carolyncat353's Blog

Well, we have caught up from our drought!  Now, I wish it would quit.  Or at least miss a day!   I have plants that are drowning, and some have been "steamed". The yard is swampy, and the mosquitoes are coming out!  The humidity is hovering around 80-90% and it's hot! (At least our daytime temps are staying around 90 now, instead of 100).

The butterfly ginger (white ginger) is finally starting to bloom.  They have flopped over from lack of water, then too much water-they need to be tied up!

The red bromeliads are starting to bloom, though, not all at the same time.

And the dog and the cat are snake hunting!

If the rain doesn't beat up my Princess Flower, I should have a beavy of blooms real soon!

Lots to do today!  Our NRA fundraiser is Thursday nite, and I have lots to prepare-Have a great Week!

Later, Gators!

There is not a lot happening in my garden now.  It's hot & we went from 2 months of drought to 2 inches of rain every day for the last week.  Wreaks havoc on plants and vegs, both.  A few Pictures from what is happening-Check out the Plumeria!  I am so excited about it-The smell is a light, powdery scent-like baby powder!  Hope you like! http://cdn-media.gardenguides
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Finally, a good soaking of rain. Still raining lightly, and showing a little over 2 inches. There was a lot of strong wind with it-everything outside is turned inside out, but what hasn't been turned over sure looks 'perky'!  I still need to cut 1/2 half of the yard.  That will have to wait until tomorrow!

All planting, and most of the yard work, except for the necessities are on hold-too hot!  It's been in the upper 90's everyday, even when we do get rain, and the bugs are just on everything.  My lavender crepe myrtle which is closest to my patio is infested with white flies badly.  When you walk under it, it's like syrup dripping on you.  So, the hibiscus under it has them, too.  They're in almost all of my crepe myrtles-Some of the daylillies, and various plants around the yard.  I bought some spray I can attach to the end of my garden hose, and when it dries up-I will spray the tree, and everything surrounding it.  The tree is just starting to bloom, and losing leaves all day long.

Depending on what my squash look like tomorrow-I may dig them up and start over.  I still have time.  The squash borers got in them, and I only got 2 pickings off 3 plants. Only 2 of my okra plants have survived-hopefully I can get some from a down-the-road neighbor who always plants too much.  The cucumbers are starting to die back-Boy!  I made a load of cucumbers this year!  I dropped quite a few off at Abraham's Tent, which is an organization like a Soup Kitchen.  They prepare one meal a day, and anyone can eat there for free. 

Glad it rained-I need to clean this house up some! Mop, clean the bathroom, and 'dispose' of 'stuff'!  Where does it come from!  There is only me in this house!!!

Later Gators!!

Again this year, I seemed to have missed the 4th of July. Gosh, time goes by quickly as you get older!  I wanted to take some pictures this morning, and can't find my camera.  I hope I left it at work.  Sometimes I take pictures of work we have done for our photo album-and to show people what we can do.  Hopefully, it is there.

I have blooming right now-2 bromeliads-and one group will have 5-6 in a week or so!  My plumeria has what I 'think' are buds on it (its about 3-4 ft tall now),  and of course the usual zinnias (I found an orange one!), the hibiscus is quite full of flowers, the vincas are finally showing a few flowers, and there are many more. 

My hydrangea is through blooming it appears.  Ragged looking flowers on it now-OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!  I also cut the heads off of 2 sunflowers, too, and stuck them in the ground face up for the birds. 

My moonflower vine and my morning glories are so s-l-o-w this year!  Last year at this time they had covered the arbor-they're barely up one side, now.  And not blooming, yet. The clematis is looking better this year than before-it has finally started climbing the other side of the arbor, though blooms are sparse.  Since we've had the few days with rain, the Cannas are looking much better.  And the coleus is just WOW.  I have to take a picture of that!

The trash vines, and blackberry bushes were starting to come back up in the daylillies, so I spent about an hour this morning cutting them out before it got to be a big mess again.  The durn little cypress vine is wanting to take over my Bottlebrush tree, so I took the clippers to it, too.  Or them, rather-one big feathery mess. But the little blooms are pretty, and the hummingbirds like them.

Yesterday evening there was a "Shrimp" guy selling shrimp near Pete's house for $3.00 a lb.  When we stopped, he didn't have much left, so he let us have all he had, about 13 lbs for $30.00.  Nice sized, too!  Today I made a shrimp fettucini using Bertolli sauce after I sauteed the shrimp in garlic, onions, bell pepper,  butter and olive oil.  Within 30 minutes it was done and ohhhh, so good! You can't beat Bertolli unless you make it from scatch, and who has time?  Cucumber salad and garlic bread and dinner is served!

It is nap time, now.  It's too hot to work outside, anyway.  Later this evening I will weed eat, and work on a couple of little "projects".  Stay Cool!

Later Gators!

Somehow I got the pictures to work this evening, though kind of backwards (!?).  Here are the potato vines planted in my front flower bed.  They will take over everything, so I keep them clipped back. I can start the vines in water, but everywhere they take root, they develop a small potato 'root', and will come back again next spring.  Yep, the bird bath needs cleaning!

We had rain again this evening-about 3/10's in my gauge.  It can quit for a while, now-my grass has grown 4 inches in 2 days-I'll never get the mower through it!!

