More Rain?! MORE??

The last two days have just been miserable. This is going to be our third straight day of rain. It started on Saturday afternoon, but has continued non-stop since then. All day, all night. And now it looks like another day of rain, all day...

The positive side: at least I don't have to worry about watering the plants! And we do need some rain from the drought we were in.

Here's the forecast for the day. Have you ever actually seen a forecast for 100% Rain Chance?!

The Great Bougainvillea Revival Part II

I last updated the blog with the bougainvilleas about 2 months ago when I noticed that the Shrimp colored bougainvillea was coming back to life. (Read the Great Bougainvillea Revival) So another update is in store!

Checking on it this morning, not only is it filling in nicely, it is finally getting flowers! A couple flowers just emerged from the green clumps of foliage! I did notice that the flowers look darker than they used to before we transplanted it across the yard - no matter though, they are still going to be beautiful!

Sunflower Hill

I am so happy to look out every morning now and see a hill complete with Sunflowers and Gladiolus. All the beautiful colors just brighten my day!

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then what is a slideshow? Hope you enjoy!

Butterfly Orchid

A few days ago I was walking through all of the gardens and rather enjoyed all of the blooms from the gardens. Walking through the Oak garden I noticed a new blossom...

The butterfly orchid was in bloom! It is a native orchid to this area and was wired onto the oak tree. It struggled and one day it fell off the tree, I decided that was where it wanted to be and decided to leave it there... and of course it started to thrive then! I knew it was an orchid, but wasn't sure what kind until it bloomed and I have been patiently waiting for almost 8 months now. I am excited to see that the orchid is doing well and how beautiful and delicate it truly is!

And p.s. - that is Captain playing in the yard in the background of the orchid :-)

Grizzly the Clown

When Grizzly had his accident in April, we were so afraid that he would become a timid cat. Afraid that he would shy away from the other cats and from us. Luckily, we have a cat with a very strong personality; and by strong, I mean outgoing, silly, and fun.

The other night as I was watching TV on the couch, I saw that he returned to exactly the same cat he was before his accident. Just flipped right over and laid on his back to watch TV upside down. And he just laid there happy as a clam and continued to do so for at least an hour. Of course I had to take some pictures - and of the pictures I took, very few were actually back to back, he was just calm and happy, but silly.

Hope you enjoy the video!

Spring came late

I've been bad this last week and haven't written a thing! So a little catch-up is due.

The last few weeks have been filled with rain and simply have drenched everything. Although it's wonderful to see the greenery actually green, and to see the flowers in full bloom, I would love to see them drenched in some sun too!

The hill garden in the backyard is in full bloom! It's so wonderful to see all of the seeds took hold and have turned into such beauties!

I really love how the sunflowers are coming up! We chose a good mix of sunflower seeds, but so far most of them are red.

 



This one is definitely my favorite!

In this same garden, the four o'clocks are in full bloom. I remember growing up a neighbor used to have these all over her yard. I know it's strange, but they were beautiful! I have only seen yellow and pink ones, but we have some really beautiful ones that came up: Yellow, Pink, Confetti (which is pink and yellow speckled all over), and white.

 I also have a couple new bulbs that have bloomed. I have no clue what they are, but they are both stunning. If anyone knows what they are, please let me know.

The first is in the backyard in the second Oak garden. They are not growing like amaryllis, but similar to a small spider or narcissus lilly. They are amazingly fragrant; incredibly sweet and smell similar to Jasmine. The stark, crisp white flowers are delicate and seem to just dance as the breeze tickles their tall stalks.

The other new lilly is in the front of the house amidst the amaryllis gardens. I found them on the back side of our fence and moved them hoping for something pretty. a year and a half later, the first blooms have appeared! The flower capsules open in the same way the amaryllis do. The leaves and bulb look like a corn plant. As the flower capsule opened, I noticed small scarlet buds appear and then a few days later, they popped right open to reveal deep magenta flowers in nice big bunches! At first 11 little buds were counted, but as the days pass, it looks like more and more of them have appeared. Any clue what these might be?