Lots of good news from the garden these last few weeks. As for the weather, some bad news...

This is a long one (Spring, you know) so bear with me ...

We've bought 2 more tropical sage plants (beautiful, bushy plants) ... in addition to the seeds (see below). I just love those things. They are so pretty!

As you know, our philodendron had fallen all over itself. Well, we finally spent a day pulling it back up. It was hard, because it had made aerial roots everywhere. We did lose some branches in the process (which I replanted in pots right away), but overall, it has resumed a much better shape. We finished the job by putting in a wooden frame with bolted pieces of leftover wood. Now, all it really needs is rain.

MALAY SPINACH - Our "Malay spinach", which is a tall plant, which looks kinda like a papaya (but way thinner), is blooming again. Except this time around, it has lots of tiny little white flowers. Every time it has finished a cluster, it adds new ones. This is one strange plant!

JASMIN - I've tried to make a cutting using the air layering technique (the same one I used to make a successful cutting of my cape honeysuckle), but it didn't work. I don't know if it just won't work, or if I cut it off the mother plant too soon. So, I'm trying a straight cutting (small chance of success here, since the "stem" becomes woody very quickly), and if (when) that doesn't work, I'll go back and try that air-layering again, and maybe keep it attached longer... there is really no way to tell if it growing on its own roots, or if it still depends on the mother plant. We shall see...

LITTLE PHILODENDRONS - after we pulled back the big plant (and enclosed it in a bolted frame), we planted all the little pieces of the plant that got broken in the process. I'm happy to say they have all made it! All are growing new leaves... now, whatever shall I do with them??

VINCAS - Our vincas from last year all seemed to start growing in early spring. However, it turns out that some made it, and some didn't. The ones that made are growing strong now. The others we'll have to replace. No big deal. The local Home Depot has plenty of them. Pretty good return on a plant that's supposed to be an annual anyway!

LANTANA - The lantanas are blooming again (still). We've had to prune them drastically because they were taking over the whole screen, and we were getting locked inside as they were growing and blocking the screen door. Now, they're more compact, and showing an impressive display of mostly yellow blooms (the purple ones bloom mainly in early spring when yellow blooms are scarce)

HYDRANGEA - The hydrangea is doing very well. It's still very compact but getting larger (if not taller). It has huge, mostly blue blooms. A real delight for the eyes.

OLEANDERS - Oleanders are also in bloom, and we currently have few to no caterpillars. I think they don't enjoy the dry weather we're having.

ORANGE/TANGERINE - The orange and tangerine trees have finished blooming, and have gone on to make fruit. Both trees are now covered with little baby fruit.

LOQUAT - The loquat has finished fruiting (if there is such a word), and is now only growing. It is getting really big, and looks more and more like a shade tree.

PEACH - The peach tree has lost its last peach (no idea why), but otherwise, it's doing well. It's growing at an incredible pace. The other peach tree (the one that's slow to start) finally decided to come back to life last month (a month after the first one!). Right now, that one is having a few well-placed, well thought-out tentative leaves !?

FIG - The fig tree is *huge* (compared to last year). It's already grown a foot since this spring! It's now about 5 ft. tall, and growing. Plus, it's gained around the edges too ;-) Little figs are appearing here and there.

BANANA - The banana tree is doing OK, but not growing very strong. This may be due to the overgrown oleander right next to it, which is giving our banana tree almost permanent shade. Since it's really not growing that much (it got really beat up by the freeze), we're thinking (still *thinking*, mind you) about getting a regular (not dwarf) tree sometime in the future. We'll see...

PALMS - Both palms are doing well. They are a little yellow, and I do think they need rain. I've been watering both palms, but they always absorb all of the water in a matter of seconds!! I could keep watering them all day! The old palm is doing better than expected. It has almost reached the end of its first full palm since the freeze.

PLUMBAGO - The new plumbago we planted in the back of the garden is now in bloom. Lovely little clusters of pale blue flowers are a welcome sight in that area of the garden. This lovely plant was gracefully given to us by a colleague at work. Thanks Laura :-)

GRAPES - Now, this is bizarre at best. We had grapevines for the past 3 years. They were the healthiest things you'd ever seen. Last year, as you know, we even had grapes! Every winter, they go dormant. Then, in late March/early April, they come back to life and grow very fast. Well, this year, we're still waiting. No sign of life. I just don't understand. We didn't do anything to them. What could possibly have gone wrong??? Those were beautiful plants. Now, I thought it could be due to the drought, but in March, it's always dry. So what gives? I'm just so sad. I don't think they'll come back now. They're 2 months overdue. Gee, I wish I knew what happened. Of all the plants we have, the grapes are some of the most reliable when it comes to Spring rebirth. I don't know what to do. Right now, we're just waiting. I don't want to tear them out, because I'm still hopeful that they'll miraculously come back. Who knows?

