I like that!

"Stinky Mango Blooms" sounds like it should be the follow up movie years later to "Steel Magnolias"!

Just thinking of mango pollen makes me itch & weese. I discovered, the hard way, when stationed in HI, that I was terrible allergic. I itch when I stand next to them at the store!!!!! They like to put them next to the pineapples (which I love).

We are starting to green up a bit up here. A couple small plants, with pretty flowers, followed me home yesterday. I need some color!!!!

Spreading the rest of the bulk mulch this AM before my 3 yds of dirt is delivered later today. By the end of the week I want to have the rest of the raised beds built & filled. Too be cooler so should be good for the hard work.

I'm going to take a break now from pictures. Too much going on and bored with the inbetweens. and will not be sharing anything until the beauty evolves in a month.

Get it together Florida. Our growing time is coming. I want to see more long shots from your gardens this year. Once we know a flower and have it, its boring seeing the same flower over and over again.... Garden Longshots with everything.

Grow well!

I keep hoping I'll find something blooming - beside the Azaleas scattered about the yard!!! Oh wait, the 1 lettuce (what ever it was tasted terrible) has a lovely yellow bloom now!!!!

Yesterday I finished moving the 5' pile of bulk mulch just in time for the 3 yds of dirt to be dumper where it had been. This pile is much smaller!!!! Covered it last nite so it will stay dry. Tomorrow I hope to get 3 raised beds put together then get them filled while the cold spell is hanging around.

The hazard of growing lettuce in spring here, Jean! If it once gets warm, it shoots to flower and goes really bitter. Some varieties hold better than others. But best to grow it in the fall, I've found. Mine tasted good all through our cold, wet January. That's the weather it likes! I actually draped it with frost cloth to keep it cooler when we had warm days in Feb to see if it held better. So far the curly leaf lettuce is bitter, but the rest are still ok! I planted a mix.

Greens in the big raised bed. Lettuce (some bitter) kale, mizuna, beets and carrots. Funny little striped eggplant 'Purple Rain' and a flower. The plants are mighty confused with this varying weather!

These pictures make me feel so comfortable Elaine. I am so far behind this year and I feel the overwhelmed phase feelings we gardeners sometimes feel this time of year!

My gardens are at the prune phase now and have been. I start most all things from seeds for annuals, and while my richer friends have already filled their beds with beauty bought and hired help or,..... me,........ to help get theirs already pretty. I'm lagging in the race.

The upside is though;...I'm always in my personal Spring Gardens developments the Tortoise in the race with the Rabbit. It takes longer to get the beauty back for me, but have learned that by Mid April it works incredibly! Cute Eggplant. The striped one I grew a couple of years ago was really bitter, yet Eggplant flowers are beautiful to me!
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Jean, we have been hit with a last blast of cold up here in Central and Northern Florida too. While we did not get hit as hard as you in Jax area this year, These 40 degree late temp's have slowed the growth of many things, and especially some things for sure. All my large Poinciannas came through, but have not budded yet, along with the Ginkgo and Chaste trees. The Chickasaw's just started and they are usually in full bloom in late February. Strange Winter, yet no hard freezes at least.

I think everything is behind this year, David. It's not only because we keep getting these cold fronts (below 50 here this morning too) but also because it stayed warm really late into the fall last year, so some things went dormant very late. On the 'up' side the Gulf water never went below about 65 down here, so it sure did warm up fast after each front! Usually the Gulf is down in the low 50's all winter.

My mango tree is usually in full bloom the first few weeks of January, but this year it was late Feb before I saw a lot of blooms coming along, and it is in full bloom now. It often does a later bloom in March as well . . .. who knows what will happen this year, but if the crop is spread out further through the summer I will be glad. All that wonderful fruit all at once is daunting.

Now, well the unwelcome 'crop' of oak tree blossoms is starting to drop! The cat comes in looking like she's been rolled in coconut and baked. I call her "The Macaroon". She gets a lot of grooming out of the deal, and I'm pretty sure she goes right out and rolls around on the ground again, just so she can come in and get brushed.

dyzzypyxxy said:
My mango tree is usually in full bloom the first few weeks of January, but this year it was late Feb before I saw a lot of blooms coming along, and it is in full bloom now. It often does a later bloom in March as well . . .. who knows what will happen this year, but if the crop is spread out further through the summer I will be glad.

Yesterday I saw a tree near me that had sizeable fruit on it already - plus a whole new crop of blooms!

After the heavy and early Spring rains which is not usual here, everything is coming together. What a help Mother Nature is!

I will have pictures to share soon.