Good Morning all! Yes, another school year has begun. TCS was nervous so he went on the bus and I raced over to the schoolyard to meet him. He was not completely thrilled with his new teacher (the school no-nonsense champ) and I was completely thrilled. Many of his friends are in his class so I think he will do fine. I had a case of the "poor me"s this week for a few days, and then I got sick, so one was probably leading to the other. Better now, and, as Mary says - that bittersweet time when you have freedom and don't quite know what to do with it! We spent last week preparing for the Perth Fair. TCS made an Inukshuk, some bread, a rice crispie pumpkin, two flower entries and an entry into the Large Vegetable contest. He came second for bread and third for the Inukshuk, for a total of $6, and second in the Large Veggie for $15. But the big thing is that there is a draw for a bicycle for all kids who enter, and he was the winner! How thrilling is that for a seven year old??!! I managed first place for Hostas and Hens and Chicks, two thirds for tomatoes. Friday I took Adrian and a friend to the fair for the day. The weather was wonderful and the place was absolutely jammed. I managed to keep them from consuming a bunch of sugary junk, and bought them ride bracelets so they could go on every child-sized ride three times! I had a splitting headache by the end of the day so I think that is where my funk and upset started. All of your photos are great! Deanne, my Sweet Autumn is still just teeny buds, but I do have pets who drink out of the fountains and birdbaths. (Out of the birdbaths, ugh!). Mr. B. could be the next Bill Gates and support you all in luxury, Kathy! Glad to hear you are feeling better now. Would you like to live and garden in those hot and dry conditions? Well, the wedding sounds like one to remember. This is the stuff of hilarious family stories generations later! DD went to a wedding this weekend where 84 of those who said they were coming didn't show. Imagine RSVPing to something that important, special, and not to mention costly, and then not show. How rude. Gee Martie, too bad about the herb dream collapsing in a cloud, well, a wave of swamp. Is there any other place to locate this? It sounded like such a good idea....And "Hi" to BooToo. Reminds me of Marie's kitty Metoo. And speaking of Marie, hugs to you today, I'm thinking of you, and a Reed walk will figure prominantly in my schedule for the day. And hugs and best wishes to Woody, who has a long row to hoe these days. Outdoor work today will consist of moving the back lawn and spraying my illegal cache of Weed Out on the new invaders from the park. I am not sure what I'll do when my stash runs out. At least with the Spite Fence no one can see me performing the dirty deed....Also going to paint a baseboard (the JJob; I'm doing one each day), make some cookies for TCS, and give the dogs a spa day (they have such short little hair that the whole grooming thing takes about a half hour including nail trimming). Then, like Maagie Muggins, tra la la I don't know what I'll do tomorrow! Cheers, Julie

Looks like the seedpods and foliage of Stephanotis florabunda, the "Wedding Flower." This plant is an ornamental vine which has waxy, white flowers about one inch across and two to three inches long, very fragrant, which are used routinely by florists for weddings. Each individual flower retails for two to four or five dollars, depening upon the region of the county. The flowers grow in clusters of up to 20, and are followed by milkweed like pods with seeds exactly as shown above, with the silk parachute. The plant is a rampant vine with glossy, waxy green lives, and will climb up, by twining, almost anything. It can take minimal or no frost (I believe it is a zone 10, but perhaps could be a zone 9). It is grown as a landscape plant in frost-free or nearly frost free places -- Florida, California for sure, probably in parts of Texas and possibly Arizona. I think it's native to Africa or Madigascar, but I'm not positive. Whatever you have, it's definitely in what used to classified as the Asclepiadacea or Milkweed family, now part of the Dogbane family. If it's not a stephanotis vine growing in a tree, could it be a stephanotis vine someone trained to grow AS A TREE FORM? This is quite commonly done with wisteria, and someone about a mile away from my house has an orange trumpet vine trained to a standard form, with about an 8 foot tall, foot in diameter trunk topped by a large ball of foliage. They prune the top pretty severely every year to keep it from getting out of control. Stephanotis is my best guess. If not that, some other type of tropical tree related to milkweed.

Taking the clue from all your experience, I went out at first light (I've been up since 4am) and began moving my hosta beneath trees and shrubs which could give some form of protection. Also up against the fences which have vines growing on them. It won't keep all the damage away, but the rare and beautiful I do hope survive any onslaught which we might receive. It is not hot, but the humidity is very high, there seems to be a slight sprinkling of rain now that I've come inside. Our worst of this is predicted to occur from 4pm to tomorrow morning some time, with predictions of hail as large as baseballs. My DH freaks out when the word "tornado" is mentioned, and I guess that is part of the weather pattern. At least this time it isn't happening when they have a sailboat race down the Bay to Dauphin Island and boats get dismasted and such as that. Or the Fairhope Arts And Crafts Festival weekend when everybody runs for cover from the hail. I cannot wait for April to sigh and step aside, and along comes pretty little May..... ....but May is full of primises. She can't keep em fast enough for some. But along comes June .....and then....for everyone, I hope it will be a time when JUNE IS BUSTIN OUT ALL OVER.... Isn't that a great song? Here is a link that might be useful: June is bustin out

One of my favorite ornamentals is Golden Guinea vine, which has a growing habit more like a bush than a vine. It is very manageable, it will not get out of control, and it produces cheerful yellow flowers (which unfortunately do not last long). You might also think about a fruit tree, maybe a pomegranate or Gold Kist Apricot. Pomegranates grow exceptionally well in Southern California and produce attractive fiery-orange blossoms and attractively-shaped fruit. Even for someone who doesn't like eating pomegranates, this could still be a tree to consider purely for ornamental use. Pomegranate trees can tend to grow very bush-like though, and sometimes become overgrown, but they can easily be cut back. I mentioned the Gold Kist variety of apricot because it will still be an abundant fruit-producer with the lack of chill hours in your climate. You could also plant a seedless Satsuma tangerine tree. These don't get very big. The flavor can be variable though, depending on environmental factors and age of the tree (don't be disheartened if the fruits taste watery and bland the first year, the flavor really improves after many years). These are great for snacking and effortless to peel. A lemon tree is always nice to have too. What about planting a few rose bushes? Or if you really hate thorns there are some beautiful varieties of Camellias and Tree Peonies.