We've had nothing, even though the radar showed a huge mass of rain right offshore of us. It has gone away rather than blowing on shore so who knows?

Maybe if I get out there and feed my orchids it will then rain and wash away all the fert. That usually works well.

Finally saw some rain at my house! It didn't rain very long, but it rained hard, so maybe it'll do some good. For weeks now, I've been watching the rain bands go around us, so I'll take whatever we get!

I think that is what I should have done, Elaine. Instead I moved them all out further off the deck so they could get a little rain. I must have jinxed myself, because the rain blew right by without a drop! My kind of luck!

Maybe tomorrow will be the lucky day for all of us.

We just saw our fox. Nekked as a jaybird! They look so strange that way. They molt this time of year but the 1st time I ever saw one that way I was freaked out thinking it was diseased or had mange. I was worried our dog might get mange from going in the yard where it had been. I Googled & learned they just plain molt like that in the summertime. Sure looks odd though.

Ann, that is so interesting ... I had no idea that Foxes molted!

According to others in my house, it rained twice this morning. I slept right through it. Must have been a good rain, though. When we were watching the Rays game, it was on the MLB channel so it wasn't the local announcers (who know our weather). The one was saying how he woke up about 4am and heard what he thought was a water leak in the hotel. Then, he realized it was just raining that hard.

Lin here is a thread I started with photos of the fox. No photos today as it was moving fast & the FedEx guy came which spooked it.
The thread "Red Fox" in Gardening for Wildlife forum


From:
http://www.thefoxwebsite.net/e...
Whilst the adults moult out their old coat in the early summer, the growth of the new coat is not completed until the early autumn. This is when their coats look at their best, and is why most foxes are hunted for their furs in early winter.

From:
http://www.david.element.ukgat...
Foxes do moult naturally during the summer months and this may lead the observer to erroneously believe that a healthy animal might have been infected with mange. During the autumn the thick winter coat will grow and moulted foxes will then achieve their physical peak prior to mating.

Has everyone looked at the radar? Hillsborough County is giving out sandbags due to all the rain we've gotten and will be getting.

Meanwhile, my plants did pretty well while I was gone on vacation. I tried really hard to be good about deadheading my Salvias a while back. And I was also concerned about my hummingbird feeder going empty or bad while I was gone. I took one look at my Salvia 'Saucy Red' and figured the hummingbirds were fine without the feeder.



Salvia 'Amistad', with backup Pentas, doesn't look too bad, either!



Blanket Flowers make me happy!



Still a little bloom left in the Liatris spicata.

Your butterfly garden is looking so pretty, Melanie. Nice growing! I think I bought sub-standard Pentas - I never, ever see butterflies on them. I'm going to look for some of that nice Salvia, too. My butterflies mostly stop on the porterweed and the infamous Teasing Taunting Giant Swallowtail still drops by the little citrus tree right outside my window every day or two. She even lays an egg once in a while although something eats them before I ever find them. Geckos?

I watched the radar all day, and that big blob of rain has been hanging out in the Gulf and creeping towards us, but never made it. I hope it makes a little bit of rain for us tomorrow, at least. I'd hate to have to turn on the sprinklers! Not to mention dragging out the hose to spray the orchids . . . They got nicely dried out today, even though it was cloudy and muggy all day. Nice breezy weather when there's a big system out in the Gulf.

Looking great Melanie. Wonderful nectar plants in your yard.
We haven't gotten a drop of rain from that big blob despite dire predictions. All the action from it has remained south of us. I'm with Elaine hoping we get some precipitation from it before it disappears. It's been awfully nice having lower temps though!

It has rained all night friday night here, all day saturday, rained all night and is still drizzling this morning. We needed this something bad. Ive been filling the hummer feeders this morning, their flowers are sure dropping with the rain.

And yet we didn't get a drop Friday or Saturday. This morning it has been "misting", at times heavy misting, but at no point was it such that you could see it hitting in the bird baths. The rain gauge doesn't even look to have registered a trace. The sky is lightening now; I sure hope it isn't over. I'll take ANY moisture no matter how wimpy.

I'm thrilled you got a good dose Pam. I know Tampa area has probably had more than they want.

I had been thinking this is just what you ordered last week. I cant believe your so close, yet so far I guess with this rain.

plantladylin said:@flaflwrgrl Ann, LOL we wondered if we were taking on more than we could handle with a new puppy but we've both mellowed with age and don't let stuff overwhelm us anymore. We moved on May 1st and we're pretty much settled now. Yes, Toby came from the same breeder in Tennessee where we got Bo. We debated whether we should get an older puppy of 5 or 6 months of age (Bo was 7 mos. when we got him). We weren't sure if we had the time and energy for an 8 week old but Toby stole our hearts. He quickly became a part of the family and we are truly enjoying his "puppiness". He has the typical friendly, Golden attitude and it will be fun to watch the changes as he grows. His potty training is going great; he had a couple of accidents the first day, luckily on the tiled kitchen floor so it was easy to clean but those couple of instances were to be expected with us getting used to a little puppy and him getting used to his new surroundings. We got the timing down right away and we're training him by going in and out the same door each time. When we put his leash on, he now heads directly to that door and back when we return ... he's learning fast. So far, it's been a lot easier than I imagined. The first two nights he yiped, yelped and howled for half an hour to 45 minutes before falling asleep in his crate but we knew it was because of the unfamiliarity with his new surroundings and being away from his litter mates. Bo was very nervous and didn't know what to think of the little one, he kept going and looking at him and coming back and staring at us. We laughed so hard at the different levels and tones of Toby's voice those first two nights but it didn't take long for him to settle in. Bo is being a great big brother, very gentle when they play, it's funny watching him hip hop around so as to not step on the baby! Last night we put Toby to bed at 11:00 and he didn't wake up until 6:00 this morning ... I think he and Bo were both totally tuckered after playing together last night.

Oh what a sweet story on your new pup. Congrats on the new family member.

The forecast showed the hardest rain going north of Tampa with some areas getting as much as 8 inches. I heard it start pouring about 2:40 this morning, but I haven't gone out to investigate yet. We have pretty good rain chances for the next few days, too.

I'm keeping my we get some good rain out of this blob before it leaves us.

REAL rain!!!!! I just hope it doesn't peter out too quickly!

Quit already.

Same here, Ann. We are getting short bursts of rain, sometimes just a spit. It's so frustrating.

Well, it's been raining all last night and today at my house. Flood warnings out and the forecast says lots of rain for the next 5 days. The gardens sure do love it but how's a body to get out and see all the new flowers in the rain? And the weeds love the rain too.

I have a couple large vines in two separate places on the property that I call my moon vines. Haven't been able to see the blooms since they do it at night. Recently, however, they have been slow to close up so I have been able to enjoy them in the morning and actually know they exist. (I say this as the past couple years I haven't been able to stay awake past 8:30pm. They are about 6 inches long and trumpet shaped and are pink to lavender.

Yall talked about shampoo gingers. For some reason I have been calling them pine cone gingers, for obvious reasons. I have a question. Last and other previous years, the bloom was red, now this year they are all green. Why is that?

My ironweed are so tall. 8 feet or better and they are such butterfly magnets. I love it!