PEAR - Our pear tree has finished blooming (April), and unfortunately, there were no fruit this year. Still, the blossoms were a first, so we're hopeful next year will be the year it fruits.

LEMON - Unfortunately, our neighbor has decided to cut down the lemon tree, half of which was hanging over our backyard. I know it is their decision, but what a lovely tree it was! They kept the grapefruit tree, and part of the orange tree.

LEMON TREE (formerly ORANGE TREE) - As you know, we lost an orange tree a few years back, and since it grew back from below the graft, this meant that its oranges would likely be sour. So we moved the tree to the back of the garden, not wanting to throw it away. When neighbors cut down their lemon tree, we decided to take a piece of a branch, and make a graft on the (sour) orange tree. The graft was a failure. But, what's amazing, is that right after it failed, we started seeing flowers on that tree. Now, it had been in the garden for a number of years, and had never produced even one flower! Now, it looked like it was covered with them!! And not only that! Those flowers look very similar to *lemon* flowers, and when fruit started to develop, then we realized... The rootstock of that orange tree is a lemon tree!!! An orange tree had been grafted on it! So when it grew back below the graft, it went back to its original rootstock... lemon!! Amazing, isn't it? We went so far as to graft a lemon branch onto a lemon tree!! Now, that's what I call "inventive"! Now, it remains to be seen if those lemons are good enough to be eaten...

VEGGIES - We've decided not to do a veggie garden this year... no time really. Right now, there is nothing there, except weeds (we try to keep them in check, though) and, of course, tons of passion vines trailing (and blooming!) on the ground.

CANNAS - The cannas are in full bloom; shades of red, orange, and yellow are appearing in clusters high above the broad, green leaves. Beautiful...

HELICONIA - The heliconia has reappeared after the freeze [now we know for sure that's what it is ;-) ]. It hasn't bloomed yet, though.

"SMALL" PAPAYA - The "small" papayas we grew from seed, and then planted last year, are starting from the bottom again, very slowly. They are against the fence, so they don't get very much sun. I hope they start growing more quickly soon!

CAPE HONEYSUCKLE - The cape honeysuckle is still huge. We were supposed to prune it, but didn't really have the courage to do so. I mean, the thing is so healthy and beautiful. It didn't stop blooming until this month, so to prune it while it was blooming seemed drastic. So, now that it's done blooming (due to summer heat), do we really need to prune it??

URECHITES - Our urechites (wild allamanda) has sadly died. After the covers we put on it this winter, I was always hoping that it would come back, that its disappearance was temporary. But now, I know, this is for good. Gee, what a loss... I loved that plant! Wonder if I can find a new one some place? ...

PASSIONVINE - The passionvine is, of course, all over the yard (I keep pulling - easily, fortunately - new plants from the ground, and saving them). And they're even blooming early! In fact, they're blooming now.

CRAPE MYRTLES - The crape myrtles have not yet bloomed, but this should be imminent. Blooms are already forming. One of the baby crape myrtles (rigth next to the big ones) has already bloomed... it has the darker color of the adult plants.

ALLAMANDA - The allamanda we had taken great care not to lose to the freeze (covered with several layers; added 2 light bulbs for heat) has come back to life!! It is about a foot tall, and very strong. The thick stem is growing fast now, and we should have flowers soon. I'm so happy!!! and so relieved ;-)

MANDEVILLA - On the same note, our mandevilla has also come back to life, and it is twining on the old, dried up stem. It's reached about 4-5 feet, and seems to be doing well. That one is less of a surprise because it usually comes back (it is, after all, a bulb)...

PENTAS - The pentas are doing well. Most came back, and they're already blooming.

HIBISCUS - The hibiscus are doing well (they're very bushy and healthy), but they haven't bloomed yet, and I'm worried. They're against the fence (to the west), and I guess it may not be the best place for them. Anyway, I think I'll have to fertilize them. Now if I could only find my hibiscus fertilizer...;-)

I have finally found the hibiscus I've been looking for all these years! It's a beautiful orange, with a bright-red throat. Just gorgeous! And since it's kinda dark (darker than the peach ones anyway), it should still be at least light orange when it fades in the sun (everything does here; the sun is very strong). I'm so excited!!! Right now, I'm keeping it in a pot, so I can water it by hand. Otherwise, the weather is too dry, and I'm not sure it would make it just now. I'll wait a few weeks before I plant it in the ground.

BOUGAINVILLEA - this one should bloom shortly. With the dry weather we're having, the bougainvillea we have in the patio is blooming like crazy. Those things just love the hot, dry weather!

NEMESIA - Right now, both nemesia are doing great, and they're still blooming. I think though, that they might stop once it starts getting really hot and humid (I hope). I tend to think that they like dry weather. Very lovely plant, reminds me of lily-of-the-valley :-)

CAT'S WHISKERS - Sadly, our orthosiphon has died in last winter's freeze. I had covered it well, but I guess it's even more sensitive than I thought... I could have put a lightbulb to keep it warm, but I didn't. This was one of my favorite plants. Since then, I've tried desperately to find a new one, to no avail. :-( I'll keep looking...

MORNING GLORIES - Morning glories have started invading our fence, with huge leaves and (I guess) tons of flowers. Leaves are what impressed me most. The things are huge, esp. compared to last year!! That plant can completely cover a fence just like that! It's as bad as passionvine! I never see the blooms (I'm not a morning person), but I know there are lots of them... I see them closed in the afternoon ;-) Morning glories are also growing on the garden arch. I wish I could see the flowers ;-)

PAPAYA - Our papaya has started its slow growth. Having been hit hard by freezes for years, I think this is probably its last year. It starts more and more slowly, and has more and more difficulty growing back. It's doing OK, though... just slow.

PEACE LILY - The flower is still there, but it is becoming greenish. There is another one coming. Let's hope this one is turned toward the outside... the first one was turned away from us, looking toward the wall. :-(

COLEUS - We've replanted some coleus that we had made cuttings of, last winter, and they're doing quite well.

BROMELIADS - These plants have a really hard time surviving in this drought. We try to keep them watered, but it's not easy. Fortunately, I think they're going to make it if we keep doing that. And then, the rains will come, and they'll be saved for good at that point.

MOTHER-IN-LAW's TONGUE - Those things really don't change all that much.

SEEDS - We have planted a bunch of new seeds this month... More daisies, old vinca seeds, papaya seeds, old tropical sage seeds, and a couple more I forget. Most of them have sprouted already (even some I didn't think would!). We're keeping them moist, and waiting for them to grow.

DAISIES - They're blooming like crazy!! And to think I had specially ordered several *potted* plants before, and they all had died! The ones I have now are from Burpee seeds, and they're doing better than I expected! I now have 5 plants, and each one has about 20 flowers on it!!! I just love them! They're so pretty... :-)

WEDELIA - The wedelia is really starting to grow fast now. There are still very few blooms, but the plant is very strong, and I think we should start seeing blooms very soon.

SAGO PALMS - Those are now growing new palms. The palms are just beautiful when they're new. And they're really soft, so you can touch them without risking lacerations!! ;-)

GARDENIA - The gardenia is currently in bloom. Big, white, fragrant blooms. Looks good, but personally, I think the fragrance could be improved ;-)

OK, obviously, I haven't kept up with this... I intended to do one of these every month, but I guess that's a little more than I can manage. So, I bring you a diary for September-October, and I've included a few things from this Summer, and from last June. I hope to have another one by November.

First, let me note that last Summer was wet as usual, which was a welcome sight after the drought we had had last Spring. No hurricanes, and yet lots of rain :-) Now, it's back to the dry season... It hasn't rained in over 2 weeks. Winter is starting early, as we have already had our first cold front this year. It was the week of October 5th, and we beat our 85-year record for the day (55F) with a temperature of 50F at night. Way too cold :-(

Sorry if this is too long...

First, new plants we bought. Most of these, we bought and planted in June 2000.

MILKWEED - We bought this plant from the Botanical Garden at the Univ. of South Fla. It lasted about 2 weeks. We bought it because it attracts butterflies, and particularly Monarchs. Well, it did its job, and the first day, we already had about 10-15 monarch caterpillars on it. They stayed until all the leaves were gone. Now, as soon as one leaf has grown back, a caterpillar comes, eats the leaf, and then we wait for the next leaf to grow. I wish it was bigger. It's still officially there.

