The Good, The Bad and The Buggly

Good news, the blue/purple lagerstromia speciosa tree I planted last weekend has new leaves.

 Day three after planting with new leaves appearing.

One week after planting  the leaves are larger and plentiful.

Well now for the bad news, I can state that these are the fatalities of the great flood I had in April.

Three of my clerodendron quadriloculare have succumbed to flooding of their planting bed.  I will replace them in a few weeks time.

This photo shows what it was like when times were good.

Now all that is there is a lone shrub missing its three companions.

And now for the buggly: these Franginpani (Plumeria)moth caterpillars have taken over several of my Frangipani trees. I am sooo tired of knocking them off that I have actually given up on this tree.

They do give me the creeps and even though they are colourful and considered pretty (YUKKK) they do defoliate the trees in no time.  Good thing they do not kill the trees. Wishing all my gardening friends around the globe, a great weekend in the garden!

Garden Blogger's Bloom day June 2011

 I am still enjoying my lagerstromia speciosa  or Pride of India . It is now in full bloom.

 And guess what? I went out and bought myself a blue  Lagerstromia . It has lost all its leaves due to the disturbance but there are some small shoots coming out on the branches. Whoopee!

 My ever faithful cattleya  orchid with four blooms on it. I plan to divide it into three plants when it has finished blooming

 Hello friends and welcome to Garden Blogger's Bloom Day where folks around the world show what is blooming in their  garden  at this time. To see more gardens please take a stroll over to Carol at May dreams garden.

My Jamaican rain tree (brya ebenus)  fell during the storm (Tomas)last year, I got the car to help pull it up earlier this year. It was staked and during the rains we had a few months ago it fell AGAIN. So last weekend  I got the car and pulled it back up and it was staked  AGAIN. Yesterday morning I glanced across the field to see how the tree was doing. I looked  and looked, rubbed my eyes a few times and SHRIEKED "where the hell is my tree?" My garden helper looked at me, I asked him if he knew what had happened to the tree we staked up last weekend and he answered no. So I quickly jogged (I did) over to the spot and found the tree lying on the ground AGAIN.  The stakes weren't properly placed and the wind had blown it down. I went and brought the car down and to my surprise my garden helper had already pulled it back up by himself and re staked it AGAIN. This time we added an additional stake for safety. I checked this morning and the tree was still standing. I don't really know how much more of this I can take!

Blooming trees and fruits in season

Nestling among the greenery one can see a flash of pink . It is the Pride of India Lagerstromia Speciosa  now coming into bloom. This is the second time it has bloomed since I planted it  several years ago.

 A closer look at it. This is a Crape myrtle  tree and it is also called Queen's flowers.

 My pink cassia has been in bloom since last month .

 The Royal Poinciana, delonix regia or Flamboyant,  is now peeping out here and there.

 Mangoes are still young and will be ready in another 4-6 weeks.

 Avocados, known as Zaboca and pear in some of the islands will be ready hopefully around August. I just love this fruit! Do you know it makes a great ice cream?