Gardening in Florida in August. Whoa! With all of the moisture in the air from the recurring storms, it is as muggy as a steam bath right now. We decided last night we would get up early and do some much needed yard cleanup today. Early for us is about 7:30, but of course we had to have coffee and read the paper first. So, that put us outside about 9:30. So, I fired up the mower and Harlan started digging some holes for the new plants we brought home. By the time the first hole was ready and I had gotten the side yard mowed, we were panting like we'd just run a mile. The perspiration was just dripping off my head and we were chugging bottles of water like crazy. By the time the fifth shrub was planted and the front yard completely mowed, we were practically crawling to the little refrigerator in search of cool water. In fact, it was so miserable outside we didn't even want to jump into the pool to cool off. We couldn't wait to get into the air conditioning. Now, that's pretty bad. I truly can't remember it being this bad in August since we moved here over 8 years ago. There are probably folks out there who will say it has been worse even earlier in the year, but my memory only works year to year so I'm sticking to my story.

Anyway, the effort was worth it. The yard looks much better and the neighbor's gas tank is now covered from view with gorgeous oleander. We went to Home Depot yesterday and purchased two 4' tall oleanders in hot pink and pale pink. They generally grow up to 30 feet and spread about 15 feet, but since these are planted under the canary palm I lamented about last month my plan is to keep them trimmed to about 7'. I love oleander, as you well know from the Ollie rescue we performed earlier this year, and it doesn't disappoint. Oleander will bloom from spring to fall and the only thing you need to worry about is caterpillars. While I'm thinking about it let me give you an Ollie update. The poor boy hunkered down and decided not to do much of anything this year. So I went out this afternoon after the clouds moved in and trimmed him down to about half the size he was when we brought him home. There's still plenty of green in his limbs and I'm hoping he'll reward us with some new growth as the weather gets cooler. I'll let you know.

We also picked up three red ixoras to place along the fence closer to the street. They will grow to about 5' in height and width, just enough to almost cover the fence entirely. The great thing about ixora is that it is a happy plant and will bloom pretty much year round once established. We had great luck with ixora at our other house so I know this will be a good choice here.

There are still two red and two white fountain grasses we need to plant in the back yard. The intent was to get them into the garden today, but you know the old saying about good intentions especially in this weather. So we've agreed to get up early again tomorrow and try again. We may wind up with the same result, but at least we'll be a little closer to the pool - we can just fall in. Happy Florida Gardening.