Not a whole lotta flowers in the yard right now.

How about some winter tomatoes?

I have 13 plants this year - the most I've ever had I think.

Picked the first fruit of the season this morning that was starting to color up. I can't leave them to ripen on the vine because the critters will discover and chew them 😠

Rompe saragüey :

Precious.

The rejected goat is not one of the quads?

Clerodendrum quadriloculare

Four, the 2 little ones are from quads. They are both boys. I left the 2 girls with the mom because they were doing really well. The larger one is from a mom who had twins. Oddly, the mom picked one baby to like and rejected the other one. That is the only time we have ever had a goat reject a kid. We tried to get her to accept him but it became clear she wouldn't. All three babies are doing great on bottles.

I like your Clerodendrum! It was 20F here last night burrrr. Should of moved further south lol.

Mistflowers are blooming in our butterfly garden @ work. I couldn't get a good shot of the flowers, but here's one about to open - they're getting really big too - leaves are maybe 4"!

And my bilbergia is putting out more blooms. They're just beginning to emerge, so not in full bloom yet. I think it may be because of all the rain we've been getting - plus I've been pouring water from our dehumidifiers on the bed as well.

This are some I cut back in Nov. for our Thanksgiving table...

'Cut' is a misnomer, BTW. You can simply pull the flower stems out of the plants, then trim, because they're so long. They last for days too.

I thought I might have killed this Queens Wreath via dehydration but then these purple flowers just suddenly appeared. There is only one leaf on the entire plant.

This one isn’t new today, it started blooming in Nov. They are such pretty winter flowers though.

> carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b > "Mistflowers...." ___ I did not post any, because mine (thanks again, Carol) have bloomed continuously, by reseeding.

> "bilbergia.... not in full bloom yet" ___ Tell them that they will be photographed at end of January.

Jan 21 Commelina diffusa Climbing Dayflower

Jan 27 Rhexia mariana Meadowbeauty

I wanted to add these Jan 27 photos into Jan 19 posting of same, because Houzz reduced that photo so much. But nooo. Nor can delete that posting.

Jan 27 Pseudogynoxys chenopodiodes Mexican Flame Vine

Jan 28 Gelsemium sempervirens Yellow Jessamine /Carolina Jessamine

They were on the ground beneath tall trees. Windy, no more flowers above, I cannot distinguish among vines to photograph.

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Jan 29 I found it :

I was walking behind the pond the other morning. I had been sick for a week and thought it would be good to get out and walk. I smelled something lovely and found a Carolina Jessamine climbing up a tall Southern Red Cedar tree. It was blooming and all abuzz with large Carpenter Bees robbing nectar. I didnt bring any from our old property because I heard its toxic to honeybees and I hadnt seen any here.

I like the Carolina Jessamine, though and I didnt see any honeybees on it. Its still a little chilly for the bees to be out yet.

In a USDA report about Yellow Jessamine and honeybees (Plant poisoning of bees. 1936 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine) : young workers are affected and die soon, whereas older adult bees appear normal. Larvae and pupae die in cells and become mummified, and the colony can be slightly to severely weakened by using it as a food source.

Good information! ♡

Has anyone had success with Bell Peppers or other large Sweet peppers in Florida? Which varieties do you like?

I seem to have have limited sucess with Bells or large sweet frying-type peppers, like Marconi types. These are the peppers we use most and end up buying from the Farmer's Markets etc.

I grow a variety called Sweet Chocolate Bell and Blot pepper which is a small bell pepper. Both of those do okay. Sweet Banana peppers do great here but are smaller peppers. I have done okay with Shishito and Corbaci sweet peppers but they are also a smaller type pepper.

I can't grow peppers at all any more - thrips infect and kill them every time 😕

Chocolate and Purple Beauty are two of the few bells I remember growing successfully, all the others were chiles and frying peppers like Corno Di Toro - which also made great salad peppers