Then And Now

Here are some comparison photos of the plants from the past few months to now.

Desert Rose- November 9th/2006.

Desert Rose-August 25th/2007.

Hibiscus- October 4th/2006.

Hibiscus- August 25th/2007.

Agave- March 1st/2007.

Agave-August 25th/2007.

Plumeria- March 15th/2007.

Plumeria-August 25th/2007.

Flowers

Flowers

The plumeria cuttings are growing like mad and one of them is now starting to bloom. It has lots of buds on it, so should be pretty in a couple of days. The scent of it is wonderful, like a strong perfume.

The Desert Rose is also blooming nicely with lots of flower buds on it.

Hanging Out With The Birds

Hanging Out With The Birds

It was another beautiful day today, 32 C./90 F., no discernable breeze, some high faint clouds and the wonderful sun shining down on us. Just plain old lovely March weather.

Roy and Ciro were going to go fishing; but Ciro ended up having to cancel, as they had a problem with their water, I think the piece in the toilet tank broke so he had to fix it. No problem, it was nice outside in the shade so we sat and watched the birds eating. Besides feeding the hummingbirds I have been feeding the sparrows (I think) and they have come to expect it. They are getting braver about coming to eat when we are sitting outside now and we just sat and watched them and looked around us with the binoculars. There are an assortment of birds here, which I really should look up and properly identify; but so far I haven't. We have a few pidgeons, some doves, a woodpecker, a thrush type and some little ones that have a canary look to them and of course the large eagles that soar high overhead. I told Roy we were going to have to move more often as they were circling quite close today, maybe they thought we were deceased and were looking for their supper.

Sparrow??

The sparrows now sit on the powerline chirping every morning, waiting until I go and throw something out for them to eat. It's like the drive through line at a fast food restaurant.

I found some seedlings growing in one of my pots and am thinking that maybe they are from the orange seeds that I threw in there one day awhile back. I transplanted them today, and will wait and see what develops.

My Expanding Garden

My Expanding Garden

At the end of the block and around the corner from us is a home with some nice plantings. The yard looks like a cool, shady oasis. There is a plant the size of a tree that I have been coveting a cutting of for ages; but I never see anyone outside to ask. Yesterday on my way back from the store the gentleman was just coming home. I asked him what the name of the plant was (he didn't know) and I told him that I just love the scent of the flowers. He agreed that yes, it does smell very nice. He then asked me if I would like a cutting, naturally I answered yes, glad that I hadn't had to ask. Just a minute he said and went into the house to get something to cut a piece off with. He came out with a hand wood saw! He motioned to a large branch hanging over the sidewalk and asked if this one would be good. Yes, I answered after asking him if he was sure he wanted to lop off such a huge piece. Oh sure, was his answer and I walked home with my huge cutting, a very happy camper!! If anyone knows the name, I would appreciate it. I asked Ciro and the names he gave me are words in the Nahuatl language and that's all I get when I google. This one has aromatic pink flowers; but Ciro and Nancy both say it also comes with yellow or white flowers.
The "cutting" a very nice gentleman gave me.



The bouganvillea is doing well, as are the other plants. So far I haven't killed anything.


One of the garden blogs that I read and enjoy is written by a fellow called Gary, who lives his profile says, in southeast Texas. Here is the link to his blog, if you are interested in gardening you will enjoy it. http://tismoreblessed.blogspot.com/ On Monday he had posted a photo of his garden bench which reminded me of one that I had taken in my garden in Canada, in the summer of 2005.

Part of my old garden in Canada.



I tried to take a photo of the bread man as he went by yesterday; but had some problems with the photo. It was already shady on our patio and my camera batteries needed charging. I tried to fix the photo with limited results; but here it is anyway, I will try to get a better one another day. LATER NOTE: A lovely lady from this blog: http://alexandriadailyphoto.wordpress.com/ took the time to "fix" my photo, many thanks. The new and improved version is below.

The bread man (with the hat). The lady and the little girl are our neighbors across the street, the man in foreground is our landlords oldest son (also named Ciro).


Just as a note: The plank with the cross pieces on it in the background is what the man working on the neighbors home walks up to the second floor on, carrying cement! OH&S and Workers Compensation would have a hemorrhage over this in Canada, here it is the "norm" and no one thinks anything of it.