Yippee! It's raining!

Randy: Hate to disappoint you, but those pre-emergents don't do diddly squat against nut sedge. You just have to keep digging it out...and digging it out. Then dig it out some more.

Had some nice rain yesterday and more on the way. It is really getting cold, had to try and cover up my plumeria plants, hope I did protect them from the cold. Suppose to get below 40 and I'm not too happy about that. At least the air is clear and the snow on the mountains really look pretty. I swear my sweet peas grew from the rain we did have. Looks like more rain for the weekend so I better get some containers out to collect some of that magic water. Bad thing about it is the weeds love the rain too and grown twice as fast. Have some brug cuttings I received from N.C. under my grow light and I see some are leafing out so nice. Just hope they all grow for me. I have one plumeria I grew from seed and hope I didn't leave it out in the cold too long. It went under the grow light too.

The really bad thing seems to be if the plumies are too dry when the freezing temps hit. Sounds counter-intuitive to me. Row cover will help. I haven't tried the spray, but have heard it works for some folks. Thankfully, mine are still small enough to go in the greenhouse - though it took some gymnastics to get one of them through the door!

I know Mike, but there's lots of other weeds out there to keep in check so I can see my lovely Nut Sedge!! LOL
There is a product now called Sedge Hammer that does kill it. It's crazy expensive though. You're supposed to use 1/2 teaspoon to 3 gallons of water. Its a good thing that's the mix ratio because a 4 ounce bottle of these little granules costs over a hundred bucks!! I used some this summer on a little patch of it and it went brown in less than a week and didn't come back.

Holy moley, that is pricey stuff!

Kills nut sedge!!! Digging is the only other thing that does.

Well, I ran out and covered my plumeria and all my precious babies. Took care of my critters because it was forecasted to be in the upper 20's, here last night. They survived but the plumeria had some blossoms break off. The guys helped me move her today, into the gh for the winter. The Brug gets to stay outside, but I'm going to mulch it good, and will continue to cover it. Totally forgot to cover the outside fuchsia, but they were deep in mulch and look fine.
While I was at Lowe's today I saw potting soil that has the corn gluten already mixed in it. Boy howdy, is it expensive too!
Now for the next storm.
This is too good not to share even if I don't have a proper photo. I was up at 6:30 am, this morning, and looked out the kitchen window and saw 3 little hummers playing in the second tier of the fountain.
I will send a photo of the fountain where I saw them. It was just barely dawn breaking and these three birds are frolicking in the water. I guess it didn't freeze last night after all. It was a lovely way to start the day, even though I went back to bed with some hot choc.
You can see my poor little bay tree that I need to move too. It's still covered with a sheet. Think I'll let the Bower vine have that corner. BTW, the side of the fountain on the right receives the morning sun.
WIB!
SW

During the storm, I looked across the road and the young filly was kicking up her heels, tearing around the corral, and shaking her mane like crazy. She sure enjoyed that rain. She was pretty muddy, too, so I wouldn't be surprised if she had a roll some time during the day. Fun to watch critters react to the weather.

My birdbaths and hummer feeders were frozen solid till about 4:00 this afternoon.....not a lot of avians frolicking around here today!

My dogs sure love the rain too. That's why they live outside. I sure wish I could have seen the filly, at play KC. I'm sure it was a treat!
ima, now you got me seeing Woodstock (from Peanuts cartoons) and his pals ice skating on the frozen birdbath.
LOL!
Nice visual. Hope it warms up soon for you, ima!
WIB~
SW

SW, that's a GORGEOUS photo!!
Glad I could give you Woodstock---he's good for what ails everyone.
Overcast and much warmer here today; gotta go get leaves cleaned up before the next rain arrives.

Jules that picture is wonderful. What flower is it?

Remember that guy who gives me all the pre-cut flowers. Well sometimes he shows up with potted plants. This is one of them. I think it's a mum? I will have to go look at the tag tomorrow. When it reached me it was a very sad looking plant. So, I deadheaded it, then left it in the gh and ignored it. (It's on an auto sprinkler.)
How about this one. I got it the same way. I love the colors.
Enjoy!
WIB,
SW

Beautiful Jules, they both are!! Wish I had a guy who would bring me plants, especially gorgeous ones. LOL

Yeah, it is nice, but they aren't always gorgeous when they show up here. Kind of like your orchids. You know the one your neighbor asked you to nurse back to health.
Seriously, all kidding aside I am always happy to see a flower, and those were some of the sweeter photos I've taken lately. Then there is this one. I'm not sure what it is. It's Pink!
I feel guilty for having so many flowers still blooming inside the gh, when so many others are under a cold coat of snow. I still have a pineapple and bananas growing in there too. Pretty soon I'll have strawberries too. An embarassment of riches.
I guess I am just so pleased that I have some pretties blooming still. So I hope you don't mind me sharing them.
Enjoy!
WIB!
SW

I wouldn't feel guilty, just enjoy your good fortune. And you're sharing them too! So we can all enjoy them. That is BRIGHT pink. The only color I get all winter is from my orchids. Have 3 starting to spike now. Don't want to even look outside right now. This cold spell has taken it's toll on my plants I'm afraid. I've covered what I could but it's been too cold for too long and things aren't looking well. So keep showing your flowers, I need something pretty to look at.

