Rain... again


It's been raining for much of the last 3 days. And NOAA says we've got a lot of the same through next Monday PM. Not easy to tour the plantation between cloudbursts, but I did notice quite a few baby starfruit this morning--and I didn't even know the tree had bloomed. Pleasant surprise. Unpleasant realization: we're almost out of mangos, one more picking, two at most.

The orange jasmines--including the one I nearly killed with the wheelbarrow full of softener salt--are in their third or fourth bloom cycle. And when the flush of small, multi-petaled white flowers is assaulted by driving rain, it looks like it snowed in the front patio. But snow never smelled this good.

The Barbados cherry is in its third bloom cycle, too. It's a mass of pink and white flowers. The first two cycles produced heavy crops of fruit, but I don't know if this one will--the rain may keep the wasps, bumblebees, and other pollinators at home. Usually when it blooms, the wasps and bumbles get possessive and let you know you're not welcome in the neighborhood until they've had their fill. I've had bumblebees, which show no interest in me when they're working on avocado flowers, dive-bomb me when I go near the Barbados cherry when it's in bloom.

Island Jim
Southwest Florida
27.1 N, 82.4 W
Hardiness Zone 10
Heat Zone 10
Sunset Zone 25
Minimum 30 F [-1 C]
Maximum 100 F [38 C]

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