the tumor

Relax. I totally don't have one (that I know about; I'm sure I have one somewhere - ever seen House?).

But my succulents. Well, one of them anyway - has a trail of flowers so long (15+ inches) and large, I'd swear that in the plant world, it must be the equivalent of a brain tumor that causes heavenly visions. Joan of Arc type stuff.

Will you see?

Before (top left is the case in point).

And then there was the tumor, albeit beautiful:

Upcloseandpersonal:

in our very tropical yard

walking around the house

I planted these little impatiens by seed; several others have bloomed but were all red - a color I already had! Yesterday morning these popped open pink - hooray! I stuck them in a cheap hanging planter; here's to hoping they get so fabulously out of control that they will have to spill over the edges, concealing the green plastic...

Jane. We have a new routine. Here is the routine: she comes into bed and meows a couple of times when my alarm goes off in the morning. When I shower, she sits on the toilet and purrs. When I am out of the shower, she gets breakfast. If I stray from the routine, I am DIRT! Also, windows open in late May in South Florida?!? How do we deserve this? Oh, the weather has been lovely:

on the side of the house this morning

sunset tonight

This red nasturtium is far more brilliant in person, but this was the best I could do otherwise! I love those leaves. I just want to take naps underneath them. They are huge, but not that huge!

friday i'm in love

orchid mania

Every last bud has burst! Wow.

everything is turning up succulents. i couldn't be happier.

front porch revival

You might remember my post about transplanting a bougainvillea plant that caused some ear drama. What I didn't tell you was that shortly after the transplant, our poor bougainvillea went into serious shock and lost all of its leaves and flowers. We basically had a sculpture of thorny branches weaving around our front porch and had lost spirit toward our endeavor. We thought we killed it. We even frowned. But within the last two or so weeks, it has come back...with new life and even flowers! It has been so much fun to observe its revival:

In other revival news, one of our rescued orchids is blooming and she is really packing some POW. 45 buds! This is all Steve's doing; he is the man:

And born from seed, my little nasturtiums are getting there:

gush gush

Last night, or February 13th, I was feeling a bit low. Every holiday and birthday that comes around I just can't seem to get my shit together and have something for Steve. Sometimes, I am beyond being a thrifty girlfriend. I had to buy his Christmas present at a thrift shop for goodness' sakes. You must know that he doesn't mind; if every gift I ever gave him for the rest of our lives was something I thrifted he would die from happiness. Because he is that wonderful.

Today, or February 14th, I was expecting just another day. I love Valentine's Day, but being without much money, every holiday in these times is a bit...gloomy? When Steve arrived home on his lunch break, he was smiling so big. He was carrying this beautiful rose bush in his hands:

An Our Lady of Guadalupe! Especially made for Florida growing conditions!
If that weren't enough to make me all gooey inside, he went out to his truck for another bush, my FAVORITE ROSE, the Hot Cocoa:

He had no idea how much I love these two rose varieties...In bygone days, I'd even blogged about them before.

But wait. There's more. He cooked me dinner. Bought me a yummy sparkling wine.

When I said to him, "Damn, I wish I had something for you!" because I was so lame and did nothing at all, he said, "This day is for you."

weekend delights

• A couple of weeks ago, Steve installed a new stereo in my car. It was a glorious day. My nano chills in the glove box while I control it from the deck. Can you handle it? On Friday, I made my first '95 Toyota Corolla playlist (02/2007). Triple woot.
  
• In the spirit of last weekend, this Saturday we transplanted a not-doing-so-well-but-really-large bougainvillea from one part of our yard to another and in the process, I learned that bougainvilleas are laced with spikes. I'm used to thorny rose bushes being a Portland girl, but these spikes were quite another thing. I was drilled in the ear with a bougainvillea spike. What? Like my ears haven't been tortured enough lately? It hurt so much I couldn't even cry. You know when pain is so intense it takes your breath away and leaves you unable to speak? Yeeeeeow! But the transplant was successful and when the rain clears, I'll be out with my camera.
• Cause if you were watching the Super Bowl, you know what the weather was like today.
• Steve and Cole have long wanted a fence for man's best friending type things (dog poo, frisbee, wrestling, etc.). Today on Craigslist, Steve discovered free fence materials in Ft. Lauderdale, so we secured these fence-y things and went down to Ft. Laudy to uproot them and take them home with us. Let me tell you, it was labor. Midway into taking this fence down (let me emphasize midway), we were warned by the owner that the vine we were clearing off said fence was poison oak. They wanted to know if we were we allergic? Oh. Fuck. I think I said, "You're kidding me, right?" Nope. The good news is, so far, Steve and I aren't allergic. So far. At least we got free fence materials. We are such thrifty blow-hards. We'll brave anything for free goods! But this doesn't mean that, in the future, we'll be rubbing poison oak all over ourselves and crying victory.
  

Crystal ball of petals.

The perfect rose -- for so many reasons!

I love the Voodoo that you do...

I don't consider myself a romantic, nor a gardner, really. I'm not down with the dozen+, commercially-grown rose bouquets from Colombia that don't smell worth a damn, either. Oh, I sound so cranky! But it's true: I love rose gardens. I started maintaining one in Portland, OR, shortly before I left for a move to Florida (ok, not that one, but I do love to hang out there). I grew up around roses - and I think what enchanted me about them first is that they are each named for something or someone. Like I posted before, I'm a little nuts about names. I have some traditionals in my Portland garden: Peace, Mister Lincoln, and JFK. The others: Perfume Delight, Oregold, Harmony, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Cherry Parfait, Voluptuous!, and Gemini. The rose in the photo above is Voodoo, which is currently on my wishlist. I'm also a sucker for Hot Cocoa, which is this delicious chocolate and red blend that comes off real smoky. I've ordered a book on growing roses in the deep South, and taken note of two rose gardens in Orlando that are relatively close to my abode. Definitely field trips, though!