Mental thermals

     I was watching a spiral of birds in the sky yesterday and thought, "I am always trying to catch a mental thermal."  That was on my way back from congested Tampa and I caught my thermal the minute I stepped into my yard.

     The first cassia bloom has popped and by next week the shrub will be cloaked in bright yellow flowers.  Cassia is a leggy, willful plant that I struggle to tame.  When it's not blooming, it needs weekly pruning to keep it in check, and whenever I think I can give it a nice upright shape, its teaches me a lesson by toppling over in the slightest breeze, and just when I'm ready to dig it out of my yard forever...it sets buds.  Not fighting fair!

     I regularly post pics of this same massive angel trumpet but I can't help myself.  It blooms over and over again, scenting the night with perfume, and this time, it's so laden with blossoms that only the dachshunds can walk under it.  A few more days and I'll raise the canopy but for now...ahhhh!

     I cautiously repotted my stanhopea, afraid of damaging an orchid that is a sure thing but this little shoot poking out of the side of the new fiber basket is exactly what I want to see.  Stanhopea is taking over its new home.

     Alas, citrus greening (http://www.crec.ifas.ufl.edu/extension/greening/index.shtml) is claiming my little trees.  I already cut down the sweet orange (no longer sweet) and the underperforming tangelo was next on the list.  I only planted this grapefruit for Mike but I still hate to see it go, but more than anything, I will miss my lemon trees.  A friend suggested this would be a good time to add Mexican avocado to my yard and eventually buy resistant citrus as it becomes more widely available.  Sigh...

     I've never had such a tame group of chickens so I was surprised the first time the babies walked into the house.  The older hens act like this threshold is a force field but not the young'uns.  I always gently shoo them back outside because sweet as they are, they can't be potty trained.