Shrub Althea

Shrub Althea is known by several common names: Rose of Sharon , Rose Althea, and St. Joseph's Rod. The Scientific name is Hybiscus syriacus, and the flowers show their hybiscus heritage in the structure of the flower. (They look like okra, don't they, and cotton.) My mother and grandmother called them simply Althea, and that is the name I use most often. The lavender usually starts blooming in late July or early August. The double pink follows a few days behind the lavender. This year they were a few weeks later blooming, I suppose because of the drought. I never water them, they have to make it on their own, and they are very capable of tending to themselves. I had read online that the lavender was particularly prone to reseeding but had never seen it in my own yard til about 3 years ago. Now I have two new shrubs  that have come up nearby the mother shrub. I do not consider them to reseed at the nuisance level though and new plants can easily be controlled. 

Altheas can be pruned if they become too large and this is best done in spring as it flowers on new wood, and pruning early won't cut back on the flowers either.

Also, an Althea bush makes an ideal place for a cardinal nest. I have had one several years in mine. They  build a nest about 3 /4 feet off the ground.

Ladies Tresses

One day at the end of August as I pulled into the driveway, I saw a group of these beautiful sparkling white Ladies Tresses orchids (Spiranthes).This is a native orchid of the southeast and other species of this orchid grow all over the country.  Although not common, you can see them sometimes shinning through the grass on roadsides. They do best in the full hot sun. There were 8 in this group and a further check of the yard revealed  11 more , some in groups  within 3 feet of each other, others single individuals. The flower stalks were 12-15 inches tall and the flowers were spiraled around the stem. They are pure white with a green smear in the throat. I have had these bloom on my property before, but never so many. They are so tough. Who would believe an orchid would grow and bloom in the heat and drought of August? That is certainly not the requirements we usually think of for orchids. But Spiranthes knows what  is best for it. After the flowers pass, the leaves emerge and they grow in a fairly flat rosette and have a slight succulent appearance.

Gopher Tortoise

During a trip to Sanibel Island , Florida in July I saw this gopher tortoise grazing along the grassy strip between the paved bike path and the road. Several people had stopped to observe him (her) and one person was attempting to use his bike as a barricade to keep it from wandering out into the road. I doubt it would have done that anyway, because it was clearly there to eat and there was no grass in the road. The interesting thing about this creature to me was it was biting off grass with a vengeance and the ripping grass blades made the same sound they do when a cow is grazing. It was completely unperturbed by the crowd that gathered around it. I suppose it was used to being on display.
Gopher tortoises eat grass, legumes, fruits and other assorted plant materials. The younger ones eat more legumes, probably to increase the protein needed for growth. A typical gopher tortoise needs about 4 acres of territory and may dig several burrows. The burrow may be as long as 48 feet and 3 feet deep. The burrow protects the tortoise from fire, heat , and cold, and predators. They share their burrows with up to 360 different animals (not all at once!). They spend most of their time in the burrow and are solitary except during mating season. They reach sexual maturity at 12-15 years and some reports claim they can live 100 years. (Others say 40 years.)

Rainbow in Back Yard

Late yesterday afternoon we had a rainbow in our back yard. This is a poor picture, but I hope you can make out the outline of it. It goes from the lowest leaves on the oak on the left, over the gazebo and seems to touch the oak in the foreground.
This is the second time I have seen a rainbow in the back yard. The other time it was brighter and in a slightly different place.
Amazing!A special gift, even as on the coast people are waiting for Hurricane Issac.

Shell Flower Creations

While we were at Sanibel Island one day we went to the Community Center and found a group of people making crafts from shells. Some of the items were so exquisite that I would never even consider trying to make them myself (click here to get an idea). Bill Jordan is a real artist, with extreme patience.

 But I was able to make  a passable flower from periwinkle shells. It helped that they had oodles of shells in all colors already sorted to choose from. There are lots of these shells on Sanibel and almost any beach I ever visited but the key is having enough shells so you can choose the size and color you need to make a flower that looks at least somewhat like a flower. The shells need to be all about the same size and color (except for the ones that stand up in the center.)  The center yellow part is ground up shells colored yellow. The flowers are put together with hot glue (use a melt pot to keep from getting too much and having glue string everywhere.) It was fun and the people were all so helpful and interesting.

Here is a real expert working.

Sanibel Island in July

Sanibel Island is a special place to me.  Sometimes I just have to relax and let the joy of it seep in.

 Below is a sample of the shells we found in July. There seemed to be an extra number of small beautiful shells. One day there were a lot of fighting conchs (the orange larger shell on the bottom left), but for the most part the shells were smaller, but maybe more interesting for being smaller. See that piece of Junonia on the left side just above the green thing and 2 cones? Hannah found several pieces, but a whole shell for her is still elusive.

If you want to see a whole Junonia, and learn more about it , you can look here.

Wow!!! I'm Famous!

Well, not exactly. On a recent trip to Florida to visit my favorite shelling place (Sanibel Island) I met my favorite blogger on the beach. She writes the blog I Love Shelling. I have been reading her blog almost daily for more than a year. Her blog is about (what else) shelling on Sanibel, and especially during the winter, I get my sunshine fix from her blog. She came up and started talking to Hannah, EJ, and me and then put our pictures on her blog. The rig you see in the background of the picture of us (scan down a bit) is the one doing the dredging to deepen the inlet between Sanibel and Captiva known as Blind Pass. A giant sandbar had built up out in the water so that the inlet had slowed to an almost trickle. The inlet feeds the waters of Ding Darling Wildlife Preserve and other connecting natural areas. These areas are a favorite birding place for wading and shore birds and almost anytime you can see groups of pink spoonbills feeding there, occasionally you can see Flamingoes. All kinds of herons and ibis are there as well.