except here in Florida! No surprise to anyone, it is dangerously dry here and no relief in sight. We have had several brush fires in the area and have been lucky that nothing was destroyed.

Of course, our water use has been seriously restricted. Being a good environmental citizen I have watered my gardens only once in the last three weeks, and that was only because the shrubs were so wilted it was sad. We have a rain barrel we were going to install, but haven't felt the need to do so yet. The weather guy tells us we can expect rain tomorrow and we are doing a rain dance to make it so.

So with the gardens looking so bad is anything in bloom? I have to say a hardy yes to that. My old favorite bougainvillea is absolutely gorgeous right now with its fuchsia bracts and little white flowers. Would you believe my periwinkles are blooming to beat the band? They are absolutely huge and these are last year's plants constantly being beaten up by the sun with little moisture. The miniature roses I planted under my pindu palm last year have a couple of buds. But the plant that just blows me away with its profusion of flowers is...drum roll please...lantana! Yes folks, the multi-colored lantana shaded by the palm trees has grown into a sprawling shrub and is just blooming like gangbusters.





These plants sure look cheery even with the severe lack of water. I hope we get some rain around here soon. Otherwise I'm going to have to figure out how to recycle the water we use in the house for the plants. Happy Florida Gardening. Care to join me in the rain dance?