Into the Rainy Season

May 27, 2006
Sometimes we dread rainy days but after a long dry period, rain is relaxing and cleansing. When the days are hot the afternoon thunderstorms aren't far behind. Its enough to help me not have to water every other day. hooray!!

The ferns are getting lush. This spring the rabbit's foot fern had ONLY furry feet.. then those beautiful fiddleheads as the leaves opened and stretched.. and now lush, curly leaves. I was so excited about those hairy first beginnings !!Just beautiful. The staghorn fern is now hanging in its new location....over a border under the same oak tree. Its also getting bigger and bigger and will soon need something more sturdy to hold the forthcoming growth. We grew small pots of assorted ferns for the wholesale market years ago. I'd love to have some of those to add to my fern bed.. or perhaps to put among some of the shady flowers.

Last year my cassia fistula had only a handful of blooms. This year it looks like it might be covered with buds. None have opened yet, but its a beautiful plant/shrub. I've seen others locally that are large and covered with such long lsting brilliant yellow blooms. The butterflies just love it.

I have an unidentified plant purchased last year. The name firespike is in my mind and the leaves do look similar. Hopefully its a firespike as theysould like a great hummer plant.. very tall and will take sun or partial shade.
Cassia Fistula March The Cassia bloomed in March in 05, but as yet have only tiny blooms. I'll be happy whenever it blooms. After the Electric company cut back the tree there is a lot more light, so perhaps it will do even better.

The impatiens that I put into 4" pots have taken over. Right now they are carpeting one side of the stairs to the side porch.. beautiful peach color. There is also a dark red one which was nearly dead from neglect, drought and spider mites. I sprayed it a few time with a few drops of dish liquid in a sprayer of water. Does wonders for so many bugs. If there are particularly pesky ones I might add the juice of onion or garlic.

When trimming back the red hibiscus I found a small pot lost under the leaves. I put it in water to see what it might be and within a few days there were some shoots coming up. It turned out to be a caladium Nice find. What bad care they can survive!!