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!