Elaine that's a lot of babies!

Finally had a chance to watch the SW Florida Eagle Cam, so cool!

Molly: pretty, pretty orchids!

Elaine: I want that bathroom!!

I have the live eagle cam up in another browser right now ... appears to be windy and rainy over there and the poor adult on the nest is soaking wet. I see a fish sticking out beneath mama or daddy and two hazy blobs on either side that must be from camera reflection. I see from their Facebook page that the second egg hatched!! It won't be long before those parents will be building up the sides of the nest to keep those young ones from falling off the edge. Hope they get along and stay safe.

They are soaked, poor thing. At least they have food. I find it interesting to watch them build up the nest as the little kids pop up higher and higher over the edge.

Lin, my husband wants his bathroom back too! He has to move orchids to take a shower. Very soon, they'll all be back outside and everyone will be happier. He did make it easier for me this year, fastening a strong wire across above the tiled area so that I could easily hang my Vandas at the windows. Now, this also makes it easier for him to slide them out of his way to take his shower too . . . all good.

It is a lovely way to take a bath, while I can watch the flowers and the birds out the window.

I just took my orchids out of bathroom and took outside for a little air circulation and mist, as its rainy here. I always like to bring them in, but them Im glad to get them out after a while. Im sure they will be back in soon, winter isnt over.

I did go out last night with dogs, smelled heaven, looked over and the freeze had spared me these, and a few other, very nice surprise.

Pam, better get them back in, going down to 38 tonight

Yea, I brought them in last night. I hope they got a little air tho. Off the subject, but speaking of cooler, I have not had a good navel all season. I havent even seen any fl navels. Im hoping this cool weather really sweetened up what was on the trees, going to farmers market tomorrow, boy do I hope they are good. A good navel is just my favorite fruit. Not that a good strawberry is bad either...peach ....... well anyway. Good news is it sounds like you will be warm and toasty.

Pam, hopefully it will work right, this will be the first night below 40 since the heat attachment was installed. Yep, last night i was warm enough to turn on the ceiling fan.....that is...with no air running at all.

I have a young guy coming at noon tomorrow and I will teach him about wild raspberry brambles and golden rod. We're going to pull them and throw them in the fire pit. As well as any other garden clean up I can come up with. It will be nice to have some young strong muscle to help me with this stuff.

My Catts on the oak trees are enjoying this cold weather.

Wow Gigi! How stunning! Have they been out there during all the frosts?

Yes Ann, but we didn't get a frost yet. I think our low was only 33 but no frost. Hopefully we won't have any more cold snap in February.

Oh Gigi, I'm thinking we haven't seen the last of it yet by far. El Nino you know.

Saturday my garden helper came. I had him pull wild blackberries out of places I don't want them to be. Showed "Michael" what they looked like. I had him pull them from places I really didn't want to venture into. He did good. We transplanted 6 daylilies, 1 lespedenza and 1 bottlebrush tree.

We are having rain all day today so these transplants are loving it.

Dug up bunches of Blue Curls and small century plants to share with his grandmother, mom and aunt.

A while back a friend send me cuttings of Charles Grimaldi Angel trumpet. They have been in a vase of water. Growing roots like crazy and now even making new leaves on top. Can't wait til spring to get them in the ground.

Molly, it might be a good idea to pot up your Angel Trumpet cuttings in case it's another month or so before it will be warm enough to plant them outside. The roots get wimpy if they grow too long in just water.

Don't know about where you are, but here, they do a lot better for me if I keep them in large pots. We have nematodes in the soil that just love Brugs. If you put them in ground they will do fine for a while then start petering out slowly, if you have nematodes.

Molly, what kind of bottlebrush tree do you have? If they grow for you, they should grow for me as I think you get as cold as we do.

Elaine, Too cold now to put in the ground and I have been having bad luck trying to root cuttings in soil. I think I need to wait just a bit longer on the brugs. Good to know about the roots getting wimpy. Will watch them closely. And yes we do have the nematodes here. I have 2 small other brugs in the ground, but now they have frozen back with the cold. They come back from the root stock in the spring. It's just too much for me to keep large growing trees/bushes in pots and dragging them in for the winter.

Matter of fact I have a plumeria that needs to find a home in the true sunbelt (40 degrees or higher in temps)

Yesterday I took some cuttings of the only sweet almond not dormant and put them in water. Couple months ago I took the same cuttings and put them in soil with root powder. They crashed. So, trying it this way and hoping.

Ann, I don't really know what kind of bottle brush. They are plants I bought here, so assume they are naturized to this climate. Once established, they don't even seem to care about the recent frosts we have had. I see no reason why you can't grow them at your place. I'm not just lucky with them here. In the spring when they put out their first blooms, in Gainesville, you can see them over privacy fences showing off their bright reds.




I took this pic when the butterflies were rampant on the bush.

Oh my goodness Molly! The butterflies are ALL OVER that bottlebrush!!!!
Thanks, I will look around & see if I can find any locally.

Little tiny thrill for me today, my Banana Shrub (Magnolia figo) has been holding onto a bud for at least a month, and it managed to open up in all the cold and wind today . . poor thing, I felt so sorry for it I brought it into the house for the night. It sure does smell like bananas!

Oh Elaine! What a treat! They truly do smell delicious. Congrats!

Congratulations Elaine! The fragrance of those blooms is really awesome! Can you grow yours in ground in your zone or does it have to be kept in a container? I see that the genus has been changed from Michelia to Magnolia but I still have the habit of referring to it as Michelia. Banana Shrub (Magnolia figo) I've had my plant for a little over five years and it's still fairly small due to lack of proper care on my part but I really do love when it's in bloom because of the awesome fragrance. My plant is really root bound and needs to be up-potted which I hope to do it as soon as the weather warms up for the year. I need to go out today and move it (along with a few other plants) onto the screened porch because we're expected to have nighttime temps in the mid 30's the next couple of nights so I'll be dragging out the old blankets and covers to throw over plants again.