Hell bent and intent on finishing my Saturday to-do list I let the day slip by.  Around 8:00pm I finally allowed myself to relax .  I thought I'd treat myself to an adult beverage and sit on the deck.  Having that in mind, I actually opened my eyes to the world around me.  I was awestruck, I put my ale down and had to grab my phone for some spontaneous photos.  The evening golden light had appeared for its brief visit.  My garden lit up like a paradise.  I'm a bit of a plant geek so seeing my man-made tropical oasis light up made me proud so I wanted to share it with you.   Know that its too cold for most sub-tropical plants here in the wet and cold wintered Northwest.  So I worked hard to recreate that look using plants that would survive here.  Some marginally, so I baby them through the winter frosts

Shhhh, just between you and me... I live in a neighborhood that has quite a feral gardeners who grow nothing but native plants and I think the term native is a rebrand of the term weeds and crab grass.  In this high heat summer- a freakishly long stretch of temperatures in the 90's, their yards are burned to a crisp and mine is a lush paradise ,except my lawn. Good thing I planned ahead and planted my yard prepped for global warming.   Now if only I could grow pineapples and coconuts...

These are not the best photos as I really do not know how to use my SLR mimicking cell phone camera.   And the light was dwindling so some are grainy and I apologize.  Thanks for indulging me in my moment of pride as my garden comes into full "tropical" splendor.  As a plant geek, who likes to share, I'd be happy to answer questions. 

Hey there Today's Creative Life friends, welcome!  As a thank you for TCL's love and support in the blogosphere I'm offering Kim's pals a chance to win a $100.00 art shopping spree from my art collection.  Kim at TCL has been kind enough to introduce me to you all over the years.  She and I teamed up awhile back to makeover her son Lucas's bedroom.  You may remember .

Kim challenged me to redo his room with a 300.00 budget.  Boy do I love a good challenge.   Let's just say I squeaked in at about 297.00.  I had just enough left over for a cup of coffee.
That makeover has since become a Pinterest darling and even won best of Houzz 2014, along with one of my nursery designs.  What do ya know...

So here's the skinny on the shopping spree-