Signs of Spring

I woke up early today to a cool,  nice weather. Spring is just around the corner.  The trees have slowly stopped shedding leaves. My plants have started to bloom and flower and I see more birds visiting our yard. We also have rain showers every now and then. When I look at our yard, all I want to do is go to a plant store and get more plants 'cos right now, it still need more plants. I have a few here and there but I can't stop thinking about how it would look like with more plants. The hubby objects, sometimes, but he comes around. He even bought me new garden gloves and new garden tools when he saw I have some really old ones.

So off I went to Lowe's today. It was very hot at the garden center but I took my time in looking at the plants because I have to make sure it will survive in the blistering heat of Florida. I'm also budget conscious in buying plants. I would buy smaller sized plants and let it grow than buy the more expensive big ones.

These were the plants I got today:

African Violet. It needs 1-3 hours of indirect light everyday. Soil has to be kept moist and must not dry out. I bought two of these little pretty plant, lavender and pink.

                                                     

This violet-colored bougainvillea needs full sun, 6+ hours of direct sunlight. It grows fast and doesn't need lots of water all the time.

The Marguerite Daisy is a perennial plant that needs 6+ hours of of direct sunlight everyday. Soil must be kept semi-moist.

This is a beautiful Areca Palm. It needs 6+ hours of direct sun daily and soil is semi-moist.

These pink and orange plants are annual plants. It's called a Moss Rose. They look dainty but it needs 6+ hours of full sun daily and doesn't need much water once it is established.

Zinnia is also an annual plant and needs 6+ hours of direct sun and doesn't need much water once it's established.

Yellow Iris, Lilies, and Hollyhocks

 

I got these plants today from Walmart, Yellow Iris, Peace Lily, and roots of Hollyhock and Lily of the Valley. I wasn't so sure about the ones in the packet,  but i've decided to give it a try.

Growing Plants in Florida

I realized gardening here in Florida is a challenge. I've yet to learn the kind of plants that can grow in this part of the world, with very hot sun, sandy soil and sometimes very strong rain. The seeds I planted on a seed starter tray have all germinated. I bought small peat pots and transplanted them but i'm not so sure now if they will all survive. The tulips and daffodils I bought a few weeks ago were destroyed by the strong rain, then burned by the hot sun. I guess that's a learning experience for me. These plants aren't really suited for this kind of weather but it's just so pretty can't resist buying it. Gardening here is a lot different and  cost  a little more. I always have to buy potting soil cos the sandy soil makes it hard for some plants to grow, the plants are not cheap too. Some of my plants right now are still in pots. I've yet to start putting them out in the yard. But I haven't decided yet where to place them. I tried transplanting my sweet corn plant cos it's growing fast and the next morning when I look  on it outside it was gone. I put out the broccoli  too that had grown  already for it to have some sun and the next morning it was in a jumble. It looked like I have another thing to watch out for, the squirrels in our yard.

Seeds Starting to Sprout

I was so happy when I saw some of  my seeds starting to sprout. I sowed the seeds just 4 days ago so I was not expecting any sprouting yet though I had hope they would sprout soon. The sowed seeds are planted randomly. The packet instructions say to plant 3 seeds only  but I planted more since I have more than enough seeds in my hands. Also not all seeds will be healthy enough to sprout, so I just sprinkled the seeds on the pots and tray. I also sowed all of the seeds left directly in our yard. I don't see any sprouting yet on the ones I sowed  in the yard. We had severe storm the other day and the area around us were just drenched with rain, probably that affected the seeds planted in the yard. Still, i'm hoping to see some sprouts there .  Since I didn't put labels on the pots and tray I would have to identify the seeds on how they look like when they're grown. I even combined the vegetable seeds and the flower seeds in one tray. Definitely  that will be confusing for me.I will probably have to wait till they flower before I can even identify any of them.

 

Sown Seeds

Seeds have started to sprout after four days

Starting my Garden

I got  a few plants yesterday and some seeds from Walmart. Today I got more seeds, a tulip plant, a seed starter tray, and seed starter soil from Home Depot. I'm planning to make a garden in our backyard. I don't know yet how i'm going to do it but i'll start slowly. A few plants here and there until I can figure out how i'm going to do it. The backyard now sits empty. There are no flowering plants or shrubs. There are a few trees  that the husband want to have cut one of these days cos  one is a big oak tree and he can't stand the raking and cleaning of leaves almost every week. 

The soil in this part of Florida is loose and composed of sand. The soil appears to me like it cannot grow plants and flowers but it can. Below is a picture of the tulip and daffodil I got from the store. They are pretty, just looking at them inspires me to start gardening.