Chasing hummingbirds

The hummingbirds are back for the winter season.  This year there seems to be more hummers than in past years, I also noticed that they are going after flowers that were not part of their diet before, like the coleuses.  The reason for their change of diet is because their favorite flowers, the firebush and powderpuff have not bloomed as they usually do this time of the year   

No much sun in this corner of the garden, but everything is looking lush and green.

My firebush tree has been crowded by my lychee and mango trees.  I'll wait for the spring after the hummingbirds head north to cut it back.   Yesterday I trimmed some of the dead lower branches. 

This bougainvillea bush is the only one on my collection that does not need full sun to bloom. 

I don't have a before picture, but my garden shed was in desperate need of re-organizing.  

It turned out that all the caterpillars that I posted about last time, were not monarch butterflies but queen butterflies.

 I hope you all have a happy and safe THANKSGIVING

That time of the year to plant a winter veggie and herb garden.

I decided to give winter veggie gardening another try.  Last year I told myself that it would be my last year wasting my time on a vegetable garden that barely produced.  This year with Covid 19 keeping us all close to home with not much to do, I decided to give it another try.

This is the only corner of the back garden that gets from 4 to 5 hours of morning sun everyday.   As you can see everything is in containers, I am hedging my bets using soil sold for this type of gardening.  The year of 2020 has not been a great year for nurseries in my home town, and it has affected the availability of vegetable seedling.  I am mostly planting seeds this year, like arugula, spinach, chives and lettuces.  The hot and wet weather in my zone 10B are not ideal conditions for sowing seeds, but I’ll give it a try. 

Last week while we waited fo tropical storm Eta, I had over 50 monarch caterpillars born in the Milkweed plants.  With all the rain and wind we had I didn't think they had much of a chance, but they made it through. 

The Painted Buntings are back in the garden for the winter.