The Sprekelia lily, my MIL bought in the bulb section of Home Depot, it's Sprekelia formosissima, Amaryllis family. She got it, a Gloriosa, and a Eucharis grandiflora all at the same time. The Gloriosa looks like it'll be blooming soon too, but no sign of life from the other yet.
The Milkweed was from Mike, I love the giant purple/blue blooms on it, and the leaves are thick and covered with a weird fuzz, it's omega-cool!
I believe he started it as a cutting? Perhaps with a little helpful info from him, I can do the same for you? I had a tough time with it at first, looked like there would be blooms, aphids would attack. Seemed like it was running out of space, but when I tried to repot there were few roots and it would all fall apart. I finally realized it was getting too little sun and moved it into more and it's taking off. The less I go near it, the better it looks, lol.
Critters... grabbing camera and running outside...! Well, not quite yet, but soon.
Recently we had the Lubber grasshoppers hatching, that's always fun. They're cute, but they eat a ton! They're getting few and far between though, pretty soon they'll change from mostly black with red stripes to the red/orange/yellow colors and start walking around in pairs. This time around I spent so much time thumping and picking them off of Brugs and moving them to other plants that I didn't get many pictures of the little ones.
Also been seeing too many widows around for my own comfort lately... yesterday I almost grabbed a huge dark-form brown widow in our driveway. There were 4 small pots really close together, when I grabbed two and moved them, there she was, guarding 3 egg sacks and looking quite upset with me.
Been watching butterflies too, but the ones here now won't stop long enough for a picture. The big orange Sulphur loves the Ixora but flies when I get within a few feet, and the Red Admirals will land and sit on us, but they're camera-shy.
The Mockingbirds are nesting, one of them took my rosemary cuttings for their nest. I wonder if it's the same bird that took the string I had tied to the hibiscus seed pod (along with the pod) last year, the nest is in the same bush.
Lynne
USDA 9b, Heat 10
Bradenton, Florida