PORTER'S WEED - This is a really unusual (understand: weird) plant, which is partially why we bought it (same place). It has these tall, green spires, with little delicate dark blue (almost purple) flowers that grow in the middle of the spire. As soon as it rains, all the flowers fall to the ground. The leaves resemble mint leaves, and are dark green. Looks very nice next to the purple vincas.

FIREBUSH - This is not the firecracker plant. It is a plant that has red/dark orange blooms that are very tubular, and barely open. It's supposed to grow big. It does attract butterflies. Right now, it's about a foot tall, and has lots of flowers. The flowers are strong, not delicate.

INDIGO SPIRES SALVIA - This is your regular tall salvia, with blue flowers spikes that arch gracefully. This one is kind of in the shade between some bushes. It's on the side of the house, at the front, so I don't go there often. Therefore, I don't really know if there are butterflies there, but I assume there are.

MEXICAN HEATHER - This is a plant that we bought because it just looked pretty. We planted a couple of them at the bottom of the passionvine that's growing on the fence. They're blooming now and make a nice addition to that spot.

BUTTERFLY BUSH (BUDDLEIA) - We finally decided to give this one one more try. We bought this plant at Scotty's earlier this year. We planted it in a different spot altogether. It's sitting next to the plumbago. Well, it seems to love this spot! It's been several months, and it's still blooming, and attracting butterflies. :-) The flowers arch gracefully down to the ground. Lovely...

And now, for the old...

VINCAS/PENTAS - Blooming semi-vigorously. I think we may have to replace these next year. We ended up not replacing any. No time for that.

LANTANA - The lantanas are still blooming again. We'll have to prune them drastically (and I mean, drastically) next winter. Since we're getting into Fall now, the purple variety is showing more than the yellow one, which bloomed profusely during the summer. The butterflies just love those, and I see them on the lantana every day.

TROPICAL/TEXAS SAGE - We have planted several cuttings from last year. These are doing all right. Of the ones we had last year, one or two came back. We have one particular one that's special: its buds are black (the others have green buds), and then they open to reveal red flowers, with a larger "lip" than other plants. We've also bought a few from K-Mart (first time I've seen them there), so that I don't know which ones are which anymore. We have also added texas sage to the front of our house, next to (and under) the oak tree. It's a lovely addition. I've noticed that these plants tend to suffer in a drought. Their leaves curl and they can die if you don't water them well.

HYDRANGEA - Not moving much here. Few flowers due to the Spring drought. Still, it is healthy.

OLEANDERS - Oleanders are also in bloom, and with the warm weather, the caterpillars have come back with a vengeance. We currently pick them every other day... and with 18 trees, that's a lot of work. Fortunately, we now know how and where to look for them. We have a few trees with leaves near the ground that the moths like to put their eggs on. So we always look there first. Also always look under the leaves. That's where the eggs are, and therefore, that's where the little caterpillars appear. If you can get them before they grow and start moving in all directions, you've won that battle (not the war unfortunately). We also bend the top leaves because there are always big ones there. We easily pick up several hundreds each time! They seem to be particularly fond of flowers...

LOQUAT - The loquat has started flowering again.

PEACH - The peach tree has grown tremendously. It's probably over 10 feet tall now! And... it's flowering!!! Now, this is definitely not the right time for that... First of all, it's supposed to bloom before leaves, not after! And it doesn't bloom in the Fall either. Go figure. It's got 8 flowers, for no apparent reason... The other peach tree (the one that's slow to start) is just growing.

FIG - The fig tree is *huge* (compared to last year). It's now about 6 ft. tall, and growing. We're harvesting figs now. And since it is Fall, its leaves are starting to fall, making it easier to spot the figs :-)

BANANA - The banana tree is doing OK, but not growing very strong at all.

PALMS - Both palms are doing well. They're growing new palms (leaves?) all the time, but as palms are, they're growing rather slowly.

PLUMBAGO - The new plumbago we planted in the back of the garden is now in full bloom. It's just gorgeous!

GRAPES - The grapevines are now completely covered with passionvine. This is hopeless... This thing just takes over everything else. It is pretty of course, blooming and everything, but it looks like a jungle out there.

ORANGE/TANGERINE - The oranges and tangerines are growing.

