bloomin' friday and garden rant

dendrobium orchid

 
Barbados cherry

lipstick pink ixora

white dendrobium orchid

anthuriums

hosta or not a hosta can anyone help me?

Here are some blooms happening around the garden today. I am also not pleased with the recent water rate hike by the government. The rates have been raised by 60% so my water bill at the end of this month will determine the plants I will keep and the ones I will sell. This island is one of the most expensive places on earth to live. This island produces very little and imports almost everything. With this new hike in water rates, this will hike the price of locally produced food, vegetables, poultry, fish and anything that uses water in their production. A trip to the hairdresser will cost more, the price of plants will have to go up and hotel rates will go up in a shrinking economy that depends on Tourism for its survival. Since the new government has come into office they have raised the land taxes, the road taxes and the cost of drivers licenses have been doubled. This has and will impact negatively on the general population, the last straw was the water rate hike. This is a vital service and I consider the rate hike extortion at its finest. The political and financial backlash will determine the future of this present government. We are in for a very, very rough ride.

My happy birthday

I had the curried shrimp with basmati rice and veggies

coconut crusted shrimp with fries my husband's favorite

These youngsters waiting for the big one that never came

the view from the restaurant

Yesterday I celebrated my 53rd year of living. My husband and I had lunch at Champers, one of my favorite restaurants on the south coast of Barbados. It was a cloudy day and we've had some rain earlier in the morning to my delight. The location is one of the best on the south coast. The food was good and very consistent. In Barbados eating out is expensive and hit and miss. The prices were reasonable and the service was excellent. Now good service in Barbados is a rarity to bajans (bay-jans) like me. The visitors say they get good service but when it comes to one of their own, bajans seem to think they should not demand nor give the same service. My motto has always been, I am a firm believer in excellent customer service, I give it and expect to receive it. Cheers to Champers!

Flamboyant season

My flamboyant trees have started putting on their annual show around the garden. I have two reds on my property and one yellow I planted at the entrance to my driveway on my neighbours' land. I have planted another yellow on my property but it is still young and maybe it will flower next year. I plan to plant another two or three around the property when the rainy seasons starts. The flamboyant is also known as the Royal Poinciana, Delonix Regia, and flame of the forest. All around the island you can see flashes of red, orange and yellow along the roads, through the tree tops, in church yards and schools and hotels. It puts me in a good mood and I haven't been in one since my dental surgery last week. Today I had the stitches out so am feeling better and with all that colour in the landscape am smiling from ear to ear :-)). We had some rain last night and more is predicted.

My cluttered shade house

I have been trying to upload this video for the past two days and finally it has been uploaded. This is what my shade house looks like. Many of the plants are propagated for landscaping and for my plant sales. I wasn't able to upload the audio but hopefully I will be able to do so the next time.

what's in season

Malay apple, pommerac, wax apple, french cashew

Pa louis mango no threads the sweetest mango in my garden and the smell is so distinctive

Irwin mango very few threads, and a joy to eat. It is large, very fleshy and has a small flat seed

Julie mango another very sweet mango with soft flesh, I just slice it and scoop it out with a spoon

golden apple, otaheite apple, java plum, pommecythere

star fruit, carambola, five fingers

west indian lime

I will soon be harvesting many varieties of fruit from my garden. Some of them I will make juices, pickles, chutneys, jams and preserves. I have three lime trees that are all heavily laden. I dumped many last year so this year I will to try to sell some to the super market. Will let you know the outcome.

Bloomin' Friday

 

double pink oleander

single pink oleander

yellow flamboyant (delonix regia) I grew this from seed and this is the first time flowering. There will not be many blooms for the first but many more will come in the next few years.

red flamboyant (delonix regia) just starting to bloom

variegated crinum lily

pink crinum lily

pink orchid tree (bauhinia)

nelumbo lotus changeable

cherry jubilee alamanda

It is very hot and it is the beginning of the hurricane season. My garden needs some rain and I hope that it comes soon. This is the time many plants and trees begin to explode with colour. The flamboyant is just beginning to bloom and in another month it will be covered with flowers. As I am writing this post I am hearing rain, whopppeeee my plants will be very happy. Hope it lasts for a few hours or the day. My mind is calm, now that I know my plants are being watered by the gods. Yippeee horraay for the rain! Meems I will now get to work on your rain. LOL

This will make you smile, cry and dance at the same time

YouTube - Centraal Station Antwerpen gaat uit zijn dak!

Spread the joy there is too little today

Another day on the job

Albert Greenberg water lilies
pond before tidying up

pond after tidying up

On Wednesday I went to tidy up the plants in a clients pond, remember the pond where I installed water lilies at the end of January this year? I started at 0725 am and finished at 12.00 noon. It was hot work. I had fertilized them a month ago and I was amazed at the size of the flowers and leaves. I took out 8 medium sized garbage bags of spent plant material. These plants will need fertilizing in another 2 to 3 weeks or so hopefully longer for my back's sake LOL.

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yellow yellow you kiss a fellow

dwarf alamanda

dancing ladies orchids dancing away from this perch

showers of gold , thryallis, (galphimia glauca)

yellow mandevilla

oxalis spiralis

My coreopsis sometimes quite moody, has decided to put on a pretty good show this year. This is an old time favorite for me and is seldom seen and used by local landscapers. They make a lovely tight green border when not in bloom.

Yellow flowers are having a grand showing this month in the garden including this day lily in the day lily bed that has flowered every year for the past 5 years.