More Plants, Lots of Rain

The guy who mows the yard is going to rip out the sod along the sides of the house, back to the porch and re-sod the area directly in front of the house. They started this on Thursday. They came and cut the grass, and cut the parts for removal down to almost bare ground. They were supposed to show up on Saturday and complete the project. I was so antsy, I could hardly contain myself. I could finally begin plopping this plethora of beauty into the ground and see the transformation take a permanent shape. However, much to my dismay, the rain delayed everything.

Note--the summer is rainy season here. And we love it, and we need it. Sand doesn't hold water, so these little pop up thunderstorms build from the seabreeze that blows in from the Gulf, and it rains almost daily around 4-6 pm somewhere near. I mean, rains! It comes a flood. However, you always, almost, wake up to a bright sunny Florida morning. This June, we've had 0 rain--I mean 0 until the last 5 days of June. Then somehow, we managed to get a whopping 3". That may sound good, but our average is something like 6-8". So, still not great. Anyhoo, the past week, that 3" has come right at the end of June, and as July rolled in, so did a front that has stalled out over us. And with it has come rain...rain, rain, rain. We've had 2 complete days of no sunshine, and 0.5", under 0.25", 2", 4" (and the rain gauge got tipped to the side, so I didn't account for all the rain that day), and no total yet today, but I woke to rain, and it's rained all day and is still raining. So, in under 8 days, that's 10+" of rain. FABULOUS!!!

There's just one problem. The sod farms can't cut sod, which means I didn't get my lawn re-sodded, and this rain would have been great. The worst part, though, (because I could give 2-blanks less about grass) is that my lawn guy has yet to come and rip out the sod, so I can't plant my plants. Boo-hoo. I'm very upset about this, but there's nothing I can do. I just hope that when the rain does clear for a day or so, that it doesn't just stop. And it probably will...the day we get the sod re-laid. Oh well, my lawn guy has guaranteed me that he will at least have the sod ripped out by the time the concrete curbing guys get here on Saturday. Well, it's Monday. He has 5 days counting today. I'm trying not to bite my nails over this. In fact, I clipped them very short to avoid it. --Just kidding, I clipped them because I could not get all the dirt out from under my finger nails.

Ok, so if I can't plant plants, I can certainly go get more. Dear Mom and Dad visited this weekend, and if there's one thing my Mom and I know how to do, it's garden and shop. So, we garden shopped!

Here's the list to add to the other one:

Princess flower
Firecracker plant
Jatropa
Carrie Mango tree (yes, a tree and it had a mango on it!)
4 Allamandas (1 just wasn't enough)
2 Thryallis
Coral Porterweed
Native Gallardia (that's yellow blanket flower--or ditch weed according to my cracker friend Kenny)
Salvia, pink
Diamond frost (I have no idea why, because everyone has some, I guess)
2 Big hanging begonias--for the shade gardens
Bronze fennel--host to the swallowtail butterfly)
Chocolate mint--I don't know how, but I killed mine last year
Lemon balm--I'll wish I hadn't; it spreads to the point of being invasive
Peppermint--same reason as the chocolate, except there's a story here for another post

Wow! That's it? Ok, well, I thought there were more. Sorry, it's raining and I can't take photos. Perhaps, when the rain breaks.