I just hate being wrong. About, oh, anything. My therapist and I are working on it. I got fooled thinking Sweet Almond Bush was native, too. Had to pull that one because it got way bigger than expected and shaded a bunch of stuff out and killed it. I could have kept it pruned, I suppose, but I hated cutting off those wonderful-smelling flowers. And when you've got limited space, you have to make hard choices! Besides, we have some at MOSI so I can enjoy them there.

The Carolina Cherry Laurel is blooming



Dogwoods are blooming



Jonquils are blooming

Beautiful Ann! Spring!!!!

Thank you Rita.

Ann, I know you are not Melanie.

Melanie, apparently I need a therapist a lot more than you do. Talk about hating to be wrong. Thank goodness, I seldom am.

I WISH!

Spring can sure be tiring!!!! Yesterday afternoon I helped a couple friends dig out some very overgrown plants fm around their house. Then we stuffed it all into the back of my SUV so I can find new spots for it all in my yard. Rain moved back thru before I could get out & start making holes. I'm doing some garden cleaning at the Ext office this AM then will dig holes in my yard, if it isn't pouring this afternoon. I need to get the planting done today so I can stay in & get some quilting done tomorrow. It is hard for me to stay indoors when the weather is so nice but I have pieces here for customers that I do need to get done.

I'm taking some Advil and going to the movies with Mom. My legs are so sore from working yesterday. I slept pretty good, though!

Enjoy the movie. You deserve some R&R from all you did.

Mom is probably looking at a knee replacement and I'm just sore all over. So we were quite a piece of work trudging up and down the stairs. But I like to sit up high at the movies!

I've got a new trainee coming to MOSI on Sunday. Hopefully, this one will stick around. It's always fun to have someone to teach and to lift the heavy stuff for me. Or at least play pack mule and carry things around. How will they learn if they don't do?

Can any of you Florida natives identify this weed for me? I was fascinated by its rapid growth so just let it hang around. It grew like a .......well, you know...Sorry the pictures of the blooms are blurry but it's as tall as I am (5'1"). I couldn't find anything in my Florida wild flower book that resembled it.



This fellow showed up in our yard the other day. He left rather quickly when DH asked if the chicken pot pie was ready!


I don't know about the rest of you but it is raining oak tassels here.

Yep, I've been wearing out my little leaf blower, trying to keep the pathways and pool cage clear of those dag-nabbed oak tassels! If they sit on the screening the little flowers 'rain' through into the pool when they dry out. If the (fluffy, long haired) cat lies down in them, she comes in looking like she's been rolled in coconut and baked.

Speaking of rain, we had a good shower last night around midnight, thankfully. It's been quite a while since we got any - it all goes north of us.

Those weeds are called 'Cupid's Shaving Brush' or more correctly, Florida Tassel Flower. Florida Tassel Flower (Emilia fosbergii) I have red ones but yours are yellow.

I'd get busy and yank them before those seeds blow all over, Jean. Gorgeous chicken! Bet one of your neighbors was out looking for that one, it looks like an exotic type.

I'm pretty sure Tassel Flower is a different species. There are two kinds of Tassel Flower - the Florida kind and Lilac Tassel Flower. Both are non-native. I have that yellow flower, too and it's a completely different plant.

No, it isn't tassel flower. I did the very same thing Jean. It was so pretty I let it grow just sure there would be some lovely blooms but it never gets blooms that we can see. Goes right from that bud to the fluffy seeds. Let me see if I can find it now. I put some photos in the db. See if this isn't it Jean. Mine got as tall as me too & I'm your height.




I don't have raining oak tassels yet; I have POLLEN like you wouldn't believe!!! Well, maybe you *would* believe. Wash the car windshield & a couple hours later it's covered again.

Oh, cute chicken.

@flaflwrgrl That's it! Like you, I thought it might be some rare and exotic flower, and if I pulled it up, I would be destroying the last one in existence. The first seed pods opened up and I saw it through the breakfast room window and due to my severe myopia, I first thought some "fuzz" had landed on the plant and went out to take a closer look. I better get outside and pull it up because that sucker has enough "flowers" on it to sow most of central Florida.

Regarding the chicken: Our neighbors have them -- I don't know how many, but their cages or however they try to contain them isn't very secure. One day there were four out front scratching around and then there was the one DH caught sight of up in the tree. This one almost got caught by something because later the day we saw him there were a lot of white feathers scattered in the yard. I suppose you might call them free range chickens!

I haven't seen the burnweed take over so I dunno. I think the plant itself is very attractive & I have to admire that it survives all Fl. has to dish out. The pollinators love it to death so there's that to say for it. I don't know how they get anything but they apparently manage. Must be some nectar down in there somewhere.

Those chickens are just asking for a hawk.

Last year my Caladiums were BEAUTIFUL. Huge leaves & they bloomed forever. Like every other year, I just leave them out till about now, then dump the pots, mix them up & re-pot them. First pot I dumped had no bulbs/corns left in it. Next 2 pots, about half were just slimy mush. I salvaged what I could & hopefully some will bloom. Got discourages and the rest of the pots are still sitting there.

First Monarch of the season just laid eggs on my native Asclepias tuberosa! Yay! I'm going to upload the pics and send them to BAMONA. www.butterfliesandmoths.org

So right, Ann. Burnweed, not Tassel flower! Sorry, rockladyJean.

Qwilter Jean, what a shame about your Caladiums! I do pull the ones in pots under the overhang after they're dying down, so they don't get too wet through the winter. Dry and cool is great storage conditions for those bulbs.

That being said, I do have a whole bunch in the ground, and they come back year after year, probably because the soil is less water retentive than potting soil. I planted this row last summer, and they looked gorgeous until December. Now, well we'll see how they came through the winter pretty soon now!


These white ones have been coming back year after year for at least 5 years, but do a lot better if I remember to give them a little fertilizer.