The Money Tree was supposed to be a Bonsai , but Scooter the cat kept trying to eat it. It’s outside and unbraided, which feels mor appropriate for our life.
Above is a Loquat seeding I found. I'm going to keep trying here, because it's my dream to have one. If this thing lives, it will indeed be a miracle.
Yes, in the background is a failing Azalea. I had this bright idea to clip one from my mother's Azaleas. They are large and proud in her yard, and they've been there for over 30 years. I had this dream that I could migrate some to my yard and make it a family thing. Like, we'll pass the Azalea torch or something, generationally.
My mom has beautiful bamboo in her yard, and this is not the same. See, I'm hoping to turn my very small strip of back yard into a forest. We back up to a busy road and have a fence separating us from the sidewalk and road, but I do want nature buffering us from civilization.
There is a leaf on this. all the other ones fell off. It's a wax myrtle that was popping up in our swale. Okay, I'm trying to maintain Palm Coast fancy-level here, because I would normally call it a ditch. It's a ditch, and that's where I found this. So wax myrtle grow all over Florida, and you can use the berries for things, like, wax. Also, it's a good thing to have in my nature-buffer between us and the road/civilization. We're in Palm Coast, so, we're knee-deep in the suburbs, but I need nature.
Basil is my go-to. I really don't use basil for a whole lot, but I do like how it smells, and these were growing from seed by my cucumbers. I didn't want to toss them, so I planted them. I feel confident I won't have a problem with these. The "pot" is from something else. I don't recall. Probably something that never grew well.
I do also have mint in a small pot. I made cucumber, lemon, mint water and saved some mint and rooted it, so I will use that more. Yeah, did someone say Mojito?
There's this man that comes to our house on occasion to offer landscaping for cash. He will leave us with random plants, even when we say we don't have work for him. He left these plants with us. I do believe these are Scotch Bonnets, but only time will tell us for sure. My plant ID app just says that it's a pepper plant, which I knew. So I plunked them into one singular pot, and we'll see what happens here.
Alas, Aloe, ala Aldi. I got this as a small succulent from Aldi some time ago. I'm trying to train the leaves upright. I have skin conditions and I'm looking forward to more aloe to properly tend to them. TMI? It's summer, so people will see, and they will ask. "What happened to you," and my ego gets ridiculously annoyed, because each person is not the only person. It's psoriasis. It's not contagious, and it's not a burn. Although, I did get shanked by a dead maple tree in my mom's yard. and so I also have a big red mark on my leg alongside my psoriasis. Ironically, I helped plant the tree when I was a kid. The tree gave me a last-one for yanking it from its home. The shank mark is still healing, but since my skin likes to attack itself when I have a small injury, it's bright red. Aloe, aloe, come take me away!
Every plant is an experiment. There are two Celebrity tomato plans in this bin. I took some moss off an American Holly from our yard and covered up the soil. We got some rain lately, and I'm hoping this helps. Yeah, no. I don't have any caging around these yet. It think I'll need to do that at some point, no?
Here's my precious, beautiful Redbud tree baby! I do talk to these things, which is why I actually felt grief when the lawn people somehow mowed over a 6' Loquat. This blog is for my journaling purposes, but if you are someone other than me or a family member, you'll be regularly reminded of this Loquat tragedy. This Redbud was from our city's Arbor Day Celebration, I think, one year ago now, and I wasn't sure it would do okay, but it's looking fabulous. She'll be a show-stopper, for sure, and all the town's birds will be fangirling when she blooms and dances in the spring wind. Shiny, Baby, do your thing!!
I got this Arbequina Olive at our recent Arbor Day Celebration in Palm Coast. So yes, I was hoping for a Loquat, but I also had been wishing for an olive tree, so the universe gave me what I needed, you know? I asked ChatGPT what type of mulch to use and it told me "Pine Straw," after I asked if Pine Needles would work and it told me, "No." So I went to Tractor Supply and bought "Pine Straw," only to realize, it is indeed Pine Needles, and my mom's yard has layers and layers of pine needles I could have procured freely. The deal is that fresh pine needles are far too acidic, but like, I wasn't planning to pull green pine needles from trees, a practical human sense of logic that AI just didn't enter into it's response. So I bought them and I have more, but now I know I can just get some from the woods, like any normal frugal person would do.
Olive trees regenerate from roots, even when the top dies. There are living olive trees in Crete, Palestine, and Italy estimated to be 2,000 to 3,000 years old—some possibly older.
These trees have “witnessed” empires rise and fall, making them symbols of resilience, continuity, and ancestral memory.
There was an episode of Scorched Earth in my yard, or something like that, and these white Bird of Paradise were front-and center. With water and rain, perhaps they can succeed. See, I can't figure out how to water properly here in Florida with our sandy sort of soil. Too much, too little? Do it, Bird of Paradise. Be flamboyant and gigantic and reach up over the fence. People will want to see you!!
Here's another Arbor Day tree. It's a Vitex Chaste and it too is a little showy. Too close to the fence, but whatever, whatever. It's almost topping over the fence, and so it knows what to do. I love this plant!
In modern herbalism, vitex is used to balance hormones, especially for PMS, fertility support, and menopause. It supports pituitary function, indirectly influencing estrogen and progesterone. A plant once used to suppress female sexuality is now used to empower it, restoring hormonal balance and aiding fertility.
Vitex becomes a plant of contradictions, seen as a tool of control by patriarchal institutions, but reclaimed for health and vitality.
The fig will be fine. See, I had to complete an emergency care procedure after the last episode of Floridian Scorched Earth, and alas, it's come back to life. It's a rebirth. It's a Phoenix.
Figs are considered one of the earliest domesticated crops, predating even wheat and barley. Archaeological evidence from the Jordan Valley shows cultivated figs from around 9,400 BCE, suggesting humans had a relationship with this tree even before true farming developed.
Figs symbolize not just sustenance, but the dawn of civilization—where humans began to shape nature.
This bee was very busy visiting each of the cucumber flowers this morning. Thank you, bee! I went out there to get a looksee, and I heard the plants buzzing.
But also, there are these blue flea beetles all over, and I worry they'll try to eat all the plants.
I gave the Gardenia some vinegary water. It was old mint, cucumber, lemon water with a dose of vinegar. Why? They look like they need nutrients, and I think they are needing some acid. Yeah, Gardenias drop acid. Hopefully, I'm the only one that reads this. I'm to cringey. So, I gave a Gardenia plant some pickle juice years ago (OMG, the new owners of the home clear cut ALL the trees and plants. Worse than the Loquat tragedy, for real), and the thing LOVED it and finally took off.
So, we do what works, no?
Here's the bee again.
This is a lavender plant. Wait, is that a mushroom in there?
Leaf miners, blue flea beetles. How does one grow things in Florida? What I want to do is make pickles. That's all. Pickles. This is my dream, and this is my first full crop of cucumber plants.
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