We have had our first blast of summer weather this week. It started out nice and cool after a storm blew through over the weekend. Then in the span of about 24 hours the temps jumped about 20º and we’ve been nipping at the heels of the record high for this time of year set about 30 years ago. It’s been hovering around 90º/91º all week with high humidity. We try not to turn the AC on til the first of June. Right now, the windows and doors are open and the fans are on. Our reward for this is the night blooming jasmine. These small insignificant flowers, only 3/4 of an inch long, fill the night air and our house with the most heavenly scent.
The night blooming jasmine is a gift from a bird, found growing in my compost pile. I actually thought it was an orange tree seedling as at the time, I had been buying bushels of oranges and squeezing juice for my kids before they went off to school. I dug up one and gave it to a neighbor who now has an orange tree in her yard. The one I transplanted for myself turned out not to be an orange. My one seedling turned into a huge shrub which has spread all over my yard. I have one outside my bedroom window, one outside my back door, another in the back yard and one by the front gate. If I didn’t constantly pull up the seedlings, they would fill the yard.
I’m not sure who got the better seedling. She gets oranges but I get perfume all summer.
The heat that you speak of was a major factor in my decision to leave Mississippi (I'm in Oregon). I have friends in Pearland, but haven't seen them in 30 years; we're down to Xmas cards mostly.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you both won. I am amazed that your yard could be filled from one little seedling. Nature never ceases to amaze me. My husband and I always stop when we are on a stroll and that perfume wafts near. When I lived in LA it was always around too.
ReplyDeleteYup, you both won. We have a 'wild' garden, mostly because we're too busy/lazy to do much else besides cut the grass and trim the holly hedge. Each year, I promise I'll do something and I never will.
ReplyDeleteI am jealous. I wish I had an orange tree! I do have apple, cherry and peach trees. Why do we always want what we can't have? I planted okra in my raised vegetable beds one year and was disappointed that it never came up. I spend a lot of time watering and weeding those beds. I happened to be mowing the area around the pool where I have some sedum growing that I literally threw down and totally neglect and I noticed these lovely blooms on this tall bushy plant growing along side the fence. I stopped to make a closer inspection and....it was the hugest okra plant I had ever seen. It grew to be almost 10 feet tall! Apparently a bird ate my seed and "replanted" it. The pods on the okra were really tough when I discovered it...not to be outdone, I saved them and used them at Halloween to make a witches hands.
ReplyDeleteSnowbrush - Thanks for visiting. I have friends in Oregon, Portland. You gotta be born into this heat I think to tolerate it. Pearland is not to far from me. Not exactly a suburb.
ReplyDeleteSydney - those things are so prolific. I swear, every seed that falls, sprouts. At least in my yard.
Madame - Yes, we both won. I usually describe my yard as 'barely restrained chaos'. Someone complained once about the riot of growth. I, in turn, complained about the sterile yard of the complainer.
Kathy - Okra makes the prettiest flowers but you gotta pick the fruit early. Gets pithy. My grandson made a boat out of a dried okra pod once. Ain't it all grand!
me again. Well, I see you already got a lovely blog award, but I got two in the same week too. SOrry, your blog is too lovely not to get another, so it is posted as of now on my blog Adventures In Nature, if you want to stop by. I hope you get lots of new fans and comments and customers too (why not throw it all in there?)
ReplyDeletehttp://naturegirrrl.blogspot.com/
I bounced over from your comment on Kathy's Klothesline... beautiful pic of the shrubbery!!!
ReplyDeleteYour post below on the neighborhood is very sad. The new homes are just ugly. It makes me think of the folk song...
Little houses on the hillside
Little houses make of ticky tack...
The song mocks the sameness of neighborhoods. Why all the new homes? Can't we fix up the old? Keep the woods!!!
Must go plant a tree!
... I have a post a few back with the trees in my backyard. I called it Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? I don't think folks got it is a nod to a children's book. I didn't go back and tell them. It just made me sad.
ReplyDeleteWait there is more.... I forgot to tell you why I clicked on you! You have pretty much my same name! My real last name is Abbott. I just don't put it on my blog for privacy reasons. I might get in trouble for blogging at work. I am a teacher. We are not suppose to use the internet to do such evil things. Seriously!! I am not kidding.
ReplyDeleteSydney, thanks so much. I'll pop over.
ReplyDeleteHit40, nice to meetcha. Abbott is a good name. re the new housing, it's not all as ugly as the ones on my block. Some are very nice architecturally and if they were on a big lot with trees and yard, I would love them. But same deal from back to front and side to side...all house, no yard. Your backyard is awesome.
Hmmmm I can smell that jasmine from here. You can buy oranges, but you can't buy that sweet smell.
ReplyDelete