Rain, Oh, Didn't it Rain!

This is our third day of pounding, crashing, flooding rain. And if you have never experienced a South Louisiana rain, there is no way you can know what I am talking about.  We are talking monsoon. Rain coming down an inch an hour.  Rain that fills up the streets, the drainage ditches, the garden, the yard and your shoes.  Drainage is slow in our 6' above sea level altitude, so we live with squishy shoes for several days after one of our rains.

The plants love it if they survive.

The Black Gamecock Louisiana Iris is hanging in there wanting to open. If the weather clears today, it might make it.

This iris is open but wishes it had a raincoat. Poor thing.

Bottlebrush is resting in the camellias. Just as well or the branches might break from the water weight.

The calla just gets more beautiful.

The beans are up!  That vertical stripe on the left is water next to the raised bed.  Can you see why we grow in raised beds?

As an aside, traffic here doubled yesterday because I added marijuana and cocaine to both the blog and the labels. Shows you what is important to my readers. 

Hey, buy my book.

A Practical Guide to Building and Maintaining a Pond

It's on sale for 99 cents right now and will be for a few more days. Better get it now. And then please write a review.

Thanks for the visit today.

Bottlebrush Tree Announces Spring - LOUD

Spring has officially arrived, but most of us have been enjoying our global warming most of the winter this year.  We even have different USDA planting zones now.  I know that before I retired, I was already planting winter gardens in November, not in October because it was just too hot for pretty petunias and pansies, typical winter color in New Orleans.
But yesterday, in a blaze of glory, our Bottlebrush tree announced that spring is indeed here. Might as well have played a 48 trumpet fanfare and announced it to the world.

See what I mean.

Bottlebrush tree

Wake you right up in the morning, won't it?

Oh, if you want pond information, see my website at http://www.pondlady.com

And don't forget to buy my book. Click on the box at the top right of this page.

Thanks for your visit today.

Spring means excitement in the garden

As an amateur photographer and a gardener, I love the spring when new flowers arrive daily. Here in zone 9b, spring comes early most years and even earlier this year.  The first Louisiana Iris bloomed yesterday. Of course, I was out there getting a shot of it.

We have more yellow plants than any other color and before lots of new hybrids, yellow and purple were the two LA iris colors. And this one shows up first this year.

The bees were already in the bottlebrush tree.

More petunias are showing up every day. These were planted last fall.

And a tiny gray tree frog visited in the Asian lilies.

It's foggy this morning, but as it burns off, I wonder what other wonders await in my front flower garden.

Don't forget, visit my website at pondlady.com

to meet pondkeepers from all over the world.

Oh, and my pond how-to book is for sale. 

Click the link at the top right corner of this page.