Orchids

I got two flowers in the orchid that I put outside in the tree! The poor thing looked dead after going through Hurricane Wilma but it is giving me beautiful flowers.

Don got me a beautiful Vanda for Valentine's and I love it. The ground orchid I got at Mount's plant sale is blooming too. The flowers are small, orange color and very pretty. I also got two other ground orchids that are ready to bloom. I can't wait to see what color they are.

I also got two more orchids inside. I bought them to give them as presents and I kept them for myself.

Chrysalids

We have been releasing two Monarch butterflies every day. The kids love them because they stay in their hands for a long time. We have some more chrysalids and caterpillars. The Monarch's chrysalid is green, like a jade. They really look like gems, with specks of gold. We also have a pink chrysalids. I have been trying to research if it is a Monarch too but I have not been able to find information. The caterpillar was very similar to the Monarch but it had 3 sets of horns and the stripes were different. We are hoping it is a different butterfly.

Update: June 1st, 2006. I think I know what the other caterpillar/chrysalid was. A queen butterfly caterpillar, Danaus gilippus. A very close relative of the monarch. It is brown instead of orange. We gave some chrysalids to Hailey and Andie so we never saw them open.

Planting

This morning I went to my yoga class and then to my sister's to help her plant some stuff. We could not do much because it was too sunny but I was able to weed a little in the front, cut back the sweet potato vine and put more soil in the planter and we planted one hydrangea, one golden dew drop, one firespike and one Potterweed in the bed by the window in the back. Right now they are in shade all or most of the day so they should be fine. The plants in the new bed in the front look good.

When I came home I weeded some of the front beds and mulched the Philodendron Xanadu. I am tired but I am happy I was able to accomplish something.

The mommy bird is back!!!

The mommy bird is back in the nest!! We are so happy about that. We also saw the daddy dove when he brought food to the mommy. We think that is what he did. He flew to the nest, put something there or gave something to the sitting dove and flew away.

Rescue

I put the nest back in the palm tree. I picked the eggs with a spoon and I am hoping the dove will come back to take care of them. They are so perfect!

Nest

I can't believe it happened again. The bird nest fell again. It had 2 little eggs. There is a family of small doves (I think Mourning dove) that live in our garden and this is the second time one of them makes a nest in one of the palm trees and it falls. Last year it was in the back and this year in the one by the front door. I guess the mommy dove doesn't know that those palms are self prunning and shed their leaves. This time it must have been the wind or another leave falling. She had been sitting on the nest for a long time and just this morning I showed it to Titi :-(

Last year we put the eggs back in the nest but the dove never came back so I guess there is nothing we can do.

Repotting

I finally had time to work in the garden. We were away for the weekend and I didn't do anything with my plants. This morning I repotted some plants. The Passiflora subarosa vine, Aristolochia fimbriata and Belamcanda chinesis I got from Joanmary and the Bird Pepper, Capsicum annum var. glabriusculum I got from JoanM. Also the Key Lime I got from wannarun. I also put on the ground the Four o'clocks I got from chippi.

I also weeded a little.