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May 2025 Palm Coast: Stuff in the Ground for Posterity and Beyond


 Lavender


I planted some lavender in this pot about a year ago, and this is all I have from it!

Loquat (Noquat)


Our lawn people somehow mowed our loquat tree, which was like, five feet tall. I really can't figure out how it happened, but I was incredibly sad. There is a loquat up the road along our sidewalk and I found a disrupted seedling and made an attempt. I don't know why it's so difficult to get a loquat.  If you have loquat seedlings, I will take some--pay for them. I want a loquat. 

Cucumbers


I learned recently that we changed to hardiness zone 9B about two years ago, which is super wild, because a few years before that I learned it wasn't 8B, but it was 9A, so is climate change a hoax or nah?  Anyway, I'm really, really wanting cucumbers to pickle, and I don't have the greenest of thumbs. These cukes are struggling in the good ol' 9B Florida heat.  I had a few mushrooms in there and thought it was some sort of tragic sign of the soil, but apparently, it's a good thing. Mushrooms are a sign of good organic matter in the soil, and they can even help distribute water. 

Tomatoes


What kind of tomatoes are these? I don't recall. Celebrity? I'm trying it.

Money Tree


This is my money tree. Other shoots died after our cat Scooter tried to eat them. He eats all the plants. So I have this outside.

Redbud


This is a redbud tree I got from Palm Coast Arber Day celebration in 2024. Lookin' good. It's alive!

Vitex Chaste


This is a vitex chaste we got from....Palm Coast Arbor Day celebration,  I think in 2022.  Yes, it's possibly too close to the fence, but its where it is. 

Arbequina Olive


I went to the big Palm Coast Arbor Day celebration, celebrating 20 years where they were giving out fruit trees.  Much to my great surprise, there were LOQUAT trees, and I was watching the people in the line in front of me walk away with these gorgeous loquats.  Alas, I get to the end and there were none left to give away, but I did walk away with this lovely arbequina olive tree!

Bamboo


I got some scraggly looking bamboo from Fast Growing Trees in 2023. Meh. I like my mom's robust, tropical, thick bamboo, but I only have a few feet of room in my back yard, so this will do, Donkey. 

Fig


This fig came from Fast Growing Trees in 2023, and it was looking so great at the start of spring.  Then two weeks went by before I looked back at it, and that whole side of the yard looked over-cooked and crispy.  It looked the way my hash browns look when I put the heat too high. The fig leaves were all dried and brown, and they all fell off.  There was still some green, so I attempted a rapid resuscitation. I know we shouldn't have used dyed mulch, but it's what I had, so I weeded and watered, then re-mulched. It has some life re-brewing with those pretty green leaf buds, so I'm hoping I saved it from the drought. Luckily, we all played with the rain stick a friend once gave us, and it rained really well last weekend, so I'm thinking we're all okay. 

Gardenia


I have these small gardenia I planted a couple of years ago that are doing very little. At my old house (you can see some photos before 2018 of the beautiful gardenia that was CLEAR CUT WITH EVERYTHING ELSE!!) I used pickle juice to get them going. I have tons of oak leaves and when I was looking up a good mulch for the arbequina olive, I learned oak leaves are too acidic, so, lets put them on these gardenia plants and see how it all works out. 



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