THE VENERABLE HILLBILLY ORCHID AND OTHER JULY STUFF

Mid- July seems to be the favorite time with just the right conditions for my oldest Orchid. It is a Dendrobium. It was given to me round six years ago when it was just a small plant.

I tied it to the bark of my Avocado tree with some twine and the roots attached themselves. It has been there ever since surviving hurricanes and freezes. Every summer it comes alive with purple blooms emerging from the canes.

Being a Orchid novice I put it's picture on the Garden Web Forum where a fella from Australia identified it as a long cane Dendrobium. He did not know the name as there are so many Dendrobium Hybrids.

I decided to name it my Hillbilly Orchid from a line in a favorite Hank Williams Jr. song. It seemed appropriate as the line from the song goes," he never called me by my name just Hillbilly".

Here is the link to the Hank Williams, Jr song video. Check it out fits in about right for these times we are livin in.

http://video.yahoo.com/watch/2043099/v40129884

I also got another mid-July surprise from one of the Orchids that was given to me from a Freecycler last year. This guy was identified to me by another Orchid fella as a Brassavolla Orchid after I posted it's picture.

This is the first time that it has bloomed since I got it. Several folks that know about Orchids told me this type needs lots of bright light . I was always kinda hesitant to expose it to the intense sunlight here as the sun here quickly sunburns plants. But I took their advice and apparently this orchid loves the sun here evidenced by its new blooms.

After looking at the delicate blooms and some further research I was able to identify it as Brassavola Nodosa also called the Lady of the Night Orchid. It's blooms give off a perfume fragrance in the evening hours, hence the name.

This Orchid is native to Mexico south to Central America. It was susposed to be the first Tropical Orchid to be brought back by ship to Holland in the year 1698.

Other new blooms for mid-July in the sandpit here is the Butterfly Flower. I picked up a packet of seeds for this Parennial and planted a couple back in April.

This one is up and blooming now in the garden. It is actually an Asclepias Tuberosa for those so inclined although it didn't state that on the seedpackage.

It's common name is Milkweed. It didn't say that on the seedpack either. I suspect this was on purpose seeing that most folks wouldn't purchase Weed seeds. Them advertising fellas got it all figured out.

Whatever the name it is a kinda neat plant with golden- orange blooms that seems to be pretty rugged. The Milkweed is susposed to attract the Monarch Butterfly but I haven't seen any on it here but there have been other Butterflys on the plant's flowers.

For mid-July the Florida State Butterfly is the most prolific at the sandpit.

It is the Zebra Longwing which seems to like my wild Lantana bush the best.

The Lantana bush I dug up in Jacksonville and brought back to the sandpit. It is pretty much carefree except for some pruning to keep it inline and not growing wild.

Lots of folks see the Lantana as invasive but I have never had a volunteer spring up from this plant. It is wild and produces seeds which the birds like. It covers itself with flowers and has one type of butterfly or another on it most of the day.

That's the mid-July ramblings from the South Florida sandpit where it is now hotter

than a June brides featherbed { as they say in the south }.

Oh yeah, Almost forgot it is now time to start some Tomato seed. I figure one seed every week from now till September will give a good staggered planting. That gives them about six weeks to germinate and get up to planting out size when September rolls around.

I am going to start some heirloom Jubilee yellow Tomato this week. They go back to 1943 and I figure to give them a try this year. I plan on putting them in the ground instead of a container this season to see how that will pan out. Yes I know that is tempting a hurricane to strike for sure but I will keep my fingers crossed.

--SANDDUNE--

WELCOME BACK

---CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE IT---

One of the noticeable effects of the Florida big freeze in January was that it took out all my Butterflies. I had them visiting everyday in the garden then after the freeze nothing.

I was real happy to see this female Monarch show up on my Mexican Sunflower blooms.

How do I know it is a female? Cause the males have two large black spots on their back wings.

I have really learned a lot about my resident butterfly's and can identify several on sight now.

As a reward for my learnin' this butterfly even posed a while for me to get her picture taken. Another sure clue that she is a female.

It seems like the long extended January freeze here in Florida has really done a lot of damage within the state.

The Governor here Charlie Crist sought a federal disaster declaration for 67 county's. The Florida crop damage is still being assessed and won't be known until March or April. It is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions.

That wont help the average gardener who lost their plants unless you had them insured. In Florida there is over three billion in insurance coverage on crops and 831 million coverage on nursery's. The losses are still being added up.

But besides the damage to the plants here the wildlife has taken a big hit also.

In the Everglades the South Florida authorities have documented 70 North American Crocodiles killed by the cold.

Also 60 Manatee's were found dead from the cold . When the water gets under 68 degrees they experience cold shock that can be fatal.

Across the state over 4,500 green sea turtles washed up on the beaches . When the temp gets below 50 degrees the Turtles go into shock and start floating. The good news is most of the turtles were rescued by the Fish wildlife Conservation Commission and volunteers. They were thawed back out and released .

The fish population was hammered also with fish floating up to the surface days after the freeze. It has killed so many Snook here that the FWC has closed the fishing season on Snook until September when they will reevaluate if it will reopen. Many other Fish were also effected in the state.

The Freeze in January has also killed quite a bit of living coral on our reefs ex specially in the Keys. Our Florida barrier reef is the only living barrier reef in the United States and a priceless treasure.

The weather has caused losses to a lot of folk's throughout the state as well as to our wildlife and reefs.

But there are signs that things are coming back slowly.

Many of the folk's in the gardening blogs that I read indicate they are replacing the lost plants and starting afresh. A good indicator of renewal.

Here in my own garden I found this Lantana plant blooming . After the freeze its leaves turned purple and I thought it was done for but it is back to being green again and is now blooming.

And the butterflies that disappeared are starting to return. Hopefully a positive sign. Welcome back.

---Sanddune----

PROJECTS UPDATES

Status report from the gardening projects front line.

The Lantana bush that I brought back over Mothers day from Jacksonville, Florida is covered in blooms. It attracts a white color butterfly here.

As for the seed trial from the Desert Rose they have not germinated as of today. I am giving the seeds heat and moisture and keeping my fingers crossed. As with most plants they require patience.

The lawnmower repairs are slowly proceeding. After waiting for my initial epoxy patches to set up and dry I reinforced them with another layer of fiberglass cloth and epoxy.
Today I painted the deck and the underside of the mower deck with rusty metal enamel primer.



The primer went over the epoxy sealed holes in the metal.

This is probably a temporary fix because the rust will return eventually but the idea is to give the mower hopefully one more season of hard use.

As you can see the rust damage was pretty extensive to

the deck of the mower.

The repair is not that hard just time consuming having to wait for one step to dry before making any further progress.

The primer is drying now and after it does I figure I can use up a lot of my old half used cans of spray paint to paint it final coat.

After that if it will start I can finish mowing the yard with my multicolored mower.----sanddune----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------