Things That Made Me Smile Today

Today was a drizzly day, but unfortunately not rainy enough to give the garden a sufficient soaking.  However, everything's still springing back to life, and the mass of ferns in the swamp behind the garden is no exception.  Every year I go and yank out the switchgrass to keep it from invading upon this bed of ferns, so every year it seems to get fuller to the point of stealing the show from the rest of the garden. 

In other news today, my "crosby's prolific" aloe is blooming with its scapes of sherbert orange, and beneath it blooms my weird little sea urchin-is cactus... well I guess the flower buds haven't opened just yet but they're so big and lavender that i might as well be blooming.

Heres another photo of my new dyckia "red planet" just because I love it so.  I actually saw the similar dyckia "cherry coke" for sale today at the ridiculous price of $89.99, and the specimens were only a bit bigger than this one, which by the way was $5.  Go me!

I thought it was kind of interesting that my aechmea cylindrata that bloomed in January is actually still showing a lot of color all the way in April! 

Since my supposedly cold hardy musa "rajapuri" bit the dust this winter I replaced it with an ice cream banana, which I would have preferred to begin with!  Its cool enough that the leaves have a powdery glaucous coating underneath, but they're also reportedly hardy to Atlanta with mulching and the blue fruit supposedly tastes like custard or ice cream!  I didn't want that rajapuri anyways.

I also found a great deal on a native yellow anise bush, which is perfect for my swampy backyard.  Eventually the evergreen (root beer scented) leaves will form a protective canopy over all of the gingers, which by the way,  happen to be returning in full force!

I'm super happy that everything's springing back to life- my heliconias, gingers, alocasias, passionflowers, thunbergia, gloriosa lily, hibiscus, and even the white bird of paradise's!  The plumeria that rotted at the base seems to have some life left in it too, so I'm crossing my fingers.  Some bonus's today:  The weeping yaupon holly has blooms all along the branches and the firecracker shrub (russellia) is putting out new blooms as if it were already summer!  When life gets busy and stressful, its always reassuring to know that my plants will keep plugging along no matter what... unless of course they die first.