Thanks for all the good wishes, folks, and I really do wish you could come. I thought about putting in a postscript that I don't take pictures: as Ingrid remembered, the camera and I are not good friends. The season of once-bloomers, the time of year, are just enchanting: the maturity, the pinnacle of the gardening year. (August is nadir.) Nik, as it happens I'm a decent cook, though I don't do meat. Care to pay a visit? You might find the garden interesting, in itself and compared to your own growing conditions. We'll probably have things in bloom until the end of May, then the garden will shut down until it starts to rain again in fall. By late summer a considerable portion of the garden looks like a desert: I don't even go there. Lux, thanks. Melissa

hi, Pat, Thank you for the Independence Day wishes and I'm glad to hear you're doing better. I like what you said, Ingrid. I especially love that sentence in the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Because we are all created equal and in the image of our Creator, we have the responsibility to treat each other with respect, knowing that we are all entitled to pursue life, liberty and happiness. Our freedoms to worship God and to pursue our dreams are precious indeed.

LOL,Your post brought a smile to my face!! I hope you have a very merry christmas as well!! Good thing I purchased my seeds early on cause I bet the only thing in my stocking is going to be a huge lump of coal!! LOL That is if I even deserve that, lol.

Toomanydogs, There were many people in the IE (Riverside, Corona, Upland, Ontario, etc.) during the 2007 freeze that lost a good portion of the collections. Jack @ Kimi's Plumeria in Corona even lost a bunch of plumies. in the Freeze of 2007 my patch got to 36 degrees. I met with a plumie friend from Riverside in October who told me that during the winter of 2010 and 2011 had a night or 2 of frost and lost several plants, some lost irreplaceable plumies such as Red Dusk and others that are hard to get like Thai peach from Jungle Jacks (the mother tree in Thailand was destroyed so there was only 1 season where the Thai Peach was available.). So if you value your plumies or have rare irreplaceable ones I would put them in your garage or get a green house to store them in during the coldest winter months. In So Cal the coldest months are typically Jan and Feb, so more to come. You may want to watch your plumies also if they were out in the cold air as it may take a week to show signs of damage like cracking and oozing of black fluid, shriveling, etc. I also check Weatehr.com, Accuweather, Weatherbug, Weather Underground for hourly updates during the night to see what my plumie patch temps will be. Usually my forecasts are pretty accurate as the coastal influence and marine layer help to regulate the temps and keep them more Constant. I think the drier air in the IE makes your temps a bit more unpredictable as you can have clean night skies which lets the heat escape. Hope your plumies are ok and that you have a Happy Holidays.