Gardening and Genealogy

This week has been about two things: Gardening and Geneaology.
For the latter, I began to get overwhelmed with documents and information. I needed a place to organize it all, somewhere that my family members, cousins and other surname hunters could find it all. This led me to start a second blog devoted just to the research of my family tree: The Great Ancestral Hunt
It has consumed most of my nights, researching by the dim light of the computer screen.


My days have been spent mostly working in the yard and garden. The weather has been beautiful this week despite a couple of days of rain. I've planted Plumeria, Passion Vine and Starflowers.The Marigolds and Bachelor buttons were planted out this week. Here I planted the Bachelor Buttons in a natural palm planter discarded by my Queen Palm.

Marigold

I also planted Sweet Bell Pepper, two varieties of Jalapeno Pepper and Cayenne Pepper. However, it poured in the middle of the night and all the seed pots were soaked...the seeds have probably fallen down too far in the moist soil and may not germinate now.  When that happens, I just throw the dirt in the yard and let them sprout where they may. :) My Crookneck Squash has lots of flowers and veggies on it and is about two weeks away from the first harvest. 

This poor plant has had to be given such TLC...first it had a Vine Borer, then it had Squash Gnats, and finally it had the white powdery fungus.  And it's located inside my screened in patio! I can't imagine how much more work it would be to keep this baby safe if it was out growing in the yard!
Here is a look at one area of the Butterfly Garden:

The Almond Bush scents up the whole garden with the most amazing fragrance. I just love it. I would like to have another one in a pot on my patio. The sunflowers are growing so tall and strong and the Pipe Vine finally has the long pipes on it.  The Coontie (there were two, now just one) is barely surviving. It's a slow growing native Florida plant but it has come out of all these cold days a little worse for the wear. The Pentas also needs to be constantly cut back in order for the poor Coontie to get enough light. I may try planting one in the front yard this year, in a better spot with more sunshine. The tiny little hummingbird visited my garden yesterday and spent a lot of time at the Pentas and Porterweed...and he completely ignored the hummingbird feeder! Guess he would rather have the real thing! Another view with additional plants:

How the carrots got into the pot and into the ground I have no idea...I think I must have had some stuck on me after I had planed them into a pot on my patio. The carrots are growing great. I thinned them out this week and felt so bad pulling them out. I know it's a must in order to give them more room to grow and be healthy but it just pains me. :) The Passion Vine already has butterfly eggs on it thanks to a Gulf Frittilary and my Cassia tree was visited yesterday by a Large Orange Sulphur who spent quite a bit of time laying her tiny white oblong eggs.


The next time I'm blogging about the goings on in the garden, I'll probably be seeing caterpillars eating the leaves of their host plants and I, myself, should be eating freshly harvested squash! Til then, Mulch Love from: