Clear and calm before the storm

 It is just that but maybe not an actual storm, just rain. Crystal clear skies, barely a breeze and wonderful temperatures. I checked the weather and still says 91% chance of rain tomorrow. Supposed to get cloudy tonight sometime and then continue tomorrow through Thursday for rain. Not going to water today unless it doesn't rain tomorrow.

The trees are busting out with flowers and leaves against a clear blue sky, yes it is that blue. The jade bush and lemon are full of flowers and I can smell the lemon flowers when I'm at the entrance. Spring has sprung!

 

The seedlings are showing true leaves! Yay! Need to find some bigger pots to put them in soon I think. Peat pots will likely be the choice. Just last night I was concerned because they were awfully stretched out and hadn't shown new leaves yet. Well I think the window treatment has helped get them on track for growing but still have to move them out of the window at night so Rocky can sit in there. I am exceedingly lucky he hasn't considered them a snack food. Unlike my African Violet several years ago that he demolished.

Someone trimmed the spent Iris stems from the plant, so someone is taking care of it at least. The aloe flowers fell over but are still blooming. This is orange and the one in the actual garden is going to have yellow flowers for sure. They are both Aloe vera but the  yellow one may be the hybrid called 'Lode's Yellow' I found images for both but the only place with info was for the yellow one. Standard one is that orange color.

You know how the saying goes, 'a watched pot never boils' well 'a watched garden never grows' is another good one. The lettuce is continuing but I won't be planting it after this season anymore. As soon as I cut it starts wilting. I had the leaves I cut yesterday in a sandwich but they were very soft. Will hope to leave the leaves on a bit longer to grow more and get to be an actual head of lettuce. Too impatient I guess. Will see what happens when it starts growing in the other bed.

I don't think the potatoes are getting damaged anymore but I took a couple of pictures of two leaves that are laying on the ground and will compare them tomorrow. I've told people about this technique and now have a chance to try it. Because the question always came up, 'how do I know if all the bugs are gone?'. Take a picture of the leaves you sprayed that have holes and then go back the next day or so and check against the picture. Before current technology there was just relying on memory of how many holes there were.

The azalea downstairs is blooming again, still not entirely sure what variety it is but I think I surmised last time it was an Encore Azalea but that bush I think is older than when the Encore first were introduced. According to a website Encores were first introduced in the late 1990's so it's possible it can be that. It's a huge bush, almost 5 feet tall and the Amethyst Royalty variety gets about 4..5 feet so that checks out. Flower size they say is over 3" wide... not these, they're closer to 2" but that could be something to do with conditions it's growing in. 

See the amount of sleuthing is involved in identifying a plant? Sometimes it even involves the leaves but I could even be wrong with this as well. so many different varieties out there that may not be on the internet. So at this point it's a pretty purple azalea ha!

(Oh and the wind has started to pick up now and will likely increase until the evening, like it does.)