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It has been a very mild fall here in SW La.-lots of sunny days in the 70's-just barely cool nights-and MOSQUITOES EVERYWHERE!!! We had our first little 'cold' snap-low's right at 40 degrees and a daytime high in the mid 60's. Lasted about 2 days (lol).
Peanut has been having major allergy issues again-so we went and donated to the vet's office again. He's much better now -but THIS treatment is going to be a much longer, involved process. I hope it helps-he's miserable, and it makes me miserable...and poorer! I always had this secret fear he was allergic to the cat-but the cat has been gone for over 6 weeks now, and he's still having major flare ups-so it wasn't the cat!
My veg. garden seems to be doing well. The broccoli is finally starting to take off-hopefully I will have radish by Thanksgiving-the cabbage in the barrels are doing great(especially the one the cat peed on-it's bigger than all the others!). Believe it or not, on a late summer volunteer tomato, I found 2 tomatoes about the size of my thumb. I really don't think they'll make it-but who knows! I planted carrots this year (first in a long time), and they are up,but they sure are tiny! I'm down to one bell pepper plant now and it's still loaded with bell peppers! I might try to overwinter it!
I got home early enough this evening to walk through the yard before dark, but not early enough to take pictures. I will do that this weekend-it should be a nice one. Let's see-My Cassia tree in the side yard is loaded down with it's yellow blooms (there are some pics in my photos), so sad that I had to butcher it like I did! The Bottlebrush still has a few blooms and it has really grown in size this past year. The butterfly gingers are still blooming, though most have started to topple over from the weight of the seed head. They smell nicely, especially late in the afternoon. The Red Parasol mandevilla is still pumping out it's beautiful red trumpet blooms-and will do so unless we have a freeze.
In the back yard the Passionflower vine has been just about totally devoured by the Gulf Frittiliary butterfly caterpillar. I let them eat it to the ground at this time of year-it didn't bloom much this year except in the late spring. The morning glories and the moonflower vine on the arbor are mostly just seed pods now-as is the Cypress Vine. In the corner, the Parrot Lillies are coming up green, and the zinnias, black stemmed elephant ear and caladiums are dying out. The Pentas still look good enough to last until a freeze, also. The Cannas have been chopped down (although there are many that are coming back up!), and I have to plant those blueberries in the ground soon!!
Around the patio, the Allamanda tree is dying back and is loaded with it's spiky seed pods-I will have lots of those seeds, if anyone wants to try growing one in the summer. It makes a beautiful small (4 ft) tree in a pot and loads of yellow trumpet flowers! Believe it or not, I have TWO late (this normally blooms in August) Bird of Paradise Blooms! They are not as pretty as the summer bloom, though. There is a tiny swatch of deep red zinnias blooming for the butterflies, and the coleus is getting "stalky". I also had 3 blooms on the Angel Trumpet this evening and noticed that I have about 10 or so buds-it's losing leaves, but making flowers! The rose bush is blooming (not many), and the blue/black salvia is still hanging on. The Hibiscus is just gorgeous-loaded in blooms, and little tweety birds! Since Motley is gone, I have a tremendous amount of the little birds hanging around the patio. Peanut barks his head off at them, but he can't catch them! My potted purple and white petunias are starting to fill in and are blooming nicely. The snapdragons are slow, but they'll come around!
I have started laying out the expansion of a part of my patio flower bed, and am contemplating the makeshift greenhouse. Clint will be coming in Dec 1st-maybe I can get some help out of him!
Hope you enjoyed the little tour-I know everyone loves pics-but it was too late to take good ones-so maybe this weekend! Have a good night-and make tomorrow yours!
I hope we all took a moment today to remember our Veteran'-Past & Present. No greater sacrifice can be made by a human other than to pledge his life, to keep yours safe. The Orange Grove Cemetary, one of the oldest & most beautiful in Lake Charles, has a huge flag display( over 700) every year for Memorial Day & Veteran's Day. I am guessing this cemetary to be over 5 acres. All Flags are donated, numbered, and stored by the American Legion Post 1-here in Lake Charles. It is a sight to see-you just can't get a picture to encompass it all. The weather today was beautiful-mid 70's, light breeze, and super sunny! Here are a couple of pics:
They go on forever:
God Bless America-and I can't say it enough-Land of the Free-because of the Brave!
Yesterday, one of Petey's cats (he had 2 left by his adult daughter when she moved out) got hit in front of his house, and died. It seems we just can't keep a cat! And we love them so much!! He is really upset about it, and now he won't let Tabby out of the house-which seems to suit her fine. UGH! I feel like I'll never be happy again!
On a lighter note...One of my neices entered the Colorado Teen Contest, and though she didn't make the top 15, she did get an award for "BEST INTERVIEW" (this kid loves to talk!). It was the end of the contest and since she wasn't in the top few, and WAS NOT expecting an award, she had taken her shoes off back stage-They called her name, and she had to go up front, barefooted, to take pictures with the winning contestant and others! They kept asking "where are your shoes"-and she just shrugged, and said "I don't have them!" What a hoot!! You can take the kid out of Louisiana, but you can't take Louisiana out of the kid! They've been living in Colorado for several years, but she still considers this "home". I LOVE IT!!
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