Ms. Low-Tech Makes Good!

I've finally figured out how to add a picture to my title page! Blimey! My last efforts have left me with a little postage stamp picture sitting out there looking meager and lost. Which is rather distressing, because some of my very favorite bloggers not only have stunning pictures behind their titles, they change them at will! New beautiful pictures all the time to match mood and seasons and life.

I've been sitting here for months going plink plink stab mash bang bzzzzzt on the keyboard and getting {ERROR! RUN OUT OF THE HOUSE NOW} messages on my screen and nothing to show for my efforts. Don't expect this one to change for a while. I have to rest my brain and take a nap for a while. It was also just a fluke and I've already forgotten how I did it.

Blogging has been an adventure in figuring things out with a mind that neither likes to follow directions, read contracts of any kind, or read any of the small print on the back of my credit card statement. ( Would someone kindly read the back of their credit card statement, and just give me the bottom line.) The small print basically allows the company to change interest rates at will and charge you for stuff you never asked for.

Knowing my lo-tech capabilities are an hindrance, I've made a point of learning at least one new thing a day here in blog land. I just impressed myself to death the first day I figured out how to add a link to a word, a picture to the post, change the color of font and anything else that some people apparently have just known how to do before computers were even invented.

I love the flowers in the picture. They're called plumeria, also known a frangipani. They have a wonderful heavenly exotic fragrance and come in many different shades of red, pink, yellow and orange. This is one of the plants that are (supposedly- I'll get to that in a minute) so easy to grow, that all you do is whack a branch off a mature plant, stick it in the ground, and voila - new plant growing and thriving. They are in the oleander family, and are (supposedly - I'll get to that in a minute) poisonous. They grow so rampant in Hawaii that they are used on leis. The ones they give you for free at the airport!

I drove all the way to Seffner a few years ago and purchased two plumerias after browsing and sniffing thousands of them. These were already rooted and growing nicely in gallon containers. I carefully planted them, nurtured them, watched over them and voila - they both croaked within 6 months. So I gave up on them. Until 2 years ago when my friend Heather whacked a branch off of her beautiful plumeria. I went home and planted it in a pot and voila! It grew nicely and even got some leaves the following spring.

In May I got really brave and planted it outside next to the fig tree and voila! The deer ate the top off of it. And pulled it out of the ground the next day. Undaunted - after I got over it a few months later - I trimmed the dead top off and voila! New leaves started to grow in 4 places around the sides of the stalk and voila, the deer ate the leaves. It's supposed to be poisonous, I thought. They don't care. What's a bit of a stomach ache when they can hide in the bushes across the pond and watch my reaction to their nibbling

Well, it's autumn now and I see plumeria thriving and blooming in the neighborhood, and mine is sitting there looking reasonably healthy despite the fact that it gets barbered every week or so by the deer. No flowers yet. Or maybe there were and the deer ate them too. I dunno.

So, now I have this lovely picture of plumeria on my blog! I think I will dab a little perfume on the screen so I can enjoy the scent. Lord knows I may never find out what my real one smells like.

Some Uneventful Gardening

These pretty flowers are in the buttercup (ranunculus) family I planted them several years ago, and they just keep blooming. The flowers are only open for about 3-4 hours each day, so I have to make a point of visiting them. They were already closed up for the day when I went out at 1:00 to pick up my piles of trimmings and weeds. Sometimes the squirrels will bite the tips off of unopened buds. When the flower opens it looks a bit like the snowflakes we cut out of folded paper. There is one "snowflake" flower in the picture - can you find it? I've read that animals will not bother buttercups - obviously the squirrels don't read.

Skipper Moth Visiting my Golden Dewdrop

I spent some time in the garden this morning while it was still cool (80 degrees) by Florida standards. I cut back the golden dewdrop where it was crowding my plumeria. I pulled some weeds, but had to be careful not to step in places where the turtle laid her eggs. They may hatch next month.

At one point, the Mister asked me to stop what I was doing and look down at my feet. I did. I recognized his request as a Fire Ant Alert. All was well. No fire ants. Those little eternally angry denizens of the garden let me alone today. I saw no snakes, did not raise the ire of any bees and neither mosquito nor deer fly honed in on my exposed parts. No alligator was basking on the bank of the pond. Gardening can be a risky adventure here. Life threatening, actually. Wear gloves! Maybe a helmet and a concealed weapon.

Today was pleasant and uneventful as I yanked out the weeds that flourish and crowd out my herbs and flowers. My miniature roses are healthy and happy, except that the squirrels do not allow them to bloom. If I remember correctly, I have a white, red, orange and pink. It's only a guess. Ask the squirrels - maybe they know.

The plumeria was a gift from my friend Heather. She gave me a cutting from hers about 2 years ago. I let it grow in a pot on my lanai for the first year and then, early this spring, I planted it between the golden dewdrop and the fig tree. The next morning I found that a deer had nipped the top off of it. Swell. I waited a month or so for it to start a new growth of leaves, and when it did not I trimmed the top off once more to see if that would wake it up. It worked! I have 3 new shoots coming off the top with nice shiny healthy leaves. When it flowers I'll take pictures for you. I'm being extremely optimistic here. Thank you for stopping by!