Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night. (Rainer Maria Rilke)

Thursday, November 12, 2015

How Hot is It?


Why it's just plain CRAZY hot, I tell you.  Crazy!  It's been 90 degrees every day for Pete's sake!

At least the Plumeria likes it.


Although by the time high noon rolls around - we're all a little wilted and droopy.


A little over three years ago this Plumeria was basically just a stick in a bucket.  It is truly a robust grower.  I'm not sure what kind it is, but it's now almost as tall as the house, which is over 20 feet.


It gets harder and harder to get a decent photo of the flowers unless I have the ladder out.  This fallen bloom is still gorgeous though.


Well, complaining has never done anyone any good, so I won't complain any more about the heat.  I will however, have a little whinge about the Saltbush blooming as it affects my asthma and gardening time.

And just so my complaining isn't the focus here, I'll tell you a little about this native plant in the Aster family. 

Just a little.  In the fall, here in Florida, you might notice this shrub in forested areas when you see the female plant bursting with their showy, fluffy seeds ready to take to the wind.  It reseeds profusely, so you'll probably be seeing a lot of them. 

Its proper name (Baccharis halimifolia) was named after Bacchus, the Roman god of harvest and drink.  The usual depictions show him as an overweight figure with grape vines wound around his head and drinking wine.  Huh, who knew?  It also goes by several common names including saltbush, groundsel bush, cotton-seed tree, sea-myrtle, consumption weed - hey, that's what I'm going to call it from now on - consumption weed!  Although it does cause me respiratory distress, I do think they look quite pretty in the preserve behind our house.  I just wish they'd blow their fluff the other way!


Let's see, I've got a few other things blooming in the yard.  The Bleeding Heart vine is looking lush and colorful.


I'm hoping to train it to go along the roof line of the garage.  At the garden center where I bought it, they had it along the roof of this charming little shed and it just dripped with pink flowers.  


Begonias love the heat, but not too much sun.  I can never remember if these are the Angel wing or the Dragon wing...


The always reliable pentas, impatiens and angelonia.


Plumbago


Anthurium


Ixora


And I've got a whole new set of Angel Trumpet pods getting ready to open.  

There's several more flowers blooming in the yard, but nothing very exotic, I'm afraid.  Mostly butterfly attracting blooms.  


Speaking of butterflies, I did have a new visitor to the yard.  It's not a very good shot and it took me AGES to figure out what it was.  It's a female Great Southern White and I've seen the white males, but didn't realize that the females can be this dirty, greyish green color.  I couldn't find a match until I searched for the blue tipped antennae - it then came up immediately and that is a key factor in identifying this butterfly.  I love a mystery and of course had to find out who was visiting! 


Another new to me visitor was this cutie patootie Pineswood Treefrog.  They're probably around more often, I just hadn't seen one.  Yeah, the cutie patootie isn't part of the name, lol.  I'm always happy to see other frogs besides the usual invasive species. 


 The oranges are beginning to ripen here.  They're looking a little blotchy this year.  The tree is just loaded and looks like it'll be a huge crop.  

I hope you're having a lovely autumn season (or spring - wherever you may be)!   Happy Gardening!












7 comments:

Susan said...

Hi Lynn, it is definitely to warm for November. I keep checking the weather forecast to see when cooler temps are coming. Love your little tree frog and butterfly. It's always exciting to find new kinds of wildlife in the garden. I've never heard of a saltbush but it sure is pretty. Too bad it causes you some breathing distress. Lots of pretty blossoms in your garden in November. Let's hope normal temps for this time of year are coming soon.

Janice said...

Hi Lynn, I've been whining about the heat too. It hasn't changed anything, but grumbling about it makes me feel a little better.
You have some beautiful blooms, I especially like the Plumeria and the Bleeding Heart Vine.
I love the blue tipped antennae on the butterfly, don't believe I've ever seen a Great Southern White in my garden. Of course, frogs are always, just too cute!
Thanks for sharing.

Unknown said...

Hi Lynn, You have some gorgeous flowers in your garden! I'm so jealous of your Plumeria - Just lovely. I think I get a bit too cold for them here and a couple of winters I have lost the little ones I had. That bleeding heart vine is gorgeous too. So clever of you to identify that lovely butterfly and even to notice those blue tipped antennae...I would never have seen that! Well I'm with you in hoping it cools down a bit. I try hard not to complain too much but when it's over 90 degrees in November I think we have a right to complain! Lol! Just remind me that I said this when we have a bad freeze and I promise to take it all back! Oh goodness I SO hope we don't have a cold winter!!

- Kate

Leslie Kimel said...

You have so many pretty flowers, and your photography just blows me away! I love your angel trumpet picture especially--and of course your little tree frog.

I really hope it cools down for you soon. It's terribly hot and dry up here in North Florida too. My garden looks so shabby.

Unknown said...

Oh, you guys are all very nice to leave such lovely comments! Thank you so much Susan, Janice, Kate and Leslie! I'm seeing that we're to get a big rain and then it should cool off - I'm definitely looking forward to it! Happy Thanksgiving!

daisy g said...

You have so many lovely blooms. The weather has been unseasonably warm, hasn't it? Can't say I much care for it, but what's a gal to do? Thank you for identifying the white peacock butterfly on your sidebar. I've been seeing a ton of these lately, and I didn't know what kind they were. Off to research...
Enjoy your blossoms!

Unknown said...

Daisy, I'm so happy you were able to ID a butterfly from my visitor list - I'm always so excited to have something new to the garden and always happy to help others learn new stuff about our beautiful wildlife. We just got a huge rain and it was suppose to cool off - but not yet!!! Awaiting the cool front! :)