Work has been a little crazy lately so apologies for being absent.  My plants are missing me as well.  Today, they screamed and cried for attention by sagging and laying down and threatening to die on me.  After 3 days of nearly 90 degrees and no water, I sure hope they survive.  It's been just terrible here and I've been so tied down at work.  These are excuses.  Lame excuses.  Today, I made the time.  I also made the time to repot 3 of my orchids that were literally climbing out of the pots and pulled one out of a pots that was super soaking wet because there was no drainage hole in it.  That last one would have rotted and died in no time flat.  I checked on the new baby I potted and so far it's still alive.

Plumeria 5/19/2012

The plumeria plants are all doing well.  Every slip now has leaves coming.  One is doing better than all the rest, but every one of them has leaves coming.  This is very good news.  My husband calls them stick plants.  He couldn't believe I would actually get plants from the slips.  To be honest, I wasn't all that confident myself.  I'm not super gardener.  I'm an average person who likes to garden when I have time on the weekends or if I'm not too tired after work.  I love flowers and plants and learned this love from my grampa and my mom.  However, I am forgetful of my plants in the house and they often die from lack of water.  This is why I can only have outside plants.  :)  If you recall, the plumeria slips came from Hawaii and I think if I protect them from frost, they'll be fine.  

The Curcuma Ginger graced us with its blossoms this week, while the Chinese Lily finished blooming.  I forgot just how pretty these were.  We talked a while back about these and how you can use these as house plants if you live in the colder zones.  Just remember to take advantage of your warm outdoors in the summer months.   I'm thinking about moving all the Chinese Lilies and the new lilies I got for Mother's Day in the yard so they can increase in number.  




Finally, I thought we'd look at the damage from the deer.  We talked about trying to plant outside the screened patio or lanai despite all the deer.  I planted some lavender, which are heavily scented and therefore deer-resistant.  I also planted sunflower seeds.  The poor little sunflower seedlings are trying to grow, but are having one heck of a time.  The deer come by and continue to nibble on them.  I thought you might like to have a gander at them and see what this damage looks like so you can recognize it in case it's not prevalent in your area.  For me, it's a daily problem.  They even ate my hanging baskets of petunias.  I'm now a certified Bambi-hater.  I have gotten a few more ideas to try to keep the deer away.  A master gardener suggested I try garlic oil with dish soap and water and spray it on the plants.  This is my next solution to try.  If you decide to try it first, let me know how it works for you.