SimpleSara's Blog

I know that most of you that live where it snows are probably going to have a good chuckle at this, being that I am in Florida and all...  but I had to bring all my plants in the house last night b/c we had record lows for the month of April yesterday, I think it went down to the low 40's... For me thats pretty stinkin cold! Any how I was not going to take a chance in ruining any of my baby plants that are just getting started or my plants that live inside during the winter season...  I don't know if my wild flowers made it or not.... : ( Jacksonville is one of the major citties in Fl that can get really cold, this past winter we had a few weeks where it was down in the mid 20's to mid 30's and that is pretty cold for us Floridians! It did Snow here in 1989.... I was 4 years old, and that was the only time I have ever saw or played with snow.... With the exception of my trip to Alaska (I have never been so cold), but the snow was so far away and mostly on  glaciers... ANYHOW - I am ready for spring to come here to stay.. I know I should not wish for alllll the cool weather to go away too fast b/c come in a month or two it will be HOT HOT HOT! Here is Jacksonville's seasons take place every year- First 1/4 of the year COLD, 3/4 of the year HOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I have a list of plants I want... One of the top plants I was waiting to get was a Burro's Tail...

Well I found a beautiful big one @ Target, but the lable said Burrito? It looks identical to the Burro's Tail.. So I went ahead and got it... It got a little beat up on my trip home and lost a few of its little, for lack of better words, "beads" I have some huge stone rock that my Alloe grows out of so I just took the fallen "beads" and stuck them in with the Alloe... How knows what will come of it.

I am debating on where to hang my new succulent.. I am just thrilled that I can mark it off the list... 1 down... 100's more to go :) : ): )

I am sure most of you have seen them, but I was at Lowes browsing thru the garden section and I came across "Chocolate" Terracotta pots! Oh I just love them, I bought 3 with cream colored terracotta drip pans (whatever they are called) But the combanation is just as cute as can be! I bought some flower seeds and planted them in the pots, so we shall see what comes of them.

Being the feild of work that I am in (administrative) I don't know if ya'll aware but Administative Professional Day is April 23.. And the gift I give the girls in my office is a potted plant in a cute pot, most of the time I will just use Terracotta and decorate the pot with ribbon or something.... Just an idea to throw out there, its good for mothers day, my mom never complains : )

YAY! I have baby sprouts!!!!!!! My herb garden is beginning to sprout. I have 2 pots of lemon basil and regular basil. The I have a pot of cinnamon chives.. I feel so proud, like a new mommy, I took them around to show my neighbor! I am fixing to start some more this week, once I find a good spot for them..

Other exciting news, I have my first roses of the season! I have 1 rose bush that has smaller bright bright orange blooms, It just busted out two. Then the rose bush I am very proud of, is the first one I planted last year and some of the stems have  grown about, oh I would say at least 3 1/2 - 4 1/2 feet, I have to tie 2 of the larger stems to some wood lattice to keep it from collapsing it  has pink blooms, and it has 1 bloom on it right now that is big and beautiful and just smells divine!  i have one other rose bush that has not bloomed yet, it has gorgeous yellow booms, but this bush has always been my little struggler, but I do see new growth on it and it seems to be maintaining well.

My hibiscuses are blooming like crazy, my pink one in the front yard had 7 beautiful flowers opened when I got home from work yesterday, then my peach double had about 4 blooms, my red double had 3, and my purple one had 2.  The are just as pretty as can be!

I will try to get some pictures up, My husband dropped my new camera in the ocean on his last fishing trip.... so I will need to borrow one until he replaces it  :)  But Keep an eye out!

Ok I have no idea what "Garden Zone" means......... But I assume that where I am located is not the correct answer????

Saturday morning I woke at the crack of dawn ate breakfast with my husband and then got my garden gloves on!

I live in an area where the Oak Trees are massive and seem to shead ALL the leaves over both my front and back yard! I spent hours raking and managed to fill 12 yard bags and 2 trash cans full of pesky leaves. I then washed the Pollen off of my porch, I was sick of everything looking yellow! I weed wacked, blew the drive, and pulled weeds in my rose garden, I don't like to use the weed wacker around the roses in fear of accidently damageing them.  I also have a huge Camealia tree that I tried to spruce up, its just about done blooming now, and I removed a bunch of moss that had fallen over the top branches... I also spread some wild flower seeds to see if I could add some color to my yard...

I went to Lowes and bought 2 huge hanging ferns that I hung on my porch, and I got some chocolate terracotta pots and some flower seeds..I guess I have caught the spring fever, because everytime I turn around I am sticking my nose in my roses or checking on my Hibiscuses, pulling a weed here and there, or tending to my baby herbs.

Next Saturday I plan on tackling the back yard!

I love my pitcher plant, but I think I am killing it... I got it for Christmas and was taking care of it indoors during the winter season. Well, eventully all the pitchers'  turned black and started leaking so I cut them off.... The the majority of the leaves' that the pitchers' were attached to started dying. I having been keeping it out side now since the weather is nice, it seems to be looking ok, but is there something I can do to help incourage more growth since most of it had to be cut off???? Any tips???????