May is Here!!

Wait.....I thought the little verse was like this, "April showers bring May flowers".  Instead, around Rivercrest and surrounding North Carolina areas - we have had one deluge after the other for the past 4 or 5 days.  Thunder storms and dreary clouds with a scattering of sunshine.  This is not making my young rose plants very happy -  I fear that I have not sprayed enough to stop blackspot (and of course, I have sprayed plenty!)

I haven't had to water them in over two weeks due to this rainy weather.  Next week we will have high temperatures, back in the 80's and no rain so I am hoping that it will dry out soon.  Currently I am in Raleigh visiting my daughters for a couple days and today is "visit nurseries in the Raleigh area day".  I am doing some research to see who has a good shop with fertilizers, concoctions, etc. - that is what I am interested in getting today.  I have absolutely no place for anymore roses until we dig up a new garden area next year.  At least, that is what Mike says.

As soon as it gets a little lighter outside on Camille's balcony (my daughter's place where I am staying) I will take a picture of her charming window boxes hanging on her bannister.  My brother gave her these with flowers already planted by him for her birthday in April.  They are doing quite and her view is so pretty - her place backs up to woods with deer passing through and lots of birds eating at her bird feeders.

We have planted the Plumeria we ordered from a nursery specializing in plumeria in Florida.  They were getting too much water so we moved them under an eave until this weather passes.  Ever since we went to Hawaii I have been fascinated by the trees and the beautiful flowers of the plumeria.  I did some research on garden web and found the forum for Plumeria growers.  Roger, a grower in Texas, sent me several cuttings from his trees and they are growing in cactus soil mix - hopefully getting roots so they can be repotted soon.  What a great group of people - these plumerians  He was so generous and evidently does it for a lot of people on the site.  They like to share their cuttings and spread the plumeria love!  I didn't know they would grow in NC but people as far as Maine are growing them in pots - in their patios and gardens.  You just have to take them in before frost - they will go dormant in the winter - then bring them out again in the spring.

Plumeria from the nursery in their shipping packages and pots they will be planted into

This one has leaves!!

Romeo with a yogurt cup and a view of the rose garden - huge clematis overpowering the rose plants and our new marigold border that I planted last Saturday.