Over the years the number of winter and summer annuals planted
in my garden has decreased due to constrain in space and time. My gardening style has changed, I now concentrate
on year-around plants like bromeliads, ferns and others. I do have small areas in the garden that I
like to keep some color all year, so in spring and fall, I change the plants that
are more appropriate with the South Florida weather conditions.
May is usually the time to plant the summer annuals, this
year I am a little late with my planting, Covid-19 has thrown all the schedules
out the window. I took out all the Inpatiens
last month and today I replaced them with Mexican Heather. These flowers are great for the hot Florida
summer and attract butterflies and bees.
The Purslane is supposed to be summer annuals, but these were planted a year ago and are doing as good as new.
The ground orchids were planted in this corner of garden several
years ago, they produce flowers all year, but summer is their peak.
This week my wife asked me if I had any white Periwinkle
flowers in the garden, it had to be the white flower with the white
center. I have many Periwinkle plants
growing wild all over the garden but none with a white flower and a white
center. It turns out that these flowers
were used in Cuba by our grandparents as a remedy to cure dry eyes. They would boil the flowers in distilled
water and use the water to drop in their eyes and that would cure or relieve
the condition. I found the plant at Home
Depot and planted one in my side garden.
I don’t know if this remedy works, but I will find out soon, someone in
our family has a bad case of dry eyes and none of the eye drops proscribed by
doctors have worked.
Happy Father's Day
(Please stay safe and wear a mask in public)
