Penny Carnathan

Penny’s a Nurture And Hold (NAH): Nah, I won’t pull that out yet, it’s still got a green shoot. She likes dragonflies, lady bugs and new stuff only after weeding, pruning and fertilizing.

Kim Franke-Folstad

Kim’s a Want It Now (WIN): Everything pretty, everything now. She will resort to full-spectrum insecticides in desperate situations, and believes it’s her duty and right to buy new plants every weekend.

Both advocate Plant Choice (SOMEthing besides crotons. Please!), lots of color and low maintenance. We don’t agree on everything, but we’re smart enough to learn from each other - and from you.

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I call your terra-cotta fish and raise you a buoy man

Posted Oct 15, 2009 by Loren Omoto

Updated Oct 15, 2009 at 11:01 PM

Finally I get to see some really creative Keys-style garden art! I was beginning to worry.

Today is my husband’s birthday AND the opening day of stone crab claw season (Thanksgiving Day for the Carnathans.) We celebrated with a snorkel trip out to Looe Key, the No. 1 coral reef in the nation for diversity of coral and fish, or so they say. I wished I had an underwater camera because it looked like yet another garden down there, what with all the undulating sea fans and parrot fish in heavy makeup (both animals, yes, but we’re not into fine distinctions here at The Dirt.)

As we motored out to the reef, we passed a few homes with truly inspired decor. One bit of garden art I photographed just for Kim. I can see this in her yard! And when I signed on tonight and saw her post about the terra-cotta pot fish, I high-fived myself. Oh yeah, I can see Kim spending the weekend working on Buoy Man.

Even my husband was taken by this house, whose owners covered their seawall with spilling plants. The picture doesn’t do justice, but it’s one of the most lush landscapes we’ve seen so I have to post it.

Everyone on our boat wondered whether this was a bar or a home. It’s definitely a home—oh yeah, bachelor pad.

For the record, the snorkeling was wonderful although I swam into jellyfish twice. It was like swimming into a plastic grocery bag. The yuck factor is much worse than the sting. And I’m not disfigured, which was a concern. Lord knows I don’t need to add jellyfish welts to my dermatalogical challenges.

Last but not least, I took a couple hours yesterday to head out on my own and visit some of the nurseries I’d spotted. Wow. We should be very grateful for the abundance of plants we have in the Bay area! I don’t know whether it’s the economy, the brutal heat or the season, but two of the three nurseries I went to were on their last, wobbly legs. The last one, on Big Pine Key, was pretty nice. I got an aptenia, also called ice plant, which I’ve never before seen.

It’s a succulent from South Africa, a ground cover or spill-over plant for containers. Supposedly very drought-tolerant, but from what I read, it needs regular watering when it’s hot. Also potentially invasive. In my yard, you’ve got to be a very big bully to be invasive, so we’ll see.