Annual update on my Moro Blood Orange. For some reason last year I posted it had only been in ground for 2 years but in fact I planted this tree in January 2017 so it’s actually been in ground for 4 years this year. It’s bearing a lot of fruit this season, maybe 50-60 fruit in clusters. I’ve been pulling one fruit every couple weeks to taste them, they're getting progressively sweeter as the season goes on. I’ll take a pic of one of the fruit cut open the next time I pull one to taste test, but here is an overall photo of the tree holding fruit. Sideways pic of one of the clusters of fruit Evan

It was a GREAT day yesterday at USF. There were loads of vendors (some new ones too) and SO many plants! I sold a lot of my backyard plants, I was very surprised. I got some really great succulents from the guys in our society. I am glad I went to USF last week and got my haul on hoyas right after the vendor brought in a new shipment. I did talk to Tom who supplies USF. He said he supplies several on-line vendors. Also, ALL the hoyas in 5" pots are $7. That is an outstanding price. If you are a USF Bot. member you get a discount :-o If you are into cactuses come see Andrew at our corner.

Patti, Normally poppies only transplant well if they are very small, so your success might depend on how large they are. Vitexes transplant well. I must have done something wrong. The car is loaded (and all the plants actually fit inside it, even with the canopy in there too), the food is made, the door prizes are sitting on the counter for us to grab as we walk out the door, etc., so we're all ready. This is not normal. I don't know if I can function tomorrow morning without having to run around frantically doing last minute things. Tim did ask me if I was going to run out to the garden first thing tomorrow to dig up one more thing that I just thought of. I told him nope, I'm done. I had to work all week on getting stuff done in case we got the rain they said was coming today. So far, no rain, but all the pre-Spring Fling preparations are complete. See y'all tomorrow! Dawn

String Weaver, you need to sit with Shades on the tea thread. The sheer amount of work you're doing makes my head spin. Here's my first goals for my Yardening 2017. I love the "Yardening" term! I've decided to not hide my Fairy Garden next to the wonderful, but more useful-than-beautiful Air Conditioning unit. I am going to place the huge ole concrete birdbath/Fairy Garden at the front end of the Hosta garden. I will be able to see it when I sit under the bird-feeder tree and watch the Purple Martins. People will be able to see it when they come up on the deck to the front door. I won't have to worry about trying to get a lattice screen properly placed away from the A/C unit. If I do get it built, I could always move the Fairy Garden, or not. This is my first task I outlined on the tea thread... ~ I have one - that is one as in "1" - round, exposed aggregate, 20" diameter paver to move to a new spot in the hosta garden. It will have to be leveled, then the birdbath base, now the Fairy Garden pillar, set on it...sometime in June. And I'm dreading it. ~ I want to find a plant an "Almost Wild" rose in the front left garden. It's supposed to be as hardy as the native wild roses here. It's a small, about 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 foot, shrub rose that blooms in spring and fall. ~ I am hoping to plant fewer tomatoes in the South Garden this year; or just top it up with horse maneuvers and let it rest this season. I can stick a few tomatoes here and there in the front yard garden. ~ I am going to try to find someone to hire to help me, once again, set all the huge granite rocks around the two front gardens. The planting areas are too large and I can't get the right hand curves to shadow the left hand curves. I need two or three young, strong, hard-working men for about four days. That's not happening, but I'll continue looking. ~ I will continue to whine and plead about planting Clematis vines along the front deck. I will Beach & Moan until he breaks down and lets me plant them. The only reason I wanted this honking huge front deck, instead of just steps to the front door, was I intended to put five clematis vines all along the front. Now I'm more tired just thinking about what's ahead! I'm going to go finish dinner and dream of completed gardening areas! This is the north side of the house right after the A/C was installed. The birdbath, soon to be unveiled as a plum and green Fairy Garden, is too close to the unit. I think I'll have it placed in the center of the roughly 6'x6'empty curved area in front of the drain hose. There are hostas and violas that fill in this area. Here's that corner of the garden a bit more filled in. St. Francis had a terrible accident during a bad storm and has gone back to Heaven.