I'm in upstate N.Y. right now so no photos to share but I sure am enjoying all the pretties that you all have blooming. I'm really loving the Blood Lilies ... I might have to try growing one of those at some point, I especially like that they can be grown in containers!

I removed a "dwarf" Poinciana tree at the beginning of the year; realized this wasn't going to remain a dwarf and there just isn't room for a large tree in that spot. I loved the blooms; I didn't mind the spent flowers; it was the seed pods and it seemed that a good number of them sprouted. It was constant work picking those things up.

Elfie, I know it sounds biased but yes those volunteer seedlings could really be annoying (except if they are plumerias) My oak tree gives me seedlings once in a while and boy are they hard to pull.

Caught the sunrise this morning....

Red sky in morning....we could use what that signals. Still dry.

raining right now

Lovely sunrise photo Hetty! We've been very dry over this way ... need rain badly.

Thanks for sharing the sunrise Hetty, I get up early on weekday to go to work and take a quick peek at my garden.

We had a nice heavy shower an hour or so ago, but it only lasted about 10 minutes. Seems typical for this spring here. While Tampa had a 6in. surplus of rain for May, Sarasota was 4in. in deficit.
I'm enjoying wave after wave of blooms on my Passiflora quadrangularis. Sadly since the mango tree it is climbing over is no longer blooming, its flowers don't seem to be getting pollinated.

The cartoon flowers, tall gangly sunflowers. The one on the right, with many smaller flowers is the one I 'pinched' about a month ago. It didn't deter it one bit from getting way too tall, but it did make more flowers. For height reference, the steel bird feeder in the picture is 7ft. tall.

Elaine, Love the Passiflora but WOW, those Sunflowers are so pretty ... and sooo tall!

Yep, the flowers are nice, Lin, but they're not really decorative since the stems are so long. If I try this again next spring I'll find a better spot for them.They caught a gust of wind while they were wet a few days ago, and I came out to find them all lying over at a 45deg. angle. Propped them back up but a couple would not stay put so I lopped them off and put the flowers in a vase on my patio table.

I'm curious to see if the cut off plants put up new side shoots and bloom more. I did give them a little more fert, too figuring they've probably gobbled up most of the nutrients in that bed growing so tall . . .

both the Passiflora and sunflowers look good.

Seen while waiting in the drive thru of Starbucks. Always good to see the native anoles instead of the Cuban ones.

for the little green guys! Hey Melanie, lookit what I found in my raised bed last night! They're chowing down on my fennel plant so they probably taste like licorice. The birds are passing them by, including a whole family of blue jays!

Woo hoo, Elaine! I've currently got twenty-some that I'm raising but only one is as big as that. Mine eat Rue but I'm also starting them on organic parsley from Publix. I've used it in the past without it killing anyone. My Rue plants aren't big enough to support that many caterpillars so I improvise.

As for your licorice comment, I like to call Black Swallowtails "Herb-Stuffed Caterpillars" since they eat parsley, dill, fennel, and other things in the Carrot family. I don't understand why birds don't just eat them constantly because I figure they must taste pretty good (as caterpillars go). I'm glad yours are safe. They are the quickest of the Swallowtails to use their osmeterium (stinkhorns) but birds usually don't care about that.

Well, the birdfeeder is about 10ft. away from the fennel plants so the seeds are probably easier prey.

And once the caterpillars get that big, they probably create a choking hazard.

Elaine, Love all those Cat's!

The Black Swallowtails like Queen Ann's Lace also. ( Daucus carota ) We have several patches that come up in the yard in late spring that become NO MOW Zone's so the Cat's can have their fill. I just put stakes around them to remind everyone not to lead their horses there either. Make's a pretty flower too if it can get that for without being devoured by the Cat's.

MJ, where exactly are you? I've never seen Queen Anne's Lace in Florida but the ISB Atlas shows it is present in several counties: http://www.florida.plantatlas.... I've been trying to locate some native host plants for them like Mock Bishopsweed, Spotted Water Hemlock, Water Cowbane, or Rattlesnake Master. A lot of them grow in wetlands though, so not necessarily something I could plant in the yard.