That is FANTASTIC! Florida living to the max.

FlowerLady

Jen,the blue terror looks beautiful there. Nice plumeras also.
I saw a blue terror,early this morning flying by. My knees started shaking and I got ready to run. You see several years ago my pond had about sixty goldfish,catfish and coys. A pair of blue terror moved in and took all my fish. I now have just
one lucky coy from that terror attack. Some fish were too big to swallow. They were taken out and left to dry in the sun. I tried decoys netting even field fence over the pond.
The pond looked awful. So much money wasted! They are also protected by law. I know that is the way that the food chain works. I feel like getting on that food chain.LOL
Jen, I would like to see more pictures of your garden.
The arbor looks really nice. Thanks for sharing the picture
and for me venting my fears.
Felix

WOW. this is amazing! ... I want birds in my yard, too *whine* I would already be happy with itsy bitsy tiny ones.... and what a beautiful arbor, yes show us more pictures :-)

Evelyn

ooooooooooooooooooooo - What a picture! The arbor, the great blue heron, the flowers. Everything in that picture is perfect. I love the plumage and feathers hanging down. And you have a beautiful garden. The picture makes me feel like I am sitting in a chair (perhaps with a lemonade) in your yard watching it all.

Wow. That really says "Florida", doesn't it?

Just beautiful - all of it!!

Picture perfect! I would love to see more of your yard too.

Felix, you're a hoot!

I am slowly working on a stained glass piece that features a great blue heron. Magnificent birds!

~Betsy

What a great photo! Are you going to enlarge it and put it on your wall?

Thanks for all the kind words. I am blessed with beautiful wildlife that's generally non-destructive. Even the squirrels are just annoying at the bird feeders but they pretty much leave my avocados alone, so I shouldn't complain. Felix, I'm so sorry for the attack on your fish. I don't blame you for being traumatized.

My yard's very much a work in progress. I finally got a sprinkler system a few months ago and I'm still repairing damage from that, but I'm sure glad I have it right now. I'll post some pictures but they'll be "before" pictures. My plants are pretty tiny and a lot of them I started from cuttings or seeds. That trellis is was an inexpensive trellis bench I got from HD about 8 years ago and it's really held up well. Thanks again.

Julie

That's just a beautiful photo, Julie! I love it!

Felix, I'm sorry your bird turned out to be a Great Blue Terror. He thought you had put out a big, wet bird feeder, just for him. I know it would have me dreaming up all sorts of devices to chase him away, if he were in my yard eating MY fish.

Thanks for sharing the photo, Julie. It really DOES say "Florida!" (Even though great blue herons are widespread throughout much of the country.)

Marcia

Hi Julie
Love your photo. And glad to see you're in Venice just up the road from me.
I've seen the GBH flying by but not yet in my yard :-)

Denise

That photo is magnifiscent just as the plantlife and wildlife . I hope it is on your screen saver!

That's it! That's the picture we need to replace the Florida Forum logo at the top of the page! What do you all think? Should we ask GardenWeb to make the change for us? I agree this photo is perfect.

Kate

Oh goodness, I'm flattered, it was quite a lucky shot. But I agree the picture on our page could use updating, it's sad. I thought most of the forums had little illustrations like this but then I saw the photo on the Brugmansia site. And the Asian garden site has an absolutely beautiful photo on it.

Jenfm, we've tried before to get them to update ours. Even had a photo contest. But while they SAY they will put up the new one for us, so far...nuttin', honey! And here we are such an active forum, too. You are right...it IS sad.

Marcia

Should we try again?
Here's how Jen's photo would look with a little 'fade to black' border:

Isn't it beautiful?

No not beautiful,,,,,,,it is absolutely Gorgeous!!!!!
And I might add I am picky.

It gets my vote!

Marcia

Jen...that is just an awesome photo! ...and I love your enhancements, Kate!! (what photo editor do you use??)

uhh...Felix??? I'll bet heron tastes just like fish! ...I'd recommend something like mahi or grouper for that taste! ;)

I agree, that is a gorgeous photo!
I remember all the beautiful pictures posted when you all tried to get them to change our logo! I'm all for it!

Beth, I use PhotoShop C2. It's an amazing program but I only know how to use about 10% of it! I'm seriously thinking of taking a class so I can delve into it a bit more. I hate to have something so wonderful that I'm so lame at. But I have gotten pretty good at sharpening and brightening photos. And the border functions are great. One thing I learned from my professional photographer boss is to shoot pictures just a little bit underexposed. They'll start out a little duller and darker, but with a couple easy steps in photoshop (or any other program) you can brighten them and bring out lots of details. If the photo is overexposed, it's harder to do that and some details can't be sharpened.

Kate

New thread:

Jenfm has given me the OK to post her picture, with the border, on a new thread and see if other forum members support the idea of the new logo image. If you like it, please go to that thread and voice your opinion!

Kate