In Celebration of Spring

For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;

The flowers appear on the earth;

the time of the singing of birds is come,

and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;

The fig tree putteth forth her green figs,

and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell.

~Song of Solomon 2:11-13a (KJV) 

Fantastic February Foliage

Sometimes foliage is just as fantastic as flowers, don't ya think?  Today, I am featuring a few photos of fiery foliage that is filling up my February garden.

Meander on a Misty Morn

Were I called on to define, very briefly,

the term art, I should call it

"the reproduction of what the senses perceive

 in nature through the veil of the mist."

~Edgar Allan Poe

Gentle January

With a cold and frigid December...one for the record books actually...I had really dreaded what January might have in store.  But in the end, it was such a soft, gentle January, as January's go, with so many spring-like days to enjoy.  Today, there is evidence that the garden has begun springing back to life.  There are little leaflets peeping out of the ground beneath dead branches of pentas and clerodendrum.  Brightly colored foliage is rising out of the stems of the crinums and bananas.  If February holds out for us, and it does look promising, I do think we shall have a splendid and floriferous Easter this year.  (It's been a while!)

A Big Sigh of Relief

Oh, how wonderful it feels to get back out on morning and evening walks in the garden!  I've been out there very little throughout December, due to the cold.  Actually, the only time I've spent out there this week has been for the laying on of blankets and sheets.

Foliage Follow-Up: Tropical Quintessence

Every month, Pam over at Digging hosts a Foliage Follow-Up to all of the Bloom Day postings on the 15th.  It's been so long since I participated in either of these, but I'm trying to get back on board.

Showin' Off My Hot Plants!

It was a hot, hot October here in the valley.  We had many a day this past month that peaked over 90 degrees (that's Fahrenheit to the rest of the world).  The average high in October was only 85 though, with the average low at just 64, not such bad numbers when compared with summer.  In fact, I've heard some locals refer to it as downright cool.  There was a catch, though.  Here in the valley, we received all of 0.01 inches of rain this whole month!  Virtually nothing.  There was one day I remember actually getting rain...more like a steady sprinkling for a short bit one morning.  It was exciting, though!  The whole family went out on the porch to watch it.  (One month of drought and you'd think we were desert-dwellers.)  Anyway, in hot, droughty weather like this, I am grateful that I have so many tough plants.  Indeed, some of them are just gettin' goin' right now.

"Silence is Golden"

Better Late than Never!

Oh, what winter has done to my tropical world!  Yes, it is nearly October, I know, and last winter should be a distant memory.  So why am I still talking about it?  Because I cannot walk through my garden without constant reminders of that vicious season!  There are so many, many plants I've waited patiently for all summer.  Yes, they are reviving, leaf by leaf, branch by branch. 

Flaunting my Flowers (and Foliage) on Fertilizer Friday

I'm joining up with Tootsie for Fertilizer Friday in this post.  From what I understand, this is just a way to flaunt your flowers, and that is what I'm doing.  (I know...I do that all the time anyway.)  I certainly don't use any kind of store-bought fertilizer, except for on the orchids, so this is not about Fertilizer at all.  Well, I did get some old newspapers yesterday, so I can go cover the top of my compost hill.  They'll smother the weeds that have been trying to grow here and there.  I can throw some leaves we recently cleaned out of the gutters on top.  They are already nicely composted, which means we waited way too long to clean them.  Oh, and I can mix in some eggshells, banana peels, and apple cores that have been sitting in the kitchen.  There, that's my "fertilizer" piece.  Anyway, here are some of the things I want to flaunt in my garden today: