January 6 - Got busy planting this weekend.  I planted 4 Parajubaea palms, 4 Thuja Green Giants, 2 Sweet Olives, and a Needle Palm.  

I also root pruned a rose, a Sweet Olive, and a Mimosa that want to move at the end of the month.  I also treated my Foxtail Palm, and a Bizzie that was transplanted at a bad time, with a little fungicide/miticide/insecticide to counteract the bad effects of the recent freeze

 The Great Parajubaea Experiment - OK, maybe not great, but an experiment

So, a short while back I got a Parajubaea torallyi, which a lot folks said would not make it in Louisiana, but a recommended try was a Parajubaea sunkha. So, along came a buy on the triple combo, Parajubaea torallyi, Parajubaea sunkha, and Parajubaea microcarpa.  You guessed it, I bit like a fish chasing a minnow. So, here is the great experiment, OK, experiment.  I have planted 2 Parajubaea torallyi, 1 Parajubaea sunkha, and 1 Parajubaea microcarpa.   Yeah, they probably won't make it, but they are in the ground in the best microclimate I have for their liking here.  Let the experiment begin.

January 13 - Where did a week go?  Not much happened.  Nasty old winter weekend, cold and damp.  Not conducive to working outside for sure.  Last weekend Saturday was nice so we got out and mowed the winter weeds and did a little weed whacking too.   Got about half of the mowing done and a third of the whacking planning to finish on Sunday.  And then Sunday came cold and windy.   We just made short trips out cleaning up.  At the least we are getting a jump on spring cleaning.

January 15 - I brought in a yard of soil builder from Domangue's sand and gravel for the new Crepe Myrtles/Azalea planting in the new front beds.  That took care of the 2 corners closest to the the house.  It will take another yard to handle the corners closest to the barn.   Got rain coming tonight, so that will have to come later.  Maybe Friday, but more likely next week.   Still got to get 8 more Natchez Crepe Myrtles, but then this is the last major plantings to be done in these beds.  After that I need 20 more Gardenia 'Frost proof' and we will finally have a few beds here starting to look like something, and note I said "starting."

January 19 - Over 4 inches of rain have fallen in the last 3 days.  All work has come to a stop as it is too SOGGY to do anything.  This is just a yucky month of the year.  Freezes have turned all of the tropical stuff like bananas, crinums, etc. to mush.  It is rainy, muddy, damp and cold out.  At least we only have a few weeks of this stuff in what we call winter.  I honestly don't know how northerners get through the winter.  I would need Prozac in double doses.  At least here by February things start to pop for spring again.

On the positive side, the Narcissus should begin flowering very soon as the foliage already looks great.  The Abyssinian Gladiolus are already a few inches tall.  The Parrot Lily foliage is looking really awesome.  Camellias are kicking out the blooms in spite of being dug up and put in a pot.  

January 20 - As predicted the lows dropped to 29 last night, but at least there was no frost due to light wind and super soggy soil.  There were some light ice crystals on the ground here and there where there was some thin sheets of standing water, but even that was not much.  All in all, we got off light I guess.  This has been a relatively cold winter as compared to the last few years. 

I did get out to do a couple of light things.  For one I put another found Eastern Red Cedar in the ground.  I had to straighten up 3 of the 4 Thuja Green Giants which took a beating in the winds that came in with the cold front.  I got a rain tree from my father-in-law to replace the one lost last year in that grouping of four raintrees around the Mayhaw.  This one was the one closest on the house side of that bed.  While out there I put in those 5 Pine or Cypress seedlings.  I am not quite sure what they are, or even if they are all 5 the same thing.   It is of no consequence for the bed where I put them way up in the front.  With the wet soils it is horrible conditions to plan anything, but rain is predicted all next week so I am bumping up to either planting in wet soils or planting too late.

January 27 - Actually had a little sunshine today.  Unfortunately the ground is a complete soggy mess so not much was accomplished.  I can't wait to get out and really clean up.  This spring I hope get rid of the remaining messes around here.  Well, more rain next week too, but it will end soon enough.  Till then, I'll keep taking mini-steps. 

Seed experimentation continues as we ease into spring, and not nearly fast enough for me.  I have acquired the 8 Natchez Crepe Myrtles to finish up the front beds.  But the soil is so wet, and with rain predicted again several days in the next week, so I doubt that I will be able to work the soil enough to plant them.

January 28 - Made a business trip to State Capital today.  I had to take out a few minutes to photograph the palms on the capital ground.

January 31 - Well, so comes to an end the month of January, which is always a bad month for a gardener who like to push the limits in Louisiana.   Don't get me wrong, winter is not over, but at least we are over the hump.  It starts getting better from here, but we don't get to really start to let our guard down till mid March.  At that point the odds are greatly in our favor.

The last couple of weeks have been rain, cold, warm up slightly, rain, cold, warm up slightly and mixed in between an odd nice day where the sun actually came out.  I can sum it up in a word, depressing.   I have a deep yearning to get outside, cleanup, weedeat, dig, plant, and enjoy the sunshine.  Just a few weeks to go.  It is coming. 

So, just a thought for the day.  If you have purchased a new car, you know that just after you get it all of a sudden you start to notice cars like yours everywhere, that you never notice before.  Right now, I am getting into palms, and all of a sudden I am noticing palms all over the place.  Now, they have always been there, but I have never noticed them before because my mind was not tuned into palms.  So, think for a minute and wonder, what are all of the other things that you pass every day, that you do not notice?  What other parts of life are all around you, that you do not see?  Just a thought.

February 2 - Blue skies for the last 2 days, but the ground is still soggy and muddy.  Not sure if that was it, but I had no interest in even going outside.  I have the winter blahs I suppose.  If the rains stay away maybe I'll get out on Mardi Gras day, which is a holiday here, and "hit a lick at a snake" or not.

February 4 - Another great day outside, but I was still under the weather.   Rains are coming PM tomorrow, but I am hoping to get some stuff accomplished outside before then.

February 5 - I did get out today, in the afternoon to plant a few things.  First I put in the Triangle Palm under the edge of the Live Oaks on the east side.  Then I put in the 2 Majesty Palms further under the canopy.  Then I  yanked out the old Climbing Clotilde Soupert and put in the new one.  Last I put in the Raja Puri banana further out from the Live Oaks on the east side of the house.    Then I fertilized all with MiracleGro liquid fertilizer.    While out I noticed the Avocados were beginning to flower.

On the palm front, signs of spring are here.  Here are a few.  First is my Foxtail palm showing winter damage but opening a new frond.  Following is my Cocothrinax Palm showing even worse winter damage, but opening 3 new fronds at once.  After that is my Little Bizzie (Bismarckia Palm) which was transplanted in fall and is not missing a beat opening 2 new fronds.  Last is my Washingtonia robusta and Livistonia Chinensis about to be blown away by the relentless winds of the last couple of days.   All in all, each having been planted way to late in the year, they are looking fine.  If we do not have a late freeze they will enter spring looking just fine and finish the year looking fabulous.  We shall see.

And forth we shall go. 

February 10 - What a fine spring day out in the garden.  And spring is everywhere.  The Lantana is sprouting out as is the Paraguay Nightshade.  I expected more damage to each after 26 but they have died back very little.  

This weekend, I planted 4 Majesty Palms, 1 Cat Palm, 4 Lady Palms, 1 King Palm, and 1 Triangle Palm.  I also planted 4 Azalea and 4 of my 8 new Natchez Crepe Myrtles.   This picture shows the 3 new Majesty Palms.

I guess on more picture of Spring 2008 is due before I close this evenings log.  Several Citrus trees have flower buds swelling, but this little Grapefruit just could not wait for the rest.

February 12 - Winter came back today with winds and rain.  Low tonight projected for 41 and then 38 tomorrow night.  Gonna be cool for a few days.  I was able to get out this morning to spread a little fertilizer around.  I concentrated on those things that were starting spring growth as there was not time to do the main spring fertilization.  Maybe in front of the next rain.  I am actually running behind on this one, but not enough to make a big difference.  Signs of spring are still coming.  The narcissus are starting to bloom nicely.  A few early blooms have broken on the Yellow Lady Banks, but we are still a ways away from the main bloom.  Same on the citrus above.   I noticed as well that the Lantana (pictured below) and Paraguay Nightshade were starting to sprout new leaves, as are a few of the bananas. 

February 13 - Tomatoes, cold frames, and chicken tractors.  But first, it got cold and wet again.  Yuck.  Well at least I got most of the planting done.  Still got 4 Crepe Myrtles to plant but there is still plenty of time for that, and a few palms and bananas, but it is too early to plant those as well.  So, relax, right?   OK, back to tomatoes, cold frames, and chicken tractors.   Well, I got my first 2 tomato plants and planted them.  Now it is way to early to do, but I used my portable cold frame.  It is not really a cold frame, but when a wind event destroyed my little greenhouse, the only thing left intact was the roof.  I can drag it around making it an instant cold frame.  I guess that is making lemonade from lemons.  And about the chicken tractor, well this one is a turkey tractor.   A chicken tractor is basically a bottomless cage .  This is so the chickens can scratch (a chicken's raison de etre) and eat off of the ground such things as grass, weeds, bugs, etc.  They leave a nice clean and fertilized (bird poop) area for planting.  Then the cage is dragged to the next spot.  All of the above are clearly visible in the photo of the day including the new cleaned area as I dragged my turkey tractor over half a cage worth.

February 14 - Spring is in the air.  Woke up to 37 and a light frost and muttered a bit under my breath, but still, spring will not be stopped.  Here is a picture of the naturalized Tazetta Narcissus.  They are just about at peak bloom.   I love to stand in the yard and catch the scent of these flowers.   

February 15 - Kind of rainy and yucky, but I walked into the local big box store and this site brought a smile to my face big time.  Come on lottery.  Pick my number.

February 16 - Beautiful day today.  Too wet out to do much other than just look around, but as you will see spring is all about us, so it was indeed a fine day to look around.  And of course, to take a picture or two as well.  As I walked up to take picture of this Camellia bloom, I saw inside of it another harbinger of spring. 

And here is another springtime event unfolding.  One of the new palms I put in this fall has decided it is time to made a few seeds.

February 17 - Heavy rains and hail last night in front of what I hope will be the last cold front for the year that will make it into the 30s.  The grounds have become even more saturated, but we have 4 nice sunny days projected with highs making it back into the lower 70s for the last 3.  Hopefully that will start things drying up a bit so I can finish my spring planting.

Well, Big Bizzie's spear pulled a couple weeks back and it no longer has any living leave. I will leave the lifeless trunk through mid summer, but I think it is safe to pronounce him dead. Ce la vie! But the good news is, Lowes got in a fine shipment on Friday and today, I bought Big Bizzie's replacement. May I introduce Big Bizzie 2.

February 24 - Soils still soaked, but it was a beautiful weekend.  Kind of laid back.  We had a very small crawfish boil with my in-laws.  More cool weather headed this way next week, so with that and the wet soils I put off planting for another week.  I did take this cool picture in the front yard.

February 28 - Winter made a little encore appearance.  Lows hit 35 on Tuesday night.  Prediction were for 37 on Wednesday night and a good frost on Thursday morning, but it never materialized.  Low was 39.9 and the only frost was on a clover leaf here and there.  All in all, a non-event.   The most damaging thing this spring has been some pretty tough and relentless winds.  Today, I went ahead and planted my large replace Bismarckia Palm because I was mostly tired of it getting blown over.    While I was at it, I move the small Phoenix over on the side of the house that was too close to the walkway to the Gonazales property.  I also moved the Crepe Myrtle that was in the pond section next to the driveway extension to make a circular driveway.  Seemed like a good idea at the time, but after studying the design a bit, it would have been a big mistake.  So, mostly still waiting for spring right now.  Here is a picture of the newly planted Bismarckia next to the stump of the old one.   

March 1 - Time to call it spring and get out to do some planting.  This morning I planted the Elaeis guineensis (African Oil Palm) down by the bayou on the Gonzales side, just down from the (Washingtonia robusta) Washingtonia Palm.  It should be able to weather any occasional flooding since that would occur in its native habitat anyway.   Next I planted the 3 Persea americana 'Haas' (Avocado) down near the bayou on the Anderson side across from the Washingtonia Palm.   The last Rhapis excelsa (Lady Palm) went in with the rest making the walkway from the side of the house to the Gonzales property.   I also planted the Averrhoa carambola (Starfruit) into the spot just on the front side of the A/C compressor.  

Round 2 saw me planting a Roystonea elata (Royal Palm_, a Dypsis leptocheilos (Teddy Bear Palm) in the bed in front of the guestroom, a Dypsis decipiens (Manambe Palm) over in the side bed almost straight out from the power transformer.  Over towards the greenhouse slab I planted 3 Ricinus communis 'Carmencita' (Castor Bean) seedlings, 2 Clerodendrum ugandense (Blue Glorybower), and the Carica papaya (Papaya) volunteer that I dug up and over wintered on the front porch.   I finished up the day by transplanting the 2 Camellia that we have gotten from Eden Gardens near Ft. Walton Beach, Fl.

March 3 - Winter is trying to sneak back in through the bathroom window.   Nasty winds today bring in one more cold front.

Then, after a few cool days, it is back to spring again.

March 5 - Last year these two plants came up in one of my beds as volunteers. The leaves were big and pretty cool tropical looking looking till some caterpillar eventually defoliated them in August. It did not flower.

I just wrote them off and the other day I looked them over. The stem looks great and healthy. Now I am curious as to what it is. Anyone have a clue? [later identified as Purple Empress Tree]

March 16 - On Saturday Cel and I went out to the Louisiana Plant Festival at Forest Hill, La.  This little town has a population of 500 or so folks and over 100 nurseries, many very large.  Not much in the way of unique things there, but killer pricing.  

On the way home, we passed this little hole in the wall nursery.  I wasn't even going to stop, but then Cel saw that the ower also sold jewelry, so that was that.  I started walking about the 3 rows of plants and low and behold there was a phoenix palm that looks a bit different.  I asked the attendant "what you got there?" to which he answered "that's one of them sylvester palms."   Score.  Phoenix sylvestris was on my wanted list.

Now of course the big score happened a couple of days earlier.  This weekend I planted my 2 new MULE palms obtained courtesy of a friend in Houston.   When back troubles sidelined my 14 hour drive (each way) to Moultrie, Michael came through and sold me 2 super healthy 5g Mules.  They went in the ground today.

Other than that I planted 4 Natchez White Crepe Myrtles, moved my Belle banana, and did lots of garden cleanup stuff including cleaning up quite a few freeze killed fronds on my Cocothinax, D. Lutescens, Foxtail, and others, all of which will recover quickly and nicely.   Got a sunburn and loving it. Keith.

March 20 - Looks like my new Phoenix reclinata made it through winter just fine.

March 19 - Crazy winds this spring take down my Triangle Palm planted last month.

March 22 - It was fine spring day

as we walked though the old front gate.

and the old family homestead 'Capete' came alive one more time as family arrived

bearing that old Cajun spring food

and the old place felt alive with youth and love one more time.

and at the end of the day, we left the old place to go back to its peaceful slumber

March 25 - Last weekend was Easter Weekend.  Much family activity, but very little gardening activities.  Today, I got in late, but with DST now in effect, I was still able to plant two of the Camellia that were formerly under the pines in front of the house.  I dug them up and temporarily potted them when we have the pines removed as it would have been far to sunny for them after that, and the bed was re-tasked to Palms anyway.  I also got the last 4 Natches Crepe Myrtles planted.  The P. sylvestris was planted also.    I know I am missing a few small items too.

April 7 - Shots of spring

April 14 - Surgery.  A last resort for an all but dead palm.

Here we are with all of the tools at the read.  One palm showing no life, one recip saw, and one Budlight

Dead bits removed.

One ray of hope, the tiniest bit of green tissue buried deep within.

The finished job.

April 18 - Time flies in the spring.   All is looking good.  The plants continue to grow, fill-in plantings continue.   One can almost see things starting to take their final appearance here, almost that is.  It is the typical dry spring, but we getting a few rains, again, for the second time just as I was starting to drag the sprinkler around, the rains came.   We could have used more, but this will hold off the watering for a week.  The picture I will leave you with for this entry is the Gladiolus Byzantinus.  This one was just starting to bloom.

April 29 (Trip to Avery Island) - Cel and I headed over to Jungle Gardens at Avory Island today.  This is the home of Tabasco, and conveniently just a few miles away.   It is an old and very interesting garden, and also in a very unique microclimate.  Here are some pictures of our excellent adventure.

The back porch of the welcome center.  Just a teaser of what is to come.

As you walk around here are the vistas, and trust me, a picture does not do them justice.

Sabal palms at the base of Live Oaks is a common theme.

In this case, they are nearly one in the same.

And here too.

It would not be a Louisiana garden without a little Spanish Moss.

And of course some Louisiana Iris

And both

And some Spider Lilies

And not a great variety of palms, but some nice ones

And this Tongue Oil Tree caught my attention first by a couple hundred square feet covered in flowers on the ground.

I looked up to find the source.

A close up of the flower

Here you feel like eyes are always upon you.  And they are.

There is a lot of history here.  Not sure what this piece of machinery was part of, but I am certain it is well over a hundred years old, at least.

These Azalea flowers that had fallen into the Duckweed made for an interesting photo

So, we'll close it up with another one of those classic southern vistas.  Fallen flowers of white Azaleas under the Live Oaks.  Can you find the hidden palm?

Well, there were lots more pictures, but that is enough for now.

April 30 - The surgery patient is showing hopeful signs of a possible recovery.  Notice the fresh green tissue becoming visible.

April 30 - My Aloe vera just sent up a flower stalk.  It has never done that before in its 5 year history since my Dad gave it to me.

May 6 - I am in Miami this week.  Decided to take a day on the way back to pick up a few palms that are hard to impossible to find around here, and to get a few others that are gifts from a fellow palm lover in Tarpon Springs, FL.

So, I am in a downtown Miami hotel right now. A look out of the window at the many high rises under construction revealed a surprise. Take a close look at the top of each one. Good luck charm or what? Gave me a chuckle.

May 10 - We thoroughly enjoyed the Tamiami Trail on the way home. Tons of interested things. The epiphytes in the trees blew me away. Clyde Butcher's gallery was totally awesome. And the hammocks were spectacular.   I wished for more places to stop to observe and explore.

The highlight of the trip was meeting fellow PalmTalkers Creekside (Catherine) in Sarasota and SpockVR6 (Larry) in Tarpon Springs, not only for the truck load of palms that came home with me, but also that these folks are just awesome people. Meeting them was the highlight of the trip. Altogether we drove 2200 miles over 8 days and stayed in 3 different cities.

My only regret was not being able to see the Kampong and Fairchild again, especially the Kampong. I read all of David Fairchild's books, so the Kampong is a very special place for me. But the point of being in Miami was business, so business ruled those 4 days. The Sheraton on Sand Key was especially enjoyable. We will return there for sure. More tomorrow, after today's 12 hour drive I am whooped.

Here I am in the Glades at Clyde Butcher's Gallery helping myself to a few seeds from this Heliconia looking plant. It looked cool and the seeds were just looking at me right along with the gator you can see a little further out. So, I just planted them in a pot a little while ago,,, Anyone got any idea what exactly it is I just planted?

I can't say enough about Clyde Butcher's Gallery.  No picture on the web will ever do his large format prints justice.  If you ever get the chance, make it a must see.   Here is the wonderful Mrs. Thibodeaux posing with the sign.

Here a few more pictures from the Tamiami Trail.  Seeing these epis growing in the Pine tree was a truly unusual sight.

On the way back we stopped at Sand Key just outside of Tampa.  Now this, as you will see, was a palmy place.

It was even palmy inside my hotel room.  This was the bounty from the trip, haha.

May 12 - The first Florida palm goes in the ground.  This one was in bad shape.  It was a transplant that was dug up a few days earlier.  The long windy hot ride home along with the above left it in rough shape, so I wasted no time getting it in the ground.  Here it is in its new home.

May 13 - Update on the Great Parajubaea Experiment.  All are struggling with a particularly brutal (heavy winds and no rain) spring. The biggest issue with the other 3 is keeping them hydrated as they are all late stage seedlings. Come on summer rains.

A couple might make it, one looks bad, and one looks dead. First up is a P. torallyi pushing new spear, followed by P. torallyi var microcarpa pushing new spear , then P. sunkha sulking, maybe dying, and finally the dead P. torallyi, that died was probably just whipped to death by the wind as it was the tallest. . And so The Great Parajubaea Experiment continues. \

May 14 - I am slowly getting the Florida bounty in the ground. Here is a great Ravenea rivularis that came from Larry along with the engleri. Let's just say the truck was overflowing, quite literally. I think it will enjoy its new home under the oaks for many years in a nice microclimate.

Winter is over, spring is easing into summer, and Louisiana is starting to look tropical again. These are just misc shots taken yesterday.

May 15 - A spring frog-strangler falls on the new palm beds

May 17 - Well, Crawfish season is all but over for the year, but there is time for one more boil, this time at our place.

May 18 - We seem to be having a cool spring as well so far. Looks like temps are going to warm up to the mid 80s this week, but up until now it has been a real nice springs. We finally got good rains last week, so that with a little heat should kick some growth in gear. The heat lovers in my garden have been lolligaggin along so far.

On the palm side, I planted two more P. sylvestris to make a trio of sylvestris in one of my front beds. It should be a dramatic effect in a few years. I started on the holes for my 5 new Livistona, but it was still a bit wet where they are going to go. I expect to finish them up later in the week. On the non-palm side, I planted 3 Arizona Cypress. a "found" Althea, a weeping Mulberry, and a Silk Floss Tree. Oh, and a few bananas went in the ground, one named "Bordelon" and other one unidentified that makes small edible bananas here in mild winter years.

Got to be honest, I expect the Silk Floss to die in Zone 9a. But who knows. 10 year low is 24. That was back in 2002. Last year was 26 only for an hour or two. All other years were warmer. I planted it on the south side of the house in a great microclimate. Worth a try at least. Got it at 6 feet tall for less than 20 bucks.

May 19 - I can't believe it, but the Artichokes actually made it and they produced.

May 20  - My five 15g Livistona from the Florida trip are in. Here they are in order. Some are pictured in pots, but tonight they all sleep with earth around their little Livistona toes. In order 1) L. species, 2) L. saribus, 3) L. saribus, 4) L. decora, and 5) L. saribus. Various things in pictures for scale.

As I was doing the planting work today and noticed my Vitex agnus-castus looking at me winking with it georgeous flowers.

Memorial Day Weekend 2008

It was a good one indeed. Mostly, I arranged stuff, did a little planting, poured some compost tea here and there. First up are my P. robelllini under the Live Oak canopy that protects them from frost. Next is my seedlings and seeds relocated to their summer home on the deck under the twin Live Oaks. Third pictures is the other side of the deck. Looking back at the house. And my little friend always watching.

Saying good evening to another day in my own little paradise as I watch the sun set across several front yards.

May 29 - I had an idea for a couple of beds up front where the nursery will go. That is my retirement career many years from now. First picture is these neat 2-trunk Washingtonia's to go there that I picked up a couple of days ago. When I planted out the 5 Livistona last week, 3 saibus, 1 decora, and 1 species, I saw a 6th spot that was perfect for another Livistona. I picked up a chinensis to go there. I had also thought it a shame that with Sabal's bieng native here, that I didn't have one in the garden. The second picture is those two palms which I got today, L. chinensis and Sabal.

June 2 - Rough start to summer, at least right now in my part of Louisiana. I say my part, because while we have had some big rains nearby, even flash flooding 30 miles away, we have missed the last few rains in the area. Temps are running steadily between 90F/32C and 95F/35C with mostly clear skies. That is warmer than normal for this time of year. Non-established plantings are starting to suffer. The cracks in our clay/loam soil are opening up to 1/4 inch/.6 cm in many places. Established plants are still fine, but things planted last year are suffering and I am dragging garden hoses around over 3 acres. Yuck. Come on rains and then all will be fine.

June 9 - Anyone know how to do a rain dance?

June 13 - There is always something a little magical about a cactus bloom. Let me share one that bloomed for me, just a couple of days ago.

June 16 - I am sitting in a condo in Ft. Walton Beach, FL right now. I was sitting on the balcony with a glass of wine when some folks starting shooting fireworks on the beach. I ran in to grab the camera. This was shot hand held leaning the camera on the balcony and using image stabilization. Kinda cool, I think.

June 19 - I picked up a few palms on vacation including this neat little Trachy. Definitely doesn't look like my fortunei. Leaves are smaller and more round, with ribbing extending further out. Can anyone shed any clues on what I might have here?   [later identified at Trachycarpus wagnerianus]

June 22 - Caught this random shot out in the garden this morning. I love the garden in the morning.  Note the hummingbird in flight

June 22 - Here is the bounty from the Pensacola trip.

June 22 - I got out this afternoon and put the new waggie, L. chinensis, and Sabal minor in the ground.

While planting I notice Rangoon Creeper just approaching its bloom. Althea, these bloom several flushes each year.

June 23 - Here are just a few tropical looking shots around the garden.

June 24 - Wow, just looked at my last post.  Hard to believe I have gone so long without a post.  I am back.  [previous comment no longer applies. I just spent several hours updating the missing entries from the spring.]

Good news is I have kept logs, just haven't posted them.  It will take me quite a while to get things back up to date.  I will start here going forward, but also start filling in the older stuff too, so scroll back up every now and then.

So, let me leave you with a picture from the garden today.  Click it for a higher res version.

June 26 - Wow, Artichokes have some really cool electric blue flowers.  The picture just doesn't do them justice.  They are truly 'electric' blue.

June 26 - Finally, the rainy season has come. Got a good inch today. Third day of rain in a row, and not a minute too soon my pour drying-up palms.

June 29 - OK, now it is really official, the rainy season has arrived. We are on our 6th day in a row, but in addition to our normal summer pattern of thunderheads building and rain in the afternoons, it is also raining in the early mornings. This is the third time this week I have been awakened at 5-6am by thunder and then rains. And it is not a minute too soon either. My new plantings and a couple of transplants have been struggling, but in just a few days the results are already notable with new leaves opening and transplants finally showing signs of recovery. About the only thing I continue to worry about is the big A. engleri given to me by Spockvr6. It is certainly alive, but hurting, and it needs to put on some serious growth before winter arrives. Good news is we still got 3 more good HOT months aheads. Once I see some active growth, I'll hit it with some ferts to spur it on. Guess I'll go start the July weather thread now.

June 30 - Made some scores today.

First up is a Siam Ruby Banana. Typical gardeners purchase. I was on the way to a meeting when I noticed it in front of a nursery. As you will see, it was hard to miss. Whipped around, bought it, and still made the meeting on time.

Next is a White Bird of Paradise. Grabbed this for $16 at Sam's. One more typical gardeners impulse purchase. Ain't gardening great. Actually there are three in that pot.

So, with the recent rains, things are finally happening in the garden.  Let's close this month with a few more pictures.

July

Although I am not the bike nut, or rider that I once was, I still love my bikes.

OK, back on topic.  This year is full of surprises. First, rains get here two months behind schedule and today i wake up to 68 degrees. That is 1 degree off the all time record low for July 1. Now, it will still warm up to 90 today, but tonight will go down to 72 degrees again. Sure was nice to walk out the door this morning to find the upper 60s instead of our usual sauna. I walked around the garden for 30 minutes with my morning cup of coffee just soaking it in.

Here is my new palm bed, with F-150 for scale. 

And here is my new palm bed an hour and a half later.  Wait, where is it?  Pictures of finished product coming later.

Just checked weather.com. For the next week projected lows are upper sixites with highs in the upper 80. NICE. Rains projected to return after 3 or 4 days as well, which makes this premo growing season for palms. After being pent up with the dry spring, and the rains of the last week, the palms are exploding. Almost every palm has at least one newly opened leaf and is pushing at least two new fronds as well. Yeehaw. They have some ground to make up fast.

July 2 - Here are some shots from the garden this morning.

July 6 - Here are more pictures.

And here are a couple of unusual shots for a Louisiana bayou. First are the Grapes. The humidity here, especially near the coast, makes it tough on grapes. This is Champanelle, the only variety of table grape I know of that can hack it. I'll be eating grapes fresh off of the vine for the next month or so. By fall, the leaf diseases will have nearly defoliated the poor thing, but by next spring it will be back strong. I could do a little better by spraying it, but I enjoy the organic fruit. Second is the Sea Grape. Nothing to eat there, but cool to try. It went in this year, so we will see if it is still with us come next spring. I hope so.

It is the challenge folks, it is the challenge. Here is a new pic of the Bismarckia Palm that underwent surgery. It grew over an inch this week alone. Now that we are finally getting some rains, she is getting her groove back. I think I will name this palm Stella.

July 7 - We are in the Isolated/Scattered pattern. Somedays, it rains all around us, yet leaves us dry. Other days, we get rain and nobody else does. Locally, we call them popcorn showers. They pop up in a very localized spot, dump and inch or so of rain, and vanish just as fast. Back when I was a fisherman, I remember running out into the gulf between two of them. Somedays they vanished, other days they closed in to make one really big whopper. We called them sucker holes. Getting caught out in the open gulf in one was quite an adventure. One of which I don't care to relive. At least on land, you can run inside. 

 Here are the storms rolling over the country side.  Forgive that little piece of lint on the lense.

And here are more flowers a bloomin'

And here is that new palm bed up front.  These beds don't look like much, but the nursery they are meant to help anchor won't be here for another 10 years or so. By then, they should be looking just fine.

July 8 - Here are a few more shots from the gardens today. This is really helping me to notice more details than normal. Kinda fun looking for something new everyday. Here is my Chamaedorea microspadix with its new friend.

This Tabernaemontana divaricata, which freezes to the ground every winter has just returned to blooming size, about 2 feet x 1.5 feet. Oh, that frond is from a small Phoenix sylvestris sitting in a pot nearby.

Good old fashion Shrimp Plant. Grows like a weed here.

Good old Christmas Berry. I dug a start of these from an old homestead in the woods that had been abandoned for at least 30 years. They were thriving as they are doing at my place. I have no idea which Cordyline that is. At least I think it is a Cordyline. It was an old house plant that got accidentally planted there 4 years ago. It too is thriving and have no problem with our winters.

July 14 - More rains, more blooms. Here is a Morning Glory Tree. Great blooms

The White Natchez Crepe Myrtles planted this year.

And the old fountain.

And this enchanting Morning Glory.

July 20 - Believe it or not, it is getting dry, really dry.  Doesn't take long this time of year due to the heat.  I spent the entire day moving soaker hoses around just to keeping new planting alive.  They recovered a bit during that week or so of rains, but they are back to suffering again, particularly the Livistonas.

So, here is a cool little picture for the day.  Kind of reminds me of a young couple in love.

July 23 - Hurricane Dolly's outer bands finally brought us a little relief on the rain front, but unfortunately it was very little.  Probably less than a half inch of rain, and that is a generous guess.

It did provide for a beautiful sunset as it kicked up the dust in the western skies.

July 24 - Rains all around, but still not here.  This is getting a bit ridiculous.    We are over 12" below normal for this year, and over 4" below normal for this month alone.

Well, at least this new Butia capitata, added to the gardens this year is quite happy, almost as much as I was looking at it and taking this picture.  Remember, most all pictures can be clicked for a higher res version.

July 25 - With Hurricane Dolly out there, it was not a time for great memories of Hurricanes Rita and Katrina that devastated Louisiana just a few years ago.  But there is one happy memory.  Of the 5 kittens born here during Katrina, one still lives, and is aptly named 'Katrina.'   Here he is.

July 26 - Here are a couple of shots, first of brown grass, second of dying tips on Crinums to demonstrate the drought is setting in and now affecting more established plantings.  It is not catastrophic yet, but it is getting hard to manage.

On the other hand, some of my plants that don't mind things on the dry side are doing just fine.

Hope you had a great day like I did.

July 27 - There is something a little special, to me at least, about evening and night photos.  So, here are a few from the garden today.  First the early evening transition.

And now to night.

So, grab your camera and your flash, and head out into your garden at night. 

July 28 - I tell you the world is going to the frogs.  Here is one enjoying one of the Bismarkia fronds.

And this little fellow decided to show me his undersides, stuck to the glass on the front door.  He is enjoying the bugs attracted to the light in the house.  Let's name him 'Oppo' which can be short for opportunistic.

July 29 - The month is almost over.  It has been a tough one with next to no rain thus far.  I have featured this plant here before, but I just can't enough of the Rangoon Creeper.

On to the end of July.

July 31 - Some folks are just photogenic. 

We did finally get a little bit of rain today on this last day of July.  With a little luck we might get a little more in the coming days.  We are over 12.4" inches below normal for this time of year and were 4.4" below normal for the month of July.  Most established shrubs and trees are OK.  Not growing, but just sitting around.  New plantings on the other hand have really been struggling to make.  I am praying.

August 3 - Well, be careful what you pray for, you might get it.  It hasn't rained yet, but today a tropical depression formed just off of the coast, and it is projected to reach tropical storm strength as it heads straight parallel to our coast heading to Texas.  It will no doubt bring the rains, but possibility some damaging winds along with it.  The pink dot below is my location.

So, back to the present.  Last two days were hot, upper 90s.  And to make matters even worse, today was that day a month known as weedeating day.  After over 4 hours going at it hard, I had to give in, with about 80% being done.  It is not normally that bad, but a combination of factors led to this one being extra tough. 

After a recuperative nap, and a couple of glasses of wine, I got into more of visionary mindset.  I headed out with the 40' measuring tape, landscape marking paint, and some construction flags.   After laying out the new storage building and back deck, the desired outcome was acheived, that being where to plant my two Butiagrus Palms and my ButiaxJubeae Palm.   These palms are as unique as the climate I garden in.  I can't wait to see them in 10 years. 

August 4 - Tropical Storm Eduardo is just off the coast but passing us by on a westerly path.  It did provide for some pretty sunsets tonight.  Here are 3 views taken at the same time.

To the north

To the east

And to the west

August 6 - Finally, a decent rain today.  We got about a half inch over 30 minutes or so.  I think I could hear the plants sighing in relief, I know I was.  The ground is still hard, and not spongy like it gets when things are really saturated, but this is way better than where we were. 

August 9 - The last two days brought more rains, mostly light, but over the 3 day period I guess we got around 1" which sure relieved the pressure.   So, this morning it was weed control duty, which later less than an hour because the temp+humidity out there is plain brutual.  I went ahead and start cooking up a brew of Spray-n-Gro/Compost Tea.  I am overdue for spraying this but with the dry, hot conditions there was too much risk of damaging things, so better to wait.

August 10 - They got the sizzle we got the drizzle.  Good thunderstorms built less than 5 miles north, but headed off that way, leaving us with just a few minutes of drizzle instead.  Not even enough to fully wet the leaves. 

This may finally be the end for my struggling Bismarckia.  The little spear pulled today.  There is still green, but I have not idea how it could still make it.   Had it not been for the summer drought, maybe, but this was indeed a brutal summer for the newly planted, and for the recovering. 

August 13 - Well it finally happened, a real Louisiana rain.  About 3:30am the skies opened with fire and rain.  The first two hours, in addition to the rain was a nearly non-stop lightening storm.   Magnificent would be a good word.  And the rains continued to fall, and were still falling at 8:30am when I left for work.  So, after work today was a little more weed control.  Btw - that is a code word for RoundUp.  I don't like using it, but as of yet, no of no other way.  By the end of next year, with that one exception, New Dawn will have moved to a complete organic program.   I planted a couple of bananas today, that I had forgotten about under the oaks.  Grand Nain went in the outer bed outside the MBR window towards the oaks, and Musa zebrina went in the middle, with the existing Musa Belle banana on the end, or at least I think that is what it is.  I lost track.

August 15 - Finally the weekend.  Hmmm, what do I want to do tomorrow?.

August 17 - Well, the answer to the above question is not much.  I had planned to do some planting, but both days brought rains. 

I did have a new crop pop up.

They are kind of cool looking aren't they.

And here is my little Snail Vine.   Kind of cool.

Well, I guess I'll plant later this week, or next weekend.

August 20 - Well, it is still raining nearly every day.  Time to do the last fertilization of the year and these rains would have facilitated that, but it has coincided with a very busy time at work, so it has yet to be.  Hopefully, I can get in sync with a rain over the weekend.  

So, with the rains, I am watching the mushrooms with great curiosity.  So, why do fungi like to grow in almost circles? And how do they do that, anyway?   I don't know, do you?

August 23 - Evening at "The Point."   Cel and I met the In-laws over at The Bayview on Cypremort Point for an evening of drinks and watching the boats come in.  It was an overcast day and really quite there for a Saturday evening.  I took a few shots capture the mood of the "The Point" that we enjoyed.

August 28 - So much for serenity.  Looks like we have an unwelcome guest on the way named Gustav. 

August 29 - Hurricane Gustav is working over the Cayman tonight.  Hope it is not representative of what is to come.

August 31 - All the prep work is done.  Projection are about 10 hours of 65+ mph winds and gust just over 100. All of my palms are still fairly small. I suspect nearly total frond loss or severe damage. No doubt with nearly all being planted in the last 2 years I expect most palms to be leaning in their planting holes. Assuming everything in the shade house will be lost, let me go cherry pick a few seedlings.

So, I have the little old giant frickin hurricane bearing down on me right now. But I have two new Mule palms (one green trunk, one brown trunck), and a JuButia as well tucked in the house. Assuming the house is still standing and I will still have the will after this is all over, is it too late to plant them. We should still have 3 months left on our growing season as Sept and October are quite warm here. November will likely still reach the 80s most days with some in the 70s, but probably not a frost. So, should I plant them now to get them established or wait till late spring 09? I have to have something pleasant to think about.

Sept 1 - I am safe in the Data Center, Mom and Cel are safe in Baton Rouge, but I can't sleep worrying about the house.

Update - We are still a few hours away from the eye, so not much here other than rain and some wind gust. The only thing I have seen so far to give some concern is light overtopping of the Industrial Canal levee in New Orleans. Not a problem yet, and probably won't be unless it leads to structural failure, which is not indicated at this time. Houma is probably really getting it right now. I am IM'ing with friends in New Iberia right now who are indicating nothing of significance yet over in that area. Friends online in Baton Rouge saying just a few gust and light rains. 

Sept 2 - Damage in Lafayette was manageable.  I made it home this morning.  House is without a scratch except for lack of power.  I am still on generator power and a Verizon Air Card showing no bars, but it is working.

Gardens and palms are another matter.

And these are camera phone pictures too, so pardon the quality. This is my Washingtonia filibusta, which I never thought would get water up at this level. As I said, even in the past 3 hurricanes the bayou never got near this high. The bank is actually a couple of feet out past those big tree trunks. About 20 feet further out into the water from the filibusta is my Elaeis guineensis. Of course I did plant that one out there knowing it might happen to it, as it is subject to this in some of its native locations.

 This is looking back the other way. You can see the water is almost to my reflecting bench and my Chamaedorea radicalis.

Here is my Phoenix reclinata doing some real reclining, pun intended.

And what remains of one of the 3 Livistona saribus I brought home from Florida this spring. It is dong a little reclining itself.

Remember that Sabal palmetto I posted a few weeks back. Well Gustav made it tired to.

This queen was one of the largest palms in the garden. It went down in Lili and again in Rita, so true to form Gustav did a number on it. After Rita I had planed it on the north side of the barn as our strongest hurricane winds usually come from the south, but Gustav's winds came from the north. If it weren't for the bananas I am sure it would be on the ground.

Even this sturdy Butia capitata, 2 years in the ground took on a hefty lean. Under the debris beside it is actually a second smaller Butia capitata.

The Foxtail stood tall in its little cubby hole, but the Ensete ventricosum Maurelli went down.

In the shade house the bigger stuff (first picture) took a bigger hit than the little stuff (second picture).  Btw - The Shade House is just a deck under some Live Oaks.

Incredibly, my Parkinsonia, which went down in Hurricane Lili and in Hurricane Rita, did not go down, although it shed two large limbs with about 30% of its canopy. This plant likes an arid environment and it was actually enjoying the summer drought. No doubt that is what helped to save it.

This Washingtonia robusta took the big lean too.

Remember my pretty litte waggie. It is still pretty, but flooded and leaning.

Here is a Phoenix sylvestris up in the front bed taking the big lean, along with a Leland pine behind it doing the same.

The clump of Musa 'bordelon' aren't too happy about life, but they will be back with a vengence. Could not kill them with a meat axe.

Well, that is certainly not all, but enough for tonight. Maybe more tomorrow.

Sept 4 - Most of the day was spent attending to Mom's more pressing needs. Cel cleaned the yard removed water from the leaks inside, while I nailed tarps onto the roof. But,,,,,,, When I got home today, there was a few minutes to begin the righting. As usual it pays to be prepared. I had purchased a 300' roll of webbing a few months back from Forestry Supply. This stuff is great from fastening plants and much easier on them than using a rope. My only regret is not purchasing the 3000' roll.

Here is subject 1 before and after.

Here is subject 2 before and after.

We had yet 2.5 more inches of rain to add to 8 inches the day before. Our total rainfall over the 5 days is approx. 16 inches. All of the property is well drained to the bayou, but the bayou itself is still well over its banks. The biggest issue is that with that much rain, all of our clay soils are extremely saturated. A dryer air mass has moved over the region, so if we escape the occasional Gulf generated shower, we should dry out nicely over the next week. First order of business is to get everything righted. Next, is put down the fresh shipment of Lutz palm spikes that had come in last week. If we can stay severe weather free for the next 3 months, then the palms should be well on their way to recovery. but,,,,, there are 3 more frickin tropical systems in the Atlantic. This is driving me to drinking and praying at the same time.

September 5 - Here she is standing tall. I put my shoulder in to it, and once the leaves untangled from the banana leaves it wasn't too bad. Except for the ants that is. As a result of putting my shoulder into it, I gave a mainline to the ants who gave me about 6 or so bites on my neck just to make sure I committed the experience to memory, haha.

Here are the essential tool of staking. First the t-post and some good webbed tie off material. And of course the most important part of driving them in is the t-post driver. Makes short work of the operation and waaaaaaay better than using a maul.

Now getting them driven down is one thing. Getting them back up in the future is a whole other matter. This tool was one of the better investments I have made. It is a post popper I got from Forestry Supply. The leverage quickly rasies the post straight up, with minimal damage to the roots as opposed to the usual wiggling and rocking around.

September 6 - Back to Mom's in Baton Rouge to do more clean up and get the electrical service rebuilt.

September 7 - So, here is my Phoenix reclinata no longer reclining.  

And my Maurelli beat up, but vertical.  

And my Sabal is also vertical again.

But there was on high point. I had given my A. engleri up for dead, but in the process of cleaning up I noticed this new spear coming.

Things are slowly drying out, but here is a close up through the blades of grass to show how saturated the soils are in some places. Now in this area, I was careful earlier to plant palms that should be OK with this.

This is the little Washingtonia filibusta is for you. Only spent a couple of days partially submerged so I am hoping the robusta side will pull it through.

Newly righted here is my little Livistona decora .

And Liviston saribus #1 ( #2 still needed to be righted and #3 did not go down).

There are other plants, lots of them actually, to be straightened up as well.

Like this young Orange Island Live Oak, which is named Cel's 40th Live Oak.

And this young Grape Fruit Tree still holding onto some fruit.

You know, I would be almost plain dang chipper if it wasn't for this little bit of misery right here. The blue dot with the arrow is me. Let me modify the old saying, "close only counts in horse shoes and hand grenades," to include hurricanes. Even if it winds up in Texas we may still get quite a wind whipping, which is something neither I nor my palms are excited about right now.

September 9 - Ike projected path has moved south to the Corpus Christi area.   I would say I feel for them, but hurricanes can sometimes be unpredictable so from Brownsfield, Tx all the way to Southwest Louisiana no one will sleep well for while longer as we all keep watch. 

We have had rains yesterday and today, so God is looking out for me.  I still have a few plants to stake and straighten, but I had to work 16 hours on Monday and over 12 hours today, leaving me without the time or energy to take on the task.  This will keep them hydrated and the soils soft until I have an opportunity to do so in the next day or so.

September 11 - First view of Hurricane IKE as I came home today.

September 12 - Here is something you don't see everyday.   These big dual tilt-able blade helicopters, no doubt, it is down here with hurricane relief efforts.  Two of these came buzzing through over head while I was driving home.  I barely got the camera phone out in time to snap the second one.

September 18 - Well, after Hurricanes Gustav and Ike, things are starting to feel more like normal.   I started today putting down the Lutz Palm Spikes on all of the palms planted in the ground.  I also got some 'Carl Pool Palm Food' for the potted palms.   Along with that I got some MiracleGro Citrus Spikes for the Citrus trees.  Oh, and a bottle of SuperThrive to help the hurricane ravaged plants and palms recover some before winter sets in.  

Finally this evening I sprayed some RoundUp where the two new xButiagrus palms and the xJubutia will be planted.   If the weather holds this weekend I should be able to finally finish the late summer fertilizing schedule and also finish the hurricane cleanup.   Then I can finally start on emptying and disposing of that old trailer.

The hurricanes of 2008 have slowed, but not stopped progress at New Dawn.  Of course hurricane season is not yet over for another 10 weeks, but I remain optimistic.   I am not sure I will meet my goals for this fall, but I am still trying.

Well it has been a long 3 weeks and 2 hurricanes. We did well here, comparatively speaking.

I just finished staking the remainder of the down or leaning plants, 36 in all. For the rest of the weekend, I will concentrating of putting down the 200+ Palm and Citrus spikes to make the best of our 2 remaining months of growing season.

Things feel all most normal this morning, but I strip out of the back of my mind that NWS is watching not one, but two areas in the Caribbean that show potential for development.

September 20 - Well it has been a long 3 weeks and 2 hurricanes. We did well here, comparatively speaking. As others have said, it could have been worse.

I just finished staking the remainder of the down or leaning palms/plants, 36 in all. For the rest of the weekend, I start putting down the 200+ Palm and Citrus spikes to make the best of our 2 remaining months of growing season. Things feel almost normal this morning, at least after I strip out of the back of my mind the fact that the NWS is watching not one, but two areas in the Caribbean that show potential for storm development.

September 22 - Update on The (not so) Great Parajubaea experiment.  One Parajubaea torallyi and one Parajubaea sunkha are still alive. Pretty amazing considering, in addition to this being a not ideal climate for these palms, being planted as seedlings in the winter, , enduring a summer drought, and two hurricanes. They still aren't much to look at, but they are alive and are showing new growth.

Don't get me wrong, they are bruised and battered, but they are here. The fact that they are alive at all is something of a miracle at this point. Brace yourself for the horror you are about to see, and pardon the bad pictures.

This is the Parajubaea sunkha and is pushing 2 new spears.

This is the torallyi. It was in a less sheltered location and really battered, but it too is pushing a new spear.

So, to end the day today, I planted the last 3 palms of this year.   I put a regular regular xButyagrus (Mule Palm) along the walk from the barn to the new side of the driveway, a Butia x Jubaea in the center section, and a blue form xButyagrus (Mule Palm) closest to the barn.   This makes a Mule/Butia combo on the left side, a Mule/Needle Combo on the right side, and the BxJ in the center.

A surprise this evening as I went you to water this little cactus on the front porch, was this even smaller snake making use of its protective spines.  What is this little guy/gal? To give you an idea of size, this top of this cactus is about the size of a software. He is purdy tiny.

October 12 - Time is flying away this year.   The shadows get longer by the day.   Temps are slowly cooling off and the fall drought started right after the two hurricanes.   Kinda hard to get excited about gardening right now.   Most of the plants are in shreds, dead broken limbs in trees and lot of t-post driven in the ground holding up plants.   The t-post will need to stay on most of them for a year until they re-anchor. 

There is a chance of rain later in the week.  We sure need it.

October 13 - At least one plant is loving this cool dry fall.

October 14 - The big project.   Time to finalize the move in we started 2 years ago.   The old mobile home was on my property when I bought it five years ago. Since building my home and moving here two years ago, I have used it for storage. I had planned to build a metal storage building at some point, but was not prepared to make that financial commitment right now. Then I received a wonderful message from my homeowners insurance company stating "they do not insure mobile homes, and since it on my property, and they can't exclude it (their internal policy) if it was not gone in 30 days then my homeowners insurance would be." My pleas that it had no utilities connnected to it and was used only for storage fell on deaf ears. In other words, we would like any excuse to drop you. So, with such a short window I first tried to sell it for next to nothing, then I tried to give it away, and today as a last resort with 5 days left on the deadline, I had it demolished and scrapped. At least I had some comfort in seeing them recycle what was recyclable. The only good part of all of this is that this is the southside of the house, which is the best microclimate here. Time for new bed design, yahoo.

And this showed up to do the job.

Here is it. Teeth bearing.

And then off comes the roof. Every recyclable piece was saved. Metal roof first.

Aluminum siding next.

The guy just pulls it forward chewing off one bit at a time, folding back the steel frame rails like butter.

Almost done now.

Ahh, firmly digested.

Here we go. Almost ready for planting. Let's take an artistic view from the rear and from the front

.

Oh, and here is the replacement trailer, a nice new barn from Morgan Buildings.  Note the damage done when they delivered it.  I am still waiting on them to fix the damage.

October 15 - So, I am on the way to a business trip today and realize I will pass by a large bamboo growing operation.

So, I stopped at Bamboo Gardens of Louisiana (www.bamboogardensla.com)

Here is what I found and fell in love with.

And here is me smiling on the way home.

October 19 - The word of the day is dry.  Man do we need some rain.  I spent most of the weekend moving the water hose around.   How dry is it?   Here is a picture of the cracks in the clay at around 1/2" with my fingers fitting in.

Here is the first xButiagrus with a green trunk.

And the second xButiagrus with a brown trunk which was crossed with a Butia yatay instead of capitata.

And my Butia x jubaea. I got all 3 from from Michael in Houston (Palmsrgreat.)

Here is my little Archontophoenix cunninghammia (King Palm) getting ready to face its first true winter here.   Gonna be tough for this marginal palm.   But I have to say it got beat up by winds last fall, then the cold, then spring winds, then hurricanes, yet it still looks pretty nice.   Just maybe.

Last is my Livistona decora.  Of the five new Livistona, this one looks the best.

Well, it is back to work tomorrow. 

October 20 - It was a Monday, what can I say.  I got in early enough to do a little more watering and to start to consolidate the last of the burn pile cleaning up the hurricane damaged limbs and branches.

October 24 - STILL NO RAIN.   Ok, maybe a tenth of an inch, but we need inches, not tenths.  I have not turned off my watering hose for over a week just trying to keep the new plantings alive.  This is just about ridiculous.   Taking the hurricane 16 inches of rainfall, most of which just ran off because it all came in a day or two, and making it a couple of inches, means that we are down maybe 20" on the year.   So, before it rains, let me put it like this.  Rain dammit. 

October 26 - I cleaned, made minor repairs, and filled the bird feeders yesterday. The birds had already found them by this morning, which is much faster than normal. Perhaps it is the much cooler weather coming in later tonight. That usually brings in the migrating birds.

Today was more cleaning, and lots of watering.  This drought just won't let up.   Even the cold fronts are coming in dry.  I fertilized all of the palm and other seedlings today.   I finally assembled the hose cart and the blower that have been in boxes for nearly 2 years..  I even pulled out the old push mower and got it running.  Hmmm, let's see, what else.  I moved the remaining 2 of the 4x8 raised bed frames from out back of where the trailer used to be over to the left of the new barn. 

And about that cold front.  It will be 37 degrees tomorrow night.  Geez, I thought I had a few more weeks before facing those temperatures.  

October 28 - Well, good news.  It got cold, but there was no frost.

November 9 - Lots of everything this weekend.   I brought home a load of soil for the raised beds near the barn.  One is now ready for some cabbage.  The other will wait for spring and tomatoes. 

I cleaned out all of the palm seedlings.   Those are now in full sun and ready for further action should a hard freeze head our way.  I also began repotting tropical plants from under the oaks in preparation for their 3 months winter stint in the house.  

As we still have no rain for nearly 60 days, I moved water hoses around all day.  As well, I moved our statue to its new location.

November 16 - Well, winter is arriving and the year is ending.  But there is still time for a few interesting things.

First is my little Ponderosa Lemon.  I have killed 2 of these, but maybe the third time is a charm.   Here it is, with a Meyer Lemon stuck in the branches for comparison.

I added several new palms this year, but this might be one of the most unique.  Mule palms are unique in their own right, but this one was bread not with Butia capitata, but with Butia yatay.

And our most notable statue was moved from under the oaks to a prime spot just out from the front door.

Well, lows last night went down to 36.6, but with no frost.  Forecast is for the same low of 36 tonight, but with no wind.   So,,,,,.    I am hoping for no frost, but I got that bad feeling.

November 17 - Well technically we had a frost last night, but for all practical purposes there was no frost.   It was a Bermuda frost, that meaning that only the tiny leaves of the wild Bermuda grass had a frost.  

November 30 - Wow, sure is hard to believe that tomorrow will be December 1 already.  This has been quite a unique year.   After Hurricane's Katrina and Rita, I thought I would never see back to back hurricanes again, but it did indeed happen again this year with Gustav and Ike.  Neither was nearly as bad as there predecessors but the did cause a bit of chaos.   The preceding and following droughts were even tougher on the gardens.   It is unusual to have a year in Louisiana with next to zero growth, but indeed that is what we had this year.  My new plantings this year did very little establishing, so now I am just hoping to make it through the winter with minimal loses of the new stuff. 

So. this time of year for me is winding things down for our 2 months of winter. Mostly cleaning up and things. But today I found 3 little Cassia alata volunteers so I dug them up and potted them. They were a little toasted due to our earlier cold but trying to come back. They'll let me get a jump start on spring.

I cut the Corkscrew vine at the ground a couple of weeks ago and harvested the seedpods today. Hard to believe it is only 4 weeks till seed starting time here, right about the first of year. That also means only 4 weeks till I have to rig some kind of temporary greenhouse or at least a coldframe. I have started seeds indoors, but even with auxilliary grow lights I have found they get to spindly.

The Cattleya orchids needed dividing, so I took care of that too. I discovered a new Artichoke volunteer today too, so I moved it out from the other to give it room to grow.

Here are a couple end of season photo.  First is my Musa 'Bordelon'

And some of Mr. Picard's bananas with small fruit

Can't forget Picard's banana flower too.

And the Confederate Rose.

Let me end with this unique early evening shot.

The Cassias putting on there late fall show.  They were really torn up by the hurricanes, but I'll wait till dormancy to prune them back.

Here is a view of the undeveloped backside of the house.  The dirt area is where the old mobile home used to sit.  It was removed just weeks ago.  I could not do anything there until it was gone.  In the foreground is a small Oak volunteer that I just planted.   It had come up in a flower pot.  Not sure what it is.   The pink flags mark the spot where I will move the grapevines this year after they go dormant.  Yes, I know the planting seems to be in conflict, but if the grape vines are still around in 10 to 15 years when the Oak tree becomes a problem, I'll figure out something.

Here is a mystery of the fall.  I planted 2 Chamaerops humilis palms last winter.  These are tough little palms and both looked great up to about 6 weeks ago, like this.

Then almost overnight one of them went downhill fast. 

Not that it is flowering and the side shoots still look great.  I doused it with some hyrdrogen peroxide last week and then hit it with a little fungicide this weekend.   We'll see if it will come back, but I think to hedge my bets, I'll go ahead and get a replacement too.

Our litte Cumquats have a nice crop in there first full year in the ground.  Got to love this little citrus now don't you.

Papa Joe's old Bougainvillea is still hanging in there.  This plant is nearly 20 years old.

And although it is not quite Christmas, the Christmas Berry is looking prime.

December 7 - It continues to be a cold fall averaging close to 10 degrees before normal.   And it looks like it will continue with 2 days in a row with lows at 32 are predicted for next week.  I continue to do minor maintenance work here and there.  I planted the two seedling Loquats today over near the corners of where the new Grapevines will go.   I also transplanted 3 Mimosa today.  The one of the left side of the drive was a good transplant.  The other 2 are really questionable as the tap root was cut only a foot or so down.  We'll see.

I also planted the 3 Koelreuteria seedlings out front as well.   Also, I noticed that my Artichoke was coming back from the roots and that a small 2nd plant was coming back right next to the other one.  I separated it and transplanted it on the other side of the raised bed next to the Asparagus.   It seems to be doing fine. 

Here is my little Bat Vine coming back again.  I have killed this poor vine more times than I can count.

December 11 - Well, this has been a strange year, so it was only fitting for us to have the most snow we have had in over 20 years.  I was out of town, so didn't get to see my gardens in the snow.  I got back in before daybreak.  Let me tell you, driving over the Atchafalaya Basin bridge in the dark during a snow fall was a unique, wonderful surreal experience, but one I don't want to repeat.  I did get to snap a few shots in Lafayette this morning as I drove into town.

December 26 - Planting the winter/early spring garden.   Today, I planted Cabbage, Red Onions, and Yellow Onions.   I am late on all, but what the heck.   I also put down a few Shirley seeds very haphazardly.  Oh, and a Rosemary and an Oregano too.   That is probably it for the winter vegetables this year.  

Oh, and this crazy winter has everything messed up.  The Broccoli volunteers have gone to seed already.   The Asparagus is sending up shoots.  The naturalized Paperwhites are already blooming, and the Byzantine gladiolus jumped out of the ground and are 4 to 6 inches tall already.

December 29 - Well, these palms, most in their first year had a tough year indeed.  Spring/summer drought, two back to back hurricanes  with torrential rains, followed by a fall drought put them to the test. Note the T-posts holding many of them upright.   But, in spite of early cold the winter has been fairly mild thus far with no real freezes to speak of. We did have 3 nights hit 31 for a hour or two, 3 frosts, and 1 light snow, but in all the temps stayed tolerable. So here you go, the mid winter tour. Oh, and pardon the winter weeds. Haven't been able to get out to deal with them.

2009

 January 28 - The trucks are arriving at the nurseries. Even the grocery stores have pallet after pallet of mulch out front. Winter can now be described in weeks, not months. Beginning of February is generally time to put out the spring fertilizer here. Now, I have 8 bags of 13-13-13 w/micro ready to go along with 144 Palm Spikes and 96 Citrus Spikes. And a few bags of pelletized lime as well, but I am already late getting that out. Should have been done in December. Got a few dead things thanks to hurricanes, but just bought first replacement for one of them today. Got this really cool dwarf banana while I was there. This weekend will I begin the very earliest of the spring work cleaning out some beds in preparation for re-mulching.

January 31 - The cold is not over, but the feeling of spring is here.   Today was a beautiful cool day with full sun, light southerly breezes, and fresh air for a while.   Then the farmers lit up the cane fields and by afternoon the air was filled with smoke.   Regardless, we got out for a while to pick up branches to make our own small fire in the near future.   We mowed about half of the lot with our Toro which is fresh out of the shop, again.   Rains are due in tomorrow afternoon, but hopefully I can get out in the morning to finish mowing the lot and maybe even do a little weedeating.  

February 15 - Last weekend was warm and beautiful so we started spring cleanup in earnest.  I was actually very pessimistic in the beginning but things started coming together much faster than I thought.   Since the spring/summer drought and the following hurricanes I have found it difficult to get back into the swing of things garden wise.   I just kind of let things, weeds and all fade into the winter.   I knew we had a mild winter, but I did not realize how mild until the cleaning revealed much healing in the garden since the rigors of last year.  I began to get excited again.   So even though this weekend was cloudy, slightly foggy, damp and cool I still got out for a little while.  I planted out a new bed and replace the now dead Foxtail Palm with a Brugmansia.   The Brug was started from a cutting that came from the plant needing to moved from the future driveway path.   It actually easier to start two cuttings than to dry to dig it up and move it.   I can't wait to smell its sweet fragrance from our sitting area on the front porch.   In the new bed is an old Schefflera mom was throwing away, two Neanthe belle palms, and 3 clumps of Chamaedorea klotziana.   These were grown from seeds I got from an Australian buddy.

Here are photos of the C. klotziana before and after.

And here is the new bed with the Majesty Palm donated by Larry last year.   Also, the Schefflera that mom was tossing.  That along with a couple of Neanthe belle palms completes this rather unusual bed.

Oh, and the new large flocks of Redwing Blackbirds have arrived as well. 

February 22 - Winter is trying to fight it off, but spring has taken hold.  Just about everything is budding out.  Even some of the Citrus are starting to flower.  The Narcissus have past the peak of bloom and are now starting to fade, while the Azaleas are starting to peak.   Unfortunately, there were no Camellia blooms this year as they were transplanted last year and faced a drought that really hampered their getting established with 2 of the 5 dying in the process.

Here is a picture of the bamboo I got for the fence on the west side of the house.   Really nice plants for the price, too.

February 24 - Happy Mardi Gras.  I took advantage of my day off to get out in the yard and continued the spring cleaning.    I pulled out the two dead Butia palms.  Then I moved the 4 remaining Frost Proof Gardenia.   After that I put in the 2 new Betty Boop Roses.   I replaced the dying Chamaerops humilis and the dead Azaleas.  I could not find another GG Gerbing, so I put in a white Encore Azalea in its place.  

Here a few pictures as we exit winter on our way to what I hope will be a great spring.

March 8 - I am pooped from a spring weekend in the garden, but progress is being made.  It is oh so slow.   Five more years to go till we have something to look at.  Wow, that's 2014.   So, my gardens will mature, two years after the world comes to an end, at least according to some.  Sure hope they are wrong as usual, haha.

Today was lots of weedeating, mulching, etc. but I did do some planting.   I planted the Thai banana, and the dwarf red that I got from Iberia gardens.  I also put in the little plants grown from seeds from The Kampong.    I put in the last Variegated Lemon.  This stuff went on the side of the house where the old trailer used to be.  I finally got this side leveled off properly so I can start to complete the planting plan there.   Finally finished getting the in 10 Alphonse Karr bamboo on the west side of the house.   It'll make a fine fence in a few years.   And I marked the spots on the East side of the house where I plan to do the same.  We are still clearing hurricane damage too.   The 4 Cassia were twisted into a huge dead mess, so we started cutting them back and hauling debris to the burn pile.  Almost done, but it was a huge mess.   We also began cleaning up the garden beneath the oaks.   There were a few surprises like a beautiful Giant Red Crinum that was also hosting 2 pups.  There were separated and moved.  Maybe the biggest surprise of all came when cleaning up the Our Lady of Guadalupe rose.   It was torn up pretty bad in the hurricanes, but I got it stabilized and properly pruned for spring.  While doing that I discovered a seedling underneath.   First time I have ever had a rose seed here.  I dug up the seedling and have it in a pot.   Should be ready to go in the ground next spring, if I don't kill it first, haha.

March 9 - Brought in another load of mulch today.  I suspect it will take about 10 to 15 loads all together to get the front quad beds covered.   That along with liberal treatments of Roundup, which I also got today, should get these new beds under control finally.    I also started the second batch of Diehard BioRush from Horticultural Alliance. To this batch I also added a half bottle of Superthrive that had been hanging around here far too long.  Still not sure what is in that stuff, but the smell of the Vitamin B is unmistakable.

March 16 - This weekend passed with 3 straight days of rain.   The timing was almost perfect, and although it rained a bit too much completely saturating the soil, it is certainly a welcome change from last year's drought.    Pretty much everything has broken dormancy, except for the pecans and the Crepe Myrtles, that is.    And there is my little Seagrape, sitting still leafless, but alive.    The 3 little Mimosas, two of which had horrendous damage to their root systems when are all showing signs of new growth.   The 3 little Raintrees also look fine, with the smallest one having the latest start, but now going.    Lots more to talk about, but soggy ground prevented too much exploration.   The rains also constrained the compost/Mycorrhizae/humate tea distribution for the second weekend in a row.  The first was due to cold, and this one due to rain.   I hope to distribute in the next couple of days.  Once these are done, I can proceed to the Spray-n-Gro feedings.

March 18 - I pruned the Grape Vines yesterday, as they were fixing to break buds.   I stuck 8 cuttings in 2 pots of 4 to seek if I could root some new ones.  

This afternoon I got out and spread out the compost tea.   If effectiveness at this point is questionable as it brewed for several days too long, but for sure it won't hurt anything.  I also pruned the Crepe Myrtles which are quite healthy except for the small Red Dynamites.   They suffered greatly with the drought last year.    All are alive, but with pretty good dieback.    I do suspect they will comeback fine.   The new Weeping Mulberry is in the same shape too with lots of dieback, but it'll make it.

March 24 - I couldn't resist and grabbed a couple more tomatoes, this time Celebrity and Big Boy.   My existing 3 were Amelia, Creole, and Better Boy.   All are in the front area from where I pulled the dead Butia capitata palm.   These is part of the soil improvement before I replant a palm mid summer.  In prep for these plants, I tilled up the area, and added in 20 gallons of compost.   At the end of Tomato season, I will till that in along with all of the mulch used on them as well.  At that point, the soil should be just about perfect to accept the new Palm.

I also planted a Cayenne pepper in the same bed where we had one last year, since it did so well there.   I also planted 3 of the Pomegranate seedlings from last year.   That should be an interesting experiment all in of itself. 

After some advice from a nursery woman in Kaplan, I went ahead and added some Epson Salts along with a Palm Fertilizer to the Bougainvillea.   And also after some advice from another source, I added Epson Salts and Ironite to my  Gardenia 'Frost Proof' which have been struggling for a year and still have yellowish leaves.   Maybe this along with their transplanting, and better weather this year, will kick them in gear. 

Let's see, what else?  I have been busy, but not documenting well.   I'm gonna regret that.

March 25 - I planted a couple more of the Purple Ornamental Peppers tonight along with a couple more of the Pomegranate seedlings too.   It is 11:45pm right now with a strong band of thunderstorms rapidly approaching.  I spread out a little fertilizer here and there.   Mostly on the new plantings, the seedlings and the two still struggling L. saribus.   Maybe I'll finally get around to putting down all of those fertilizer spikes soon.

March 26 - When is too much of a good thing, no longer a good thing.  Well, not yet, but the rains are getting close.   Over 2 inches yesterday, and looks like maybe 4 or more inches tonight.  Not yet too much of a good thing, but getting close.   A good week to dry out now would be good.   But if this year is a normal one, but the end of April I will be moaning we need rain, haha.

Every heard a good Louisiana rainstorm?  Take a listen.  WS310273.WMA

March 27 - More rains today, but very light.  With the soils so saturated, not much I could do other than take a few pictures.  I'll try to get them up on Friday.  Observations today were the first Louisiana Iris blooming.   The Yellow Lady Banks is continuing to look better and better producing more blooms as is the rose on the old Horse Trailer. 

March 29 - Well, the month of March is just about over.   Spring is well entrenched.   With the recent rains all of the Crepe Myrtles have burst forth with leaves, and the buds are breaking in the Pecan Trees as well.  I planted the first of the three little Tung Oil seedlings coinciding with the blooming of the tree from whence the seed originated last year.  I also planted the Plumeria this year in front of the guess bedroom windows.  It should be large enough to flower this year. 

My native Azalea is blooming.  I feared the worst for it, having moved it last year under such horrible conditions.  But the blessed rains of spring are healing many wounds from last year's drought and hurricanes.  Here is a picture of it.

I spent most of the weekend in Baton Rouge, where I marveled at the palming of the city.  From the large Washingtonia filifera in Perkins Rowe, to the large Sabals and Phoenix 'medjools' at the new shopping center between Bluebonnet and Segen, it was amazing to see both the size and quantity of palms added there in the last year or two.  This next shot shows just a small section of Sabals



Oh, and last week I ate at a Tapas Bar for the first time.  So, in classic form I asked the bartender, "what is a tapas?" He goes on the explain that in the Southern regions of Spain it was common to cover ones wine glass with a piece of flatbread to keep the flies out of it. Hey, I can identify, as it is nearly impossible to enjoy a glass of wine outside here without getting a fly or gnat in it within 10 minutes. He then explains that it kind of grew from there as folks added stuff to that bread to then eat it. Well, I totally enjoyed the Tapas selections which were incredibly varied. And tonight, I enjoyed several glasses of wine outside as I worked in the garden, with my glass topped with a piece of bread.



So, before I close this out for the evening, what else.   It seems we have a beautiful pair of Wood Ducks hanging around eating the corn I am throwing in the bayou.  Not sure if they are going to use my nesting box, recently installed or one of several up and down the bayou.  Either way, I am happy to have them, along with the goose that has been hanging around, too.

The Arenga engleri palm is sending up new shoots on its main stem, so I am now sure it will make it.    Two of the three Livistona saribus still look bad, but maybe. The L. decora and L. species looks fantastic.   The new Alphonse Karr bamboo are establishing great with all of this rain and look awesome.   And amazingly all of the Mimosa transplants are looking good also, in spite of some pretty nasty transplants.   No doubt the rain is helping there as well. 

No shoots yet on the Musa Bamboo, which is disappointing, but I still have hopes.  I now have 4 little Mimosa seedlings from the seed of Mimosa on the left of the front porch.  These are the grandchildren of the Mimosa from Pa Joe's house back in Jeanerette.   The lone child of the Mimosa on the property when we bought it is back in the rear near the large Oak tree.   I will try to capture some seeds from it this year.  On the seed side, I reloaded my little seed trays up front.  One has the seeds from a Cantaloupe that I just ate, and was yummy.  The other one has some Cosmos seeds that date back all the way to the garden in Jeanerette.   Not sure if they are still good, but they might be, and that would be super cool.

Last thing, I stood up the Variegated Pandora Vine and cut it back a good bit.   A replacement arbor, and a replacement Arbor for the still down Jasmine, and a replacement for the still down Rose Arbor near the barn are all on the project list.   Hmmm, seems I am going to be busy soon.

April 19 - As opposed to our normal dry Aprils, this one is delightfully rainy.   My Arenga engleri continues to rebound as do the Camellia transplanted last year.  The new plantings look good too, especially the new Bamboo.   The Moso to the east is sending out 2 new shoots.   Nothing visible on the one to the west, thus far. 

We have Wood Ducks on the bayou.   Sometimes up to 8, due to my tossing the corn once or twice a day into the waters.   I am hoping to have a pair next in our box.   I did not get the twin Bat Houses up as planned on our vacation, but want to get to it soon.  So many things to talk about, but so little time.   Maybe tomorrow.

April 25 - Well, it has only been 6 days since my last update, but it seems like a lifetime, and a good lifetime for sure.  It seems that God has blessed us.  I pressure washed the back porch this morning and cleaned up stuff while Cel mowed the back.  Then I harvested the yellow and red onions, red potatoes, purple peppers, and Ponderosa Lemons for the crawfish boil, all organically grown of course.  My little nieces and nephews added the precious components.   There was not much time for gardening, but it did not matter as this was the time for family.  

April 27 - Today, I planted 5 Washingtonia filibusta seedlings and a small Abysinnian banana..   All went in the new southside beds.  It should be interesting to see the how the filibusta perform as they are in quite different conditions.   The two closest to the house have heavy A4 clay at the surface, then native subsoil.  The two to the rear away from the house are in nearly pure native soil with some compaction.  The one away from the house towards the front is on the edge of the old road bed in extremely compacted gravel.    All were nearly identical seedlings, and will be given the same care over the summer.   I will carefully measure the results.  

On another note, my Starfruit made it through the winter just fine and is actually growing, this despite me doing the worst possible planting job imaginable.   And this evening I ran out at 10pm to plant my Dragon Fruit.  This originated from a tiny cutting in a trash pile at The Kampong.   How it is even alive escapes me, but I ran out to plant it before the rains come this week.   It truly needed to be in the ground.   With another mild winter like the last one, who knows.

Also, I finally thought of a place for the Cow Tongue Cactus and the one from Doug M.'s inlaws.   On the southside, right on top of the old road bed.   That should be a fine place for a Cactus, haha.   Maybe this weekend, I'll finally get it in the ground. 

Lastly, this the peak of scent in the garden.  The sweet smell of the Star Jasmine fill the whole garden.   The spicy scent of the Split Leaf Philodendrum captures you when you get close to it.   I noticed my Shell Ginger is blooming as well, but didn't get over there to sniff it yet.

May 2 - Good day in the yard today.   I planted another palm seedling from last year, this time a Sabal causarium that I brought back from Larry in St. Pete, Fl.     It is also a good time to note that the Arenga engleri I got from him is coming back.  I had little hope for this palm, as it was essentially bare-rooted and the summer last year was brutal.  But with our mild winter and wonderful spring will ample rains it is coming back quite well.    

Thanks to our friend Matt, we got some chickens, 3 hens and 2 roosters.   As they mature, we'll have to get down to one Rooster, or maybe even none.  I am more interested in an egg laying operation, than in pet chickens.  But with my dear Cellie, we'll have to see how that goes, haha.

Meanwhile, I identified a few new spots for some of the other seedlings/plants.   The hard part at this point is always figuring out where to plant things, but that is the fun part as well.

May 3 - A couple more palm second year seedlings made it into the ground,  a Sabal causarium (from Larry) was planted on the southeast side towards the front and a Butia yatay (from Michael) on the southeast side towards the rear.  I also finally got around to putting my two Optunia and Cactus in the ground.   I install the old gate as a anchor for the Optunia, one of which came from a tiny piece in the trash at The Kampong and the Cow Tongue came from the road side somewhere in around Ferriday, Louisiana.    The Cactus came from Doug's in-laws. 

May 19 - Still doing a little planting here and there.   I put down two more of the Washingtonia 'filifera' seedlings completing that design.   I also planted a clump of the 'filifera' back near St. Joe's Tower.   I also planted the remaining 2 Tung Oil seedlings, and the Cassia alata volunteer that I dug up last fall.  Oh, and we are at a steady 2 eggs a day production rate.

May 20 - I now have 3 of the 4 new Dwarf Burford Hollies planted.  I'll get the last one in the ground tomorrow. 

May 30 - Well, I did get that last Hollie in the ground before leaving for vacation, and on return finally got around to dividing the Century Plants.  The first was Agave amerciana 'marginata.'  This one has been around for years, but I don't remember its origin.   I planted it near the barn, between the Needle Palm and the Mule Palm.   It had 7 pups around it.  The second was Agave americana 'blue.'   This one was a plant from Sam's funeral.   It hung around Mom's back porch for years.   There must have been nearly 20 pups.  Looks like I'll be giving away a bunch of plants.  I also planted a clump of Washingtonia robusta seedlings on the new border.   I also planted the little Livistona decipiens seedling. 

Much of what remained of 2009 was chaos, for a number of reasons.   As times goes on, I will try to piece together some things as time goes on.   Everything between here and 2010 will be those pieced together things.

2010

Feb 9 - The length of time since my last post pretty much says it all.   Fall and Winter were just crazy.  Crazy workloads, crazy rainfall, crazy cold.   We finally got on of those winters that I always knew was coming.   That every 20 year or so Arctic Express.   We had 3 nights right at the 20 degrees, on top of several nights in the upper 20s.   We have had nearly our average annual rainfall in the last 3 months or so.   Gardens are always changing, but sometimes they undergo traumatic change.   This was the year.   There are many dead plants out there.   Quite a few of my palms are gone.   I was sad to see them go, but always knew it was only a matter of time.   Although I hope to keep the gardens exotic and beautiful, I am continuing my move to a more organic food forest type of garden.   At any rate, we are still a month away from spring and recovery.

So, what prompted me to wake up the posting here?   Well, the spring vegetable garden seeds are sown in their incubator.  I have already potted up a couple of flats of various things, mostly tomatoes.   I finally got a winter/early spring garden seeded, but a full month later than it should have been.  The soils were just too wet until now to work.   

Another sign of the impending spring showed up today as well.  A flock of 8 Wood Ducks just showed up.    They'll start pairing off and nesting very soon.   I am hoping a pair will choose my box this year.  Its that time of year when you know spring is right around the corner, but we still have 2 nights below freezing predicted.    Daylight savings time is a mere 5 weeks away.

February 14 - Started layering the new veggie bed area.  Put a light covering of fertilizer on the Citrus and other things to kick start spring activity.

February 21 - I am still working on the new veggie beds, piling on layers or leaves and cow manures on all but the compost only bed.  Put down 175 plant spikes on the Palms and Ctirus.  Trimmed up the Crepe Myrtles, Olive and adjourning Grape Fruit, etc.

February 22 - First new additions for the 2010 garden went in this weekend, which were 4 Knock Out Roses 'Radrazz'.   There are in the front bed and were put in with One Step Plant Starter.    These soils are really bad, with lots of sand over an old road bed.   I tilled in compost last year and added 4 inches of bark compost.  To my amazement, the bark in less than 1 year had rotted down to less than an inch thick.  But the soils looked so much better than when I stated, it was amazing.  My shoved easily penetrated both the soil and the gravel of the old road bed, which last year was like rock. 

February 24 - I put in the last of the fertilizer spikes today.   Even put a few on the Evergreens.   Now, I haven't given up on organic techniques, as a matter of fact, I plan to step them up this year, but after the weather calamities of the last 3 years, I figure my non-food plants could use a little desert to go on top of that good organic meal.   Vegetables and other edibles will stay all organic.   Also, I planted the new Moro Blood Orange today.   I was quite unhappy with the state of the root ball when I pulled it from the pot, but I put it in some scrumptious soil, so I expect it to take off quickly. 

February 25 - Another pretty day, but with a hard frost, again.   This winter certainly has been a tough one.   Most of the tropical is quite dead.   Even the sub-tropical stuff is suffering.    I fear to see the final toll this spring, after we know what is really not coming back..  Regardless I continue.  After work, I got a little work done, in the garden that is.    I planted the two LSU Gold Fig clones today.   I forgot to mix in the 1-Step, but sprinkled it on top.   The rains tomorrow will wash in the bio-stimulant and beneficial fungi..  The soils are still way too wet in the area where I want to put in the two new Rain Trees from Helen.   And we have more rain coming.   I think I may have to dig the soil out of the planting holes, put it into a wheel barrow so it can dry enough to be worked, then put it all back in the planting hole with the plants.  Never had to that before, but no reason it should not work.  Better than planting too late and having the heat take them out due to insufficient root development.

I have reached a bit of desperation with my Moso bamboo.  With nearly 60 inches of rain in the last 4 months, along with crazy weather.  I planted two pots, each a single shoot last year.  One sent out a single shoot last year, which met a bad fate via a lawn mower, don't ask. About a month ago high winds snapped the original shoot off completely at 1 foot high. The other, which did not shoot last year, was broken off about the same height last summer, but not completely. I used steel rods and duct tape to re-erect it, and it is still alive. But I know this is it. If it doesn't shoot this year, the original shoot won't hang in there a second year. So, bottom-line, my $120 investment in these two bamboo hangs in the,  balance and doesn't look so good.   Since Bamboo are members of the grass family, I got some regular old lawn fertilizer and spread the area today.  That is all I can do for now, and pray.



February 27 - Rain and cold, rain and cold.  And coming is still more rain and cold.  To quote the weatherman on TV "What a winter?".   Tomorrow, Sunday won't be bad.  But then it is rain on Monday and then lows of 33 and 35 the next few nights.   They'll be no head start on the spring garden this year.   I was able to get out today for a bit.   I finished pruning the fruit and ornamental trees today, save only for the Loquats.    They are flowering right now, so I'll wait till after fruiting before shaping them up.

I had a retreat this week and one of my favorite local gardens, Rip Van WInkle Gardens.  In spite of the winter we had, the gardens look good.   The cold weather provided and incredible field of Narcissus bloom.   Actually, my Plum is blooming well, too.   There are some benefits to a cold winter.   Anyway, I took this nice landscape shot, so I thought I would share it with you.

February 28 - It was a pretty day again today.   I thought I had all of the fertilizer spikes down, but found another pack today, and quickly found a place to put them.  In the process I also found enough missing spots to put down yet another pack as well.   I finally got around to fixing the broken angel as well.  Not sure where she will live yet.   I put some cuttings in starting mix from the Althea that I trimmed last week..   Hmmm, let's see, what else on this piddling kind of a day.   I found an old gallon of fish emulsion from god knows when.  It has to be several years old and had thickened up considerable.    Since we have rains coming tonight, I added some water, shook it up, and just poured it in figure eights over the new veggie beds that are in the preparation stage.   I amazed, even in this cool weather, at how fast the leaves are breaking down in those beds.   I need to find some more, and fast.  Planting time is 2 weeks away.

March 15 - This was the first spring cleanup weekend.   I spent hours, literally, on the weedeater, while Cel did the mowing duties.   Sounds like a chore, but really, it was quite enjoyable work.

The main tomato crop, 14 in all, is down into the new no-till beds.  They all have a nice thick mulch of Oak Leaves Cow Manure or Compost for fertilizer.   It'll be Spray-n-Grow and Bill's Perfect Fertilizer from here on their all organic diet.  I finally got the two Rain Trees from Helen planted, which completes my Rain Tree Grove Project.   I still have the new Blueberry bushes to plant, but with daylight savings time kicking in that should be easy to get done this week.