One of the reasons we love gardening

Since I started planting milkweeds in my garden I have an over abundance of monarch butterflies visiting and laying eggs.

The results are lots of caterpillars eating the milkweed to the ground. I always wonder where do all the caterpillars go? These critters are very good at finding hiding places.

This pupa attached itself to the fence in the vegetable garden. I been keeping an eye on it for a few days.

I didn’t get to see the actual transformation to a beautiful monarch butterfly but Sunday I found this monarch nearby getting ready to fly and an empty cocoon.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

From the land of blooming bougainvilleas, I hope you and your families have a peaceful and safe thanksgiving. Happy turkey day.

Garage Sale Saturday

Yesterday my wife and I had our yearly garage sale. This is the time of the year when we take all the clutter from our home and get rid of all the things we don’t need or use anymore. Every year we think that this will be our last garage sale, but every year we managed to accumulate more things we don’t need or use (got to keep the economy going)

This year for the first time I sold extra Bromeliad plants that I had around the garden, and to my surprise many were sold. The best part was meting fellow gardeners and giving tours of my garden, it was definite a lot of fun.

At the end of the day after taking everything unsold to Goodwill, we both were tired but satisfied with the results. I do think this was my last garage sale; I am getting too old for this kind of work.

Is there a career change in the future?

I am on a roll; this weekend I worked on another kitchen garden this one was for my sister in law. I promised her one as her birthday present; she is a health food nut and has been wanting a kitchen garden for a long time, unfortunate she is not much of gardener so I’ll been getting follow up calls I’m sure.

Before

I planted several herbs, basil, oregano, dill, rosemary, cilantro, three tomato plants, some onions and marigolds for color.

This coming weekend I got to get some work on my own garden, I am already late planting my winter garden

What do you give a person that has everything?

A balcony herb garden!!!.

This week is my oldest daughter 28th birthday, and after much thought I decided to give her an herb garden for the balcony in her apartment.

My daughter has two passions in her life, teaching high school drama and cooking. (she is a fantastic cook) As per her request I included oregano, sweet and Tai basil, parsley, cilantro and rosemary.

Next week is the same gift for my sister-in-law (may be I’ll never have to step inside a mall again)