Have a peaceful evening.  Carolyn

I can't seem to post any pictures.  When I go to the box to tell the computer where to go to get my pictures, it won't let me type anything in-The cursor never shows up!  2 days ago my computer asked if I wanted the update for Kodak easy share, and I said yes-I wonder if that has anything to do with it?  WHY CAN'T THEY LEAVE THE PROGRAMS ALONE!!!!

Anyway, Kerry had asked for photos of my sweet potato vines-I have both the Lime-Green Marguerite, and the purple (don't know it's name) growing in my front flower bed, and the rains have give them a BIG kick.  Time to get the clippers!

I went to Hobby Lobby, here in L.C. yesterday, and they are clearing out all their garden stuff to make way for the Christmas stuff (which is already on the shelves!), and I picked up a couple of little garden statues for my cats' graves, a wall hanging about "hockey Moms & Pitt Bulls" (he-he), and a plant stand, all for about $26.00.  I'm going back today with my checkbook!!  They had so much stuff on sale!  Wall hangings, statues, yard art, plant stands,: chickens, frogs, birds, angels, dogs & cats, pigs, cows,  little boys & girls, fleur de leis, crosses, stepping stones and ...just lots!!

Man, it rained again yesterday evening-with strong, strong winds.  Got 3/4's inch yesterday, so for 2 days I've had a little over 2 inches!  You can see the grass growing! I have cut all the eggplant off my plants, but I believe they are gonna rally and do it again!!  The squash looks kind of bad, and I haven't gotten much out of it.  I may re-plant, we still have time here in the deep south.

What flowers I have left blooming are looking kind of sad.  The begonias haven't stood up to the heat too well, the cuphea doesn't seem to like it either, the Pentas seem ok, and of course the PINK zinnias are doing well.  All I have are pink zinnias this year, and I planted the "mix".  I planted a whole pack of "Green Envy", and none emerged. Even the Vincas are slow doing anything.  Hard to believe!.  I've got some more seeds to plant, and will do just that!  I had some more sunflowers coming up (about 8" high), and only 1 has survived.  Gonna plant some more of those, too!

Everyone, have a :)HAPPY:) DAY!

Carolyn

Ai-eeeeeeee-It's raining, it's pouring -the old man is snoring!!! Yippee!!  The weather hemmed & hawed and got dark and the wind blew and   nothing    .  Then-tiny, tiny sprinkles and by God-it rained! About 1/2 inch before dark! Yay!

Then Petey called me-A car had stopped in front of his house right after the rain quit-so he went out to see what was going on and a 5 FT. ALLIGATOR WAS CROSSING THE ROAD!  Yep, came right out of the marsh behind his house, went through the carport and into the river!  The car had to stop, because the alligator wasn't!  I ran over to try to get pictures-it stayed around his dock and the neighbor's, but he never cam back out of the water-and it was almost dark, so the pictures didn't come out.  We've seen them in the river, and heard them in the marsh behind his house, and I saw a little (2-3 ft) one crossing the road about 1/2 mile from his house, but NEVER saw one in his yard in the 12 years he's lived there!

AND it's still raining!  Supposed to rain all day. Yay!! My flower beds look happy!  By this morning it had rained almost an inch.  And it's still raining!!!   Did I tell ya it's raining?  Yay!!!!!!!!!!

It's too hot to garden-My vegetable garden is about fried anyway.  Cucumbers are still making, though sparsely now.  The eggplant are hanging on, though they look really bad.  Since they are in pots, I'll just continue watering, and they may come back IF WE EVER GET OVER THIS HEAT WAVE!! 60% chance of rain today, but it's 9:15 and still sunny!  Surprisingly, my bell peppers are still making, though they sure slump every day!

My hibiscus and plumbago are heavy bloomers right now.  The sweet potato vines in the front have finally taken over.  They were kind of slow.  My house plants seem to be doing ok-I just don't have much desire to mess with them other than watering.   It rarely gets below 80 at night, and the heat just drains you.  Even the Cannas have slowed their blooming.

Need to catch up on work! I may not post, but I check in every day.--STAY COOL!

I had such a great time getting to know Kerry-it's almost like we've known each other for a while-Conversation flowed easily.  I have a few pictures of her yard, and me & her sitting on her back step. 

Kerry is on the left, I am in Pink.    Her husband, Jim, is a great guy, and he and Clint hit it off well.

 They discussed hunting and fishing and the "military".  Hopefully, they will do a fish and/or hunt together.  The area is full of prong horn antelope, deer, elk,  & so on. The food was great!  These are big ole sausage type wieners(?not really a weiner), and we had cole slaw & cucumber salad and fixin's-GOOD!

Here is Kerry's pond.  She has little garden decor all over.  The Heron in the pond, butterflies, little signs, and just cute little things everywhere!  It is all so cozy and well cared for.

The next day Clint had to go in to work for a while, and Kerry drove me around town to some of the parks, and along the river.  Beautiful town.  Lots of old, large trees-weeping birch, Ash, HUGE silver maples.  I saw LOTS of rainbow trout-people fishing everywhere!  We went to one park that was full of Canadian geese and an assortment of ducks-Seagulls (yeah, seagulls!) everywhere-little birds following you in case you drop something to eat.  I

I really enjoyed the visit with Kerry, and I am sure, as long as Clint is in Montana, I will see her again.  THANK YOU, KERRY!  We talked about making a yearly get together for Garden Guides members in different parts of the country once a year.  Like maybe the West-Central & Eastern states, member could plan a get together once a year in a "central" part of their area.  That is still in the "thinking" stage.

More pictures in my photo album, June, '09.

Later Gators