LEMON TREE (formerly ORANGE TREE) - That sour orange tree still has lots of fruit on it. Now, all we have to figure out is if they're oranges, sour oranges, regular lemons, or sweet lemons.

VEGGIES - The "veggie patch" has grown (or overgrown) into a "weed patch". We let it be for now, so it has a wide variety of weeds, passionvine, a yellow-blooming pea-like weed (lovely), hibiscus acetosella, etc. Every weed we pull we throw in there. Another one of our jungles...

CANNAS - The cannas are still blooming, although not as much as in the summer. We've been dealing with caterpillars in the cannas this summer. Now, they seem to be in check.

HELICONIA - It seems that 3 heliconias made after last winter's freeze. This summer, they were in bloom... all 3 of them. No big flowers, but lovely flowers nonetheless. Red and orange.

"SMALL" PAPAYA - The "small" papayas we grew from seed, and then planted last year, have given mixed results. 2 are doing really well. They're tall (about 5-6 feet), and at least one is blooming (male). The other 2 are not doing very well. I think 1 must be dead, and the other one is very small.

PHILODENDRON - As you know (if you've been reading this), we have given our philodendron a wooden frame in which to grow. Well, it's been growing very well since then. This summer, it was lucky to get lots of rain, and it looks very nice, growing new branches all the time. The little ones are still in pots, but they're now sitting in the garden, next to the weed patch.

CAPE HONEYSUCKLE - We have finally pruned this thing, until it got to be about 1 foot. (Now, that's drastic!) The thing is, it was starting to take the fence apart, so we had to act to preserve the fence. The fence is all right, and the honeysuckle has since grown again, and it's now at least 3 feet tall, and spreading very fast. I wonder it'll bloom this Fall...

URECHITES - Our urechites (wild allamanda) IS NOT DEAD!!! It finally came back in July!! I was sure it was gone. I'm *so* glad it's back! It is now just starting to bloom (a few flowers) Boy, this is slow. But it does have lots of leaves this year, and it's climbing very nicely on the garden arch. The only problem: this plant is (and has always been) plagued by oleander caterpillars... same eggs, same caterpillars, same moths. So every time we pick caterpillars from the oleanders, we have to check this one too, if possible every day. If we get there too late, the caterpillars spread and can do a lot of damage very quickly. We are usually able to pick the eggs just before they become caterpillars (larval stage, I guess...) Now, this is not in any book...

PASSIONVINE - The passionvine is, of course, all over the yard (I keep pulling - easily, fortunately - new plants from the ground, and saving them). And it's blooming, although less than last year. I think the drought has affected it a bit. Lots of butterflies hover around it. :-)

CRAPE MYRTLES - The crape myrtles have finished blooming. Impressive display again this year. Now, they're making seed, and losing some leaves to Fall.

ALLAMANDA - The allamanda has reached the top of the fence, and is blooming nicely. And, with the crape myrtles losing their leaves, it becomes easier to see the Allamanda flowers.

MANDEVILLA - The mandevilla is blooming as usual, which means it has a few flowers. It's still lacking a bit of sunlight, being behind the crape myrtles. Still, these flowers are beautiful. If only we'd known back then that the crape myrtles would grow this large...

CLEMATIS - The clematis did bloom this summer. Lovely flowers they are. They're competing with the urechites and morning glories for the garden arch. Usually, we will give them priority over the morning glories.

HIBISCUS - The hibiscus are doing well (they're very bushy and healthy), and are blooming. The white one is of course the most profuse bloomer, as usual. The pink one follows with fewer flowers, and the red one flowers rarely. Still haven't found the hibiscus fertilizer... The orange hibiscus has been planted and has bloomed a few times since then. It is a lovely color, just the one I was looking for.

RED-LEAF HIBISCUS - aka Hibiscus Acetosella. This thing is growing in the back of the garden, next to the banana tree, in the weed patch, and also at the front of the house. Most of the time, you'll find 6 to 8-feet tall plants. No blooms yet, though... Shouldn't be long now...

BOUGAINVILLEA - Surprisingly enough, the bougainvillea is blooming (and was this summer too) even though it's been wet. The thing is, it's been falling from the fence, over itself, so it may actually be keeping its roots from getting wet. Whatever the reason, it's looking great! It's also arching over the hibiscus, so that this area of the garden looks kinda like a jungle, with bougainvillea, hibiscus, morning glories, passionvine all mixed together... You don't know where one plant ends and the other begins...

NEMESIA - The nemesia is still alive. Not blooming, though. Can't remember if it did this summer or not. I still can't believe it's alive after all this time.

CAT'S WHISKERS - The orthosiphon is still dead. That one's gonve for good. In fact, we've dug it up (whatever was left of it), and planted the orange hibiscus in its place. I'll keep looking for a new one...

MORNING GLORIES - Morning glories have started invading our fence, with huge leaves and tons of flowers. They're growing on the fence next to the hibiscus, and they're also growing on the garden arch. I wish I could see the flowers ;-) This is also a very invasive plant.

PAPAYA - Our papaya did not make it this year. Weakened by the freeze last year, it started slowly coming back. Then, after a terrible drought, it got drenched this summer, and basically rotted. It was a few years old... This is really sad. It is now officially dead. I've made new papayas from seeds, so I can plant a brand new one next spring. :-)

PEACE LILY - Still blooming, although the flowers are kind of small.

COLEUS - We've replanted some coleus that we had made cuttings of, and even though we started with several kinds, we ended up, as usual, with the same one taking over the whole bed, namely, the green one with the red edges. Good thing it's nice looking.

BROMELIADS - With the wet weather we had this summer, they've been doing a lot better, and actually bloomed this September!

SNAKE PLANT - aka Mother-in-law's Tongue. The snake plants have started reproducing and making little copies of themselves. This is nice. Also, the new ones are whiter than the old ones, which were greener. I think they look much nicer in white ;-)

DAISIES - These have finished blooming, and there are still a couple that have a flower once in a while. But, all in all, the main blooming season for those is over.

WEDELIA - The wedelia is growing like crazy. In fact, it's invading our sidewalk quite a bit. I have to prune it about every 2 weeks before it reaches the other side of the sidewalk. It's mounding, has lots of yellow flowers (which attract butterflies and moths), and it now about 1 ft. tall.

ROSES - The only roses we have left are basically a yellow rosebush, and a pink one. Although I thought they were almost dead (certainly weak), they're becoming stronger. The pink one at some point gave us quite a few flowers, which were very fragrant. We also had one or two flowers from the yellow rosebush. I should add that we do not (absolutely not) take care of these at all. We just let them be. So it is to be expected that they should be somewhat weak.

OK, I know I did this one, it's just a matter of finding it on my HD. I'll post it as soon as I get a hold of it. Meanwhile, please scroll down and take a look at December.

Not really much to say here, except that this is one of the worst winters we've had in years... I've never seen so many freezes here. Just in December, we had at least 6 days of freezing weather, and at least 16 days with lows in the mid-30's!!! Of course, after so many repeated and extended freezes (not to mention, very low temps, like 28F), the result in the garden has been disastrous. Here's a list of what's dead or close to it: Coleus, pentas, vincas, lantana, and tropical sage - all dead

Hibiscus, incl. Red-leaf H. - some have a green leaf left, others don't. Maybe we'll keep the wood alive...

Bougainvillea, allamanda, mandevilla, banana - also all dead

Porter's weed, Mexican heather, milkweed, urechites (yes, again!), Cape honeysuckle - all look dead

Cannas (this is normal), heliconia, papaya, passionvine, morning glory (again, normal) - all dead

Little philodendrons in the back - all probably dead, or very much weakened (even with a lightbulb)

Plumbago - some green left (about 1/10 of the plant)

Oleander, butterfly bush - small parts are frozen, most of the plants are intact.

Palms - look awfully dead, maybe they'll recover from the crown...

Wedelia, ferns - all dead and brown

Things that have made it for now:
bromeliads and snake plants (shaded by trees), anything shaded by a tall wall (like impatiens, peace lily, etc.), fig, nemesia, daisies, azaleas

Things that are never affected at all by freezes:
northern fruit trees, hydrangea, forsythia, crape myrtles, roses, sago palms, juniper, nandina.

Fortunately, citrus and japanese plum are still healthy. :-)

We've suffered heavy losses this year. Hopefully, many plants will come back. It is so heart-breaking to see that everything you've worked years to keep healthy is just sitting there, brown, limp, helpless... It hurts to see that.

What's really amazing is that trees that normally stay green, or lose their leaves, have turned red (of all colors!) this winter, just like the Fall colors up North... I've never seen them turn red before. Feels like Fall in Vermont ;-)

Finally, I'd like to thank the people who have generously sent me cuttings of "cat's whiskers". I will plant them in the Spring. :-)