Would you believe my Lady Banks rose is putting out flowers? Only about 3 months early!

I did have daffodils blooming! LOL

You all have to share your photos too!
WIB,
SW

Loving your flowers. The only color in my garden today, other than brown or black from frost, is persimmons.

KC: That's really unusual for a Lady Banks to be putting out blooms now. Mine usually blooms in February and March at the earliest.

We got some good, soaking rain last night. It's stopped now, but looks like it might start up again. Wish I'd gotten all the fallen leaves up before they got wet....sigh...

JD, they are just here and there, not a real flush of blooms, but I certainly didn't expect them. It's really had a few flowers all year.

On top of that weirdness, we still have waterlilies blooming in the pond!

That's like the daffodils that I get early, and the others are just peeking out. Same kind, some just bloom early. Our freezing rain has started, not big enough to call hail but it crunches when you walk on it. Got all the way to 35 before it started going back down. WooHoo!! Haven't been that warm in a week.

Hope you are all doing well with the rain. It'll take a lot to do any good.......but not all at once.

Got no photos to share today. It was raining and I had to take care of some paperwork.
We have been having gentle bands of rain showers all day. It's warmer too. Still in the 50's at almost 9:00 pm.
We're a little worried about the rain expected tomorrow. Might have to go out and get photos of the water run off. It'll be different.
Stay dry and safe.
WIB!
SW

We had our co. Xmas party last night and a few of us went for a walk on the beach with umbrellas. It wasn't a hard rain and it really wasn't even "cold" outside, either. Very odd.

It's coming down pretty good right now.

KC: I saw a Lady Banks yesterday that had a few blooms on it, too. Very "intriguing" to say the least.

A week ago, I saw a crew trimming some clusters of Palm trees in front of an apt. complex up the street. I didn't pay much attention to the scene, as that's a pretty common sight here with all the palms people have. Someone evidently bought the bldg. and is doing a lot of work on it...which it desperately needed.

Yesterday, I drove by there and saw a lot of people standing in front of the place taking pictures. Whoever trimmed the palms did something VERY cool: They topped the palms and carved Tiki's out of some of the trunks at varying heights. It's really ingenious and looks great.

When the rain lets up, I'll go take photo's and post them.

Thank goodness it wasn't too cold last night. We had to take the big bird for her annual service - late appointment because it takes two of us to carry her crate. When we came out at 7pm it was coming down pretty good, but thankfully not cold - we didn't realize we should have parked by the back door because they lock up the front after 6pm.

Look forward to those pictures, JD.

Rain, rain, Lovely rain...never enough as far as I'm concerned.

Those palm trees sound neat! Will look forward to them too.

How did the appt. go sis?

She's fine. Won't get the test results for a few days, but the vet didn't see any problems. She gave everyone examples of her flying ability, her beak strength, and her good, strong voice. LOL

Oh, my. She was showing off huh?

More like trying to escape! The vet is very kind, slow, patient - he has birds and is a specialist in treating them. But she doesn't like being poked and prodded and knows what's going to happen. I towel her so they don't have to chase her around and get her all upset, but if she gets loose - when we tried to weigh her she didn't like the color of the perch, apparently, and took off. With her big wings in that small room, it wasn't pretty. The vet and his assistant just stand there until she stops. She's not usually that bad, but I guess it wasn't her day.

LOL

Did your cold snap end?

I never like the color of the perch they weigh me on, either....or anything else about it, for that matter.

ROFL! You should see how they react to red fingernails - CHOMP!!!

I don't do scales. Nuff said. Our temp is up to 45, we're having a heat wave. First day our stray in the garage has lounged on the deck instead of on her heating pad. She's loving the sun.

When you called mom and I both just stared at the phone for a minute. They've been out all day, so I gave her our extra cell. Now they're saying they won't be fixed until Tues. or Wed. The last time it was the heat in an electrical box, this time it's a cable, probably chewed by a critter or damaged by the cold. Our park people are looking into changing to comcast and bundling with our cable TV service.

We have had some really sunny days, but today was a little dreary and I think we are going to get some rain. I certainly hope so as the plants (and weeds) really love it. This time of year puts me in a odd mood, so scatter brained and wishing I could stay in bed and pull the covers over my head. Have no idea why it seems so stressful to me.

My sweet peas are growing nicely, and I better have some beautiful flowers in the spring.

We had some lovely rain this evening but, I think it's gone for now.

We had a little rain here earlier this morning, along with a few gusts of BIG wind. Now it's just a little breezy, but I think the rain is gone. It was like a little squall that just blew through. Forecast for now is slight chance of more rain Sun-Mon. Glad DH got the weed suppressant down - it will help some.

Do you have allergies, Pegi? I do and the rain followed by warm temps always causes me problems. Plus the fast moving storms. Pollen alert for tomorrow is high, so I think I'll just do my last minute shopping.

Merry Christmas everyone.