SPRING, GLORIOUS SPRING

I know spring is finally just around the corner.  Actually, in normal seasons, spring starts about mid February.  The trees start budding and new growth begins.  Not this year in Florida.  We had six weeks in which the temperature never got near seventy degrees.  I can see all of you out there with your violins.  I know, I know...If I want sympathy I should look it up in the dictionary.  But, we are not prepared for long term cold waves with arctic blasts.  Neither are the sub tropic plants that we nuture most of the year.

One of our favorite plants is the staghorn fern, an air plant. We have three...all close to thirty years old.  They are massive.  In winters past, no matter how much we wrapped them, we came close to losing them.  But they revived each year.

Last fall, we tried something different.  We cut the ropes holding them to the trees in their outdoor abode for two of the three and put them in the workshop.  One we hiked up to the rafters.  It took both of us to do that.  The second was too heavy.  So, we dropped it gently into a wheelbarrow.  The third one we covered.  We had so many consecutive nights of deep freeze weather that we did not uncover it till this week.  Poor thing.  Looks very sad.  But it still has a fair amount of green leaves which means it will "come back."

We attached new ropes to the other two and pulled them up over their boards.  It took the two of us to do that.  They grew during the winter. 

Staghorn ferns are air plants.  They get all their nutrients from the air, although occassionally we feed them an over-ripe banana or its peel.  We seldom have water them, but did so during the winter.

Next we checked the amaryllis, they are shooting up.  Most of the aloe look pretty bad, but they still have green on them as well.  The trees have gotten a late start, but we are starting to see buds on them as.  The pollen drift is also late.  We are now starting to see everything covered in greenish-yellow dust.  Wash the car...in ten minutes, one would never have known!

And, when Woody the Woodpecker starts his mating search by tapping against the metal chimneys and other other metal roof appendages, spring can only be a moment away.  He started on our roof this afternoon.  Good luck, Woody.  Hope you find her very soon.