Finally!

Finally!  A good solid rain!  My plants will be happy and I have freshly manicured nails.  Whoo-hoo!

No Rain

All I can say is that my life is pretty plain
I like watchin' the puddles gather rain
And all I can do is just pour some tea for two
and speak my point of view, but it's not sane, It's not sane.

That song always seems to play in my head at this time of year.  (Ok, all year.  I was a huge Blind Melon fan back in the day . . .)  While the rest of the country has more weather than they can handle, central Florida has been execessively dry.   We have distinct rainy seasons, the most significant lasting from the end of May to the end of September.  During that time we have daily rain showers and you can set your clock by their 4:30pm arrival.  Usually it takes a big storm to kick-start the cycle, but so far that storm hasn't come.  So it is very dry right now.  Due to wildfires over the weekend, there is a burn ban.  Fireside chats with the hubs will have to wait.  Worse for wear are my wilting plants.  They look so sad and miserable.  We have irrigation, but it is manual, and we try to only turn it on when it is desperately needed.  It was installed by the previous owners and mainly gets the grass, so some of the corners are still parched.  Today I dragged the bucket out and hand watered many of the plants.  A few needed more intensive care:

These vinca were totally shriveled up this morning when I first put them in the sink for water.  After a little time in the ICU, they perked back up. They'd only been left outside for a day and a half!  There is rain in the forecast for tomorrow.  Fingers crossed that there will be lots of rain and minimal lightening!

**The rainy season in Florida also brings the start of the hurricane season.  Every year I hear "Why would people live in hurricane prone areas?? It is so scary!"  At least with hurricanes you've got a few days notice.  I can't begin to image what folks in Alabama and the mid-west have had to deal with from recent tornadoes.  That seems like such a nightmare that you can't plan for and my heart goes out to them.

IT SNOWED!!!!

Hell has offically frozen over.

Rain

We've had sustained drizzling rain for 24 hours now. Thank god! My garden is already starting to perk back up. Now if the squirrels will just preoccupy themselves with someone else's garden for a while, I might perk back up as well.

The Freakin' Freeze

This morning my husband found me staring out the sliding glass windows, looking at our big backyard, and whimpering. "I'm so sorry," he said in a hushed tone. I knew it was coming. A tropical garden can only last so long in freezing weather, and we had three consecutive days of temperatures dipping into the low twenties. It was probably the hardest freeze we've had at this house. My job keeps me away from the garden during daylight hours at this time of the year, so I couldn't check on it during the week. My husband was home during the day and would give me updates. "Yeah, it is not good . . ." Today was the first day I could get a look at it. It was probably harder on him than me. I know that the losses are actually just temporary - by April this will be a distant memory as the perennials start to come back. All he sees are dead plants. Because I have masochistic tendencies, below are pictures of each of the gardens in their peak and how they look today after the freezes.

THE SHED GARDEN

(The before is from late September 08)

THE CORNER GARDEN

(The before is from late September 08)

THE CORNER GARDEN

(The before is from September 08)

THE POOL GARDEN(The before is from last week.)

THE FRONT GARDEN(The before is from last week. This is the winner this year. I was determined to have this garden looking nice this winter. With the exception of some pink pentas and some coleus, everything lived.)

It's FFFrrreeeezzzing Here!!

After 3 days of weather in the very low twenties, the plants are all dead. I know it happens every year about this time, and they will all come back by March, but I'm still bummed out. I'll show you all pictures of the carnage over the weekend.

Word of the Day: Soggy

Well Fay left us a soggy mess. The storm was not intense, but the wind and rain stuck around for a while, over 24 hours, and we still may see some outer bands of rain later this morning. Fortunately we are not seeing the flooding that some parts of Florida are and we haven't lost any trees like our neighbors have. I thought I'd stroll around the yard and show you what did happen:

The major thing was this branch falling in the corner garden. The branch was dead and hanging ominously over the garden. We cut down as much of it as we could, and since we couldn't afford a professional to trim it up, we hoped that when it did eventually fall that it wouldn't take out the fence or the palms. Fortunately, this is what happened. It did squish my gingers, but they will bounce back with no problems.

This picture of the pool shows how truly concerned we were about this storm. We forgot to take the umbrella down, and it is no worse for the ware.

My oleander in the front garden is strange . . . it didn't really fall over, more like it is bent over. Not sure how to fix it. Maybe prune it back so it is not so top heavy.

My lantana tree fell over, which is not a surprise because it falls periodically even without a storm. Before Fay it was on the agenda to spend some serious time weeding this garden and that certainly hasn't changed. This is the only real damage. I think the branch broke some slats in the fence. No big deal, but I'm sure the neighbors will leave it there for another three weeks. Do you like their paint job? A few months ago they painted as far up as they could reach and then left like that. Attractive, huh?

I might have spoken too soon . . .

Fay's coming right at us!!! And the party is deferred, because after two false-alarm, sunny-as-could-be hurricane days I'm definitely having to go to work. Actually none of it would be a big deal if my daughter's first day of school wasn't canceled again, and I didn't have to shuffle her around between parents and grandparents. She's mopping pathetically around the house saying "I want to go to Kindergarten!"

I can't wait until this is a gardening blog again.

