WOW! Deliciously cool temps :-)

 

Good morning Friends ~ What a pleasant surprise when I just went out with coffee cup in hand to sit in the screened porch. It is 65 degrees F and feels like it is 62.  Now that is absolutely wonderful on this first day of May.

I am feeling so much better, more like my old self, that is nice too. Yesterday morning it was cloudy and there was a nice brisk cool breeze, so I decided to mow.  It took four tries with the cord before it started, and then I was off.  It felt so good, and I moved right along as it felt like it could rain at any minute, but it didn’t and I was thankful for that.  I still have a small section to mow, but my body was telling me I had done enough, and I needed a drink of water so I quit. I ordered the electric lawn mower  and it will be delivered to my local HD and I should be able to pick it up on Monday.  I am looking forward to using that. I used one many years ago and it was so much quieter and lighter to push around too. At this age, I need ‘easier’.

After that, I felt the need to get out. I had lost the two pink flowering manuka myrtles I bought back in Feb. I didn’t have the pots lifted off the patio surface and the pots filled with water and I didn’t notice until it was too late. Standing in a couple of inches of water, when these are drought resistant plants was just too much for them. So I visited to close nursery garden centers to see about replacements and what else they might have relatively cheap.

The replacement plants are thryallis. Yellow blooms and a sweet scent that do very well here in s.e. FL.

I did lift the pots up off the patio surface, I learned my lesson, the hard way.  I ‘hate’ to lose plants.

The yellow ‘dancing lady’ orchids are about to fade away.  I have enjoyed them once again.  They are in the center pot with the ficus tree and Moses-in-the-bullrushes plants.

The other plants I bought were two hibiscus, which also do very well down here in s.e. FL. I don’t know the name as this nursery does not put tags on their plants.

I also bought 4 bags of potting soil. Time to make cuttings of different things for ‘free’ plants.

Below are some plants blooming in my gardens right now.

Tahitian Gardenia is ‘wonderful’ and the scent luscious of these great big blooms.

This is a ginger, I don’t know what type, got it at a yard sale awhile back. If anyone knows that ginger this is, please let me know.

Here is another unknown plant.  It has really taken off since I bought it and I’m going to trim it for cuttings to root.  I think I already saw tiny roots on some of the stems. I have it hanging from a ‘shepherd’s crook’ underneath the Queen Crepe myrtle.

Here is a picture of the pretty blooms it gets. I think they only last a day so one has to be quick and catch a photo when you see them.

Below is an old stand by that takes no effort on my part and it blooms every spring. I have two colors of amaryllis, one an orangey/red and then this striped one.

This is a Vanda orchid, that grows ‘wild’ in my gardens. ‘Miss Joaquim’.

In these two photos she is held up against the latest ‘plum’ paint sample. I’m getting ready to buy the 5 gal. bucket so that I can start this house painting project, doing a little at a time. As I’ve said before, the paint looks different depending on the light of day.

This is another unknown rose growing in my main garden.

Some photos of the east side gardens.

I have two pots of coleus with white impatiens, sitting in the shell planter.  I need to take cuttings of the coleus.  They root very well in water. The tree in the  photo is my ‘Queen Crepe’, bought in 2007 for our 38th anniversary.

This photo is from 2007. You can also see that our house color was definitely a plum/purple color back then.

Path in St. Frances garden overgrown.

Now for a bit of God’s creation taking care of things. I was outside and noticed buzzards/vultures flying pretty close and landing on the light pole and in the tree out front.  I decided to go out to the sidewalk to see what there was out there grabbing their attention. A dead possum. It sure doesn’t take them long to gather in for a ‘free’ meal.

In the picture below there are at least 13 of these ugly birds. If you ever saw them up close, you would say they were ugly too.

Here are more grouped on the neighbor’s roof.

To close this post I will show my bedroom on a cloudy afternoon.  I just love how the light shines in the stained glass. I have heavy curtains on the windows because of the orange bright street lights at night.

Have a great weekend ~ FlowerLady

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Home is a shelter from storms — all sorts of storms.

William J. Bennett