It was a long winter. Things I put out a month ago got to see a bit of late winter before a short spring.. But they are all starting to bud out now...with a few blooming..
The best growers are also the first to bloom... Kelly Ann got out of the gate first.. With Maya in second...






ah...the roses are going well...and what's a post with out a kitten post.. Seen here about to climb the umbrella

Nice blooms and a cute cat.

Kittens are the best entertainment ever. Gordon your garden is so wonderful.

Wishing I could grow a variegated brug. I'm guessing the intense sun down here is too hard on them. I've tried twice and they died both times.

More new blooms for Kelly Ann....and lots of the others are budding out... The early flushes makes the work of over wintering them almost seem worthwhile...
And more kitty pictures.. The young boy.. And his baby.. The young girl... She's the snow Bengal playing the wind chimes...
Trellises are their domain... Unfortunately for the weaker vines.. But a little tip pruning never hurts them

My Miss Doris plant is about 20 inches tall and has 8 large buds on her, she was just a start over the winter.

Congradulations, Doris! Don't forget to post a picture.

OK here are a FEW of the buds on Miss Doris they start out yellow and end up a beautiful Pink.the plant is actually only 13" tall.







There is a total of 11 buds

Wow! What are you feeding her?

The do look health!!

Here's a little white blooming today....with some backup buds....
She comes in at 8 inches tall... The flower does also hang down 8 inches

Here' shorty's latest bloom.. It opens white and turns pink... And a few others blooming today...Maya's kicking it into gear...

Very nice, Gordon!!!! That first one cracked me up with a bloom as long as the plant is tall!!!

BTW - I love the variegated Shorty! Beautiful foliage!

I have a question for you.....

I see that you have some decent amount of foliage on your blooming plants. What is your secret? I get plenty of blooms, but a lot of the foliage drops every time I have a bloom flush.

You can see in my photo how there is little foliage and lots of blooms:



What are you fertilizing with and how often?

Well...Becky... I started going to answer you feeding question.. The next day I was up there with the temperature of the air about 92 *F ..and the little roof deck uncovered sitting at over 150*F... And picking up dead leaves... You likely have already seen it over 90 there... For some time... That's likely the foliage answer... A few minutes needing water... And they are yellow.. I start everyone off with ALOT of dehydrated manure... And continue a bit after planting ... Then I give them other things... Algoflash. For food.. General and flowering types... Spraying with Messenger.. Now called Axiom .. Spray-n- grow. Every few weeks...

Gordon - Thanks for your fertilizing info! I'll have to look onto Algoflash. Messenger has never seemed to work here for me. I've not seen any difference using it.

I think part of the problem I am having is the heat and too much rain. I use a variety of things to fertilize with. I am trying to go organic as much as I can. I use alfalfa tea, compost, used coffee grinds, fish emulsion, fish waste pond water, and MiracleGro.

Check out Spray-n-Grow also I've been using it for 40 years or so...I spray it on with their peters professional ferts and a bit of baking soda every week or two...

Right on, Gordon. I was just going to add that I 'foliar feed' my brugs when the weather gets hot. Found this out by accident, because the big brug that shades my orchids was getting sprayed regularly with orchid fert and did SO much better than the others getting just regular feeding.

Betsy, your fert regime sounds delicious, but I'd recommend not only spraying it on as well as watering it in, but add a tablespoon of Epsom Salts maybe twice a month. They love it. Boost of magnesium for better leaves.

Becky.. They do also just shed their leaves just as they are budding...ang getting reDdy to open..they turn yellow...heat...water have their part too..I was thinking a big yellow leaf on the plant..might look. Like a flower from afar...and draw the pollinator to the plant
The flowers impact by just dropping a big old leaf..
Here as I remove dozens from some trees..because of your complementary post I can remember they did look good once upon a time...
Oh...Maya is still blooming....most of the time.. And is now going to start flushing...God...what a trooper



Oh kitty pictures..ok ..everyone loves to climb the trellis..and are close by where ever I am..

Elaine and Gordon - I have started mixing Epsom salt in with the rest of the ingredients in my fertilizer mix per Elaine's suggestion. I am not seeing nearly as many leaves yellowing and dropping off my brug trees like I was ... even in this heat. Now it is mainly just a few older leaves yellowing and dropping. I still have some of my brugs in the sun for many hours of the day and they are responding well, too. Not wilting like they were. Apparently, they weren't getting enough magnesium in the fertilizer I was feeding them, so adding Epsom Salt did the trick! Thanks, Elaine!!!!

Gordon - Your Maya is beautiful! I tend to prune the bottom branches, remove some of the longer branch tips along with the bottom leaves from all my brugs so they all look like well-pruned trees instead of large bushes. By doing that, I don't get quite the huge bloom flushes that you do. Though I still get plenty of flowers, just nothing like yours! It is amazing how many flowers a single brug can produce during those flushes!

Your cats are so cute! How many do you have? 3? Looks like they follow you everywhere! Do you ever worry about them falling off the rooftop since they climb so high like that? You know that old saying ... "Curiosity killed the cat". They are part bengal cat, correct? Beautiful felines!!! Being kittens, they probably get into everything! LOL!

Also, I see your wind chimes .... that is something I have been wanting to add to my yard, but haven't because there seems to be a science to buying a good wind chime. Any suggestions? Where did you get yours? There is nothing decent sold around here locally, so I would probably have to order one online. I can't spend a small fortune either, it's got to be an affordable price. (sigh)

Ooh, the cats are so wonderful, Gordon. (so are your brugs, of course) Look like oci-cats to me. Sure hope they don't fall, it's a long way down there!

So glad the Mg has helped, Becky. I spray it on my orchids at least every second week as well. It's great stuff. Palms like it too, btw.

Just a note on wind chimes, it's more about what they sound like than look like, so I wouldn't be inclined to buy a wind chime online. You need to hear its sound before you buy. Metal ones tinkle, glass ones can clank, and bamboo ones sort of rattle or clatter. It's also about where you hang it. If it's jingling all the time it can drive you nuts, so a protected place is good. I'm looking for a new one as my old one rusted and fell apart recently. I want one that just 'tings' occasionally when it's windy.

Art shows and craft fairs seem to have wind chimes sometimes. Now you've got me rhyming . .

Well...thanks... there are four cats...all 100% Bengal... I've two Snow Leopards.. a Silver Leopard...( an unusal color for them..) and a convential Leopard...who is 18 now..pictured here... Kits... I got her from this Lady in LA.. Jean Mill, that started the breed.. she doesn't climb trellises any more.. I'm not worried about them falling off the roof... too much.. I have the same feelings I had with my two sons... let them have their rein.. better to find out early you have a stupid one.. than go to the trouble of raising them.. only to find out later when they are out on their own..
Becky.. I got the chimes given to me// I had a friend into music.. and she researched them.. and came up with one she had hanging for years... the aluminum got tarnished
so she got an identical one.Little grace notes.... the Himalayan echo ... ( she might have just fancied the name ) pictured as the second one here..I rubbed it with some 300 grit sandpaper.. and restored the bright look.... it's new aluminum showing then.. and restrung it with some red silk cord this spring.. better than new
here you can hear their offerings... although it seems a bit different than mine... it's small so it sounds with little wind.. and has a soft sweet sound... the bigger they are the lower the note... and the more wind it takes to make it sound.. but like Eilane mentioned.. you can customize it to your liking by moving it to a more secluded location''' here's a link to them at a discounted price.. and you can hear them there..
http://www.ecowindchimes.com/L... picture of mine in a minute.. it's on another machine