived winter. Not that I’m complaining, my garden is finally snugly covered in a blanket of snow—capped with a crust of ice. Plus to find the time to leave everything behind to travel to a warm, exotic place in the middle of winter is a true luxury—especially one as rich in flora as the Pacific coast of Mexico.

We visited an area about one hour north of Puerta Vallarta and were met by the dinosaur-like frigate birds, diving penguins, and more hummingbirds than I’ve ever seen. When we first arrived, I was yelling for everyone to look at the hummers, but then I realized that hummingbirds are pretty common down there and my urgency wore off.

The plant life was the biggest treat (other than the avocados) and we were lucky enough to be staying at a house with a great garden. It was packed with agaves, bananas, citrus, palms, gingers, bouganvilleas, and many plants that were unidentifiable to me. Two were particularly striking. The first plant was a tree that had orchidlike blooms of pale pink with fuschia streaks coming out of the throat. It looks a bit like a hibiscus, but was incredibly fragrant. The other plant looked like it was a giant purple crinum, although I’m not entirely sure.  Let me know if you can identify it.

Thursday, February 15, 2007 9:27:03 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)    Comments [7]