Ocala Wore its Hurricane Repellent Today

Overnight, Fay went from the west coast to the east and is headed back north, completely going around us. After school closings, changing work arrangements, buying emergency supplies (matches, batteries, beer, etc.) it turns out, we have pretty sunny skies right now. Ocala wore its hurricane repellent. A bit of a bummer too. Here's a secret every Floridian knows, but you almost never hear about. Hurricanes can be a bit of fun. Our version of a snow day. Now, by all means, you need to take all necessary precautions and always leave if the authorites recommend it. But once you are hunkered in, off from work, house full of non-perishable snack food, and no electric, what are you going to do but have a party? It also makes a bit of sense. When you have bunch people you can pool your supplies and take care of your friends who's living conditions may not be so favorable (aka mobile homes). In the '04 storms, we hung out in our garages and barbequed with neighbors - kegs going up and down the street from one house to another. But the real parties where in college. In Tallahassee, which was more prone to flooding and had actual hills, one hurricane party featured drunken party goers riding plastic garbage cans down the flooded street. Ahhhh, those were the days. Anyway, if you have suffered from hurricane damage, I don't mean to make light of it. I just wanted to post the other side of hurricanes you don't often hear about. Do you want to plan your own party? Check this out. (Really, a gas powered blender. How genius is that?)

Rainy Day Treasures

Today was rainy, as the will be the rest of the week. The plants are drinking it up, especially the weeds. Isn't the bird of paradise just huge? I'm hoping it will get to a blooming size soon.

My daughter spent the weekend with my parents and of course she came home with presents. This bromeliad in a coconut shell is very neat. You can see how the "flower" is really a modified leaf as one of the leaves is actually turning red. I have no idea how to take care of these guys, so any advice is welcome. Julie, did you hear that?

Isn't this cactus cute? It looks like a scoop of ice cream. My little one has been pretending to lick it all afternoon.

Will a Hurricane Come? Fay May.

Looks like it will be an interesting week. By the time it reaches us, it will be a tropical storm. We still have to be concerned about the power being out, tree limbs falling and potential tornadoes. Fortunate I don't live on the coast so the storms are not as severe for us. The major bummer is you can see that the storm will be over us on Wednesday at 8:00 am, the exact time my daughter was supposed to start her first day of kindergarten. It is unlikely that it will be open because even if the storm is not severe, they often close schools to serve as shelters for evacuees. If in the watch area please take care.

. . . and then the rain came.

After a month and half without a drop, the rain finally came back. It brings with it its own set of challenges, such as fungal diseases and slugs, but I haven't had to pick up the hose once this week and my plants seem to be enjoying the daily afternoon showers. Mother Nature is far more dependable than I am.

Know Your Frost Date

Today I went to my February posts last year, trying to figure out what was going on in the garden last year. To my surprise, there weren't any. After a frost in January, I didn't post again until late April. It is understandable. Even though it is 80 degrees out, it is still very much winter and a frost is just a day away. Last year I was smart enough to know this. This year, my impatience for a beautiful garden got the best of me and I planted many plants way too early. Now I’m a big bundle of stress, worrying about my babies. Urrggh. This week we were hit by the same weather system that hit most of the country and we’ve had three solid days of rain. Tonight there will be yet another freeze. I couldn’t live up north, this is killing me. I don’t know how I’ll wait until the end of this month, my last frost date. If you are interested in your last frost date, this is a good site: http://www.victoryseeds.com/frost/

Mother Nature Hates Me

Just when I put all of those plants in, there is now forecasted to be a MAJOR freeze tonight.


!@#$%%^#%^&$&*%*(!!!!!!!!!

Yucky Weather

Yucky weather today. Won't be doing much gardening.

The Aftermath

Well, the good news is that the bird of paradise made it. It was pretty severely hacked, but the plant as a whole made it through. In the pool garden, the bananas died, but they will grow back. The hibiscus died too, as usual. Hibiscus will grow back, but not enough to bloom before the next frost, so I treat it as an annual. There are hardy hibiscus plants available, so I might try those this year.

The shed garden didn't fare as well. Everything but the palms died back. Not sure exactly what will come back this year.

This is a bit of a depressing sight.

However, the shell ginger, a plant that I thought would be highly effected by the cold, looks like nothing happened. I will have to use this plant more liberally this year. Note the hot pink coleus next to it is not look quite as pink as it once was.

The crinums are perky as ever.

I lost much of the lantana tree, the Mexican petunias, and about half of the sage. The crepe myrtle tree was cut back a couple of weeks ago. The passion flower vine, butterfly bush, and the pentas at the bottom of this picture still look pretty happy.

The pansies have earned their reputation as good cold weather plants.

Things I Like About the Cold Weather

1. Turning on the tap and getting ice cold water. You don't get that too often down here.

2. My daughter's hair. When she wears her little pink Dora the Explorer hat and when she pulls it off, the static makes all of her hair stand on end. It makes us giggle every time.

3. All of my potted plants are now inside and my living room looks decidedly jungle-like.

4. It makes a hot grande caffe mocha taste even better.

5. In two days it will be 70 degrees again.

The Cover Up

Happy New Years! To ring in 2008, the weather has decided to dip. We are forecasted to have a low of 17 tonight! 13 for tomorrow! And here I thought I lived in warm, tropical Florida. I can't remember the last time we've had a hard freeze like this. It is a complete guess about which plants will make it through the frost and which won't. One of my prized plants is the bird of paradise.

Here is what it looked like this morning:

I knew I'd have to cover it this evening, but it is getting too big for my sheets. So, even though it killed me a little bit, I hacked about 10-12 leaves off the top. The leaves won't survive the frost anyway, and my main goal is to keep the plant alive. So right now it looks like this:

There is a silver lining. I now have lovely table centerpieces: