Grounding

I went into the garden this evening seeking something beautiful to fall into. I have been feeling a bit exhausted and disoriented coming back from a beautiful vacation that rolled right into a giant unexpected wave of grief with a death in the family. Cam also left for her dads for ten days and is headed to Boston to celebrate a family wedding. Separations like this offer incredible balance in my life but they can also be so very tough. All this to say, I needed some time outside enjoying my labor of garden love so I grabbed my Nikon. I enjoy how overgrown and dense the garden feels right now. I think I’m meant to be in a tropical lush environment. My grass yard outside of Roxy' Square is way over due for a mow (ugh) and my guy comes tomorrow, so in the morning I plan to save any native recruits. Spiderwort and scorpiontail are usually what I find and I transplant them into Roxy's Square along with a few other areas in front of the house. One day, I would love to have a completely no mow property. Much of Florida has been in a drought but we have had some good rain in the last week or two. It feels good that my yard feels wet and the air feels heavy and humid.

I really enjoy this photo of mexican heather mixed with the bright, beautiful green fresh growth of sunshine mimosa at the bottom. Mexican heather is easy to find most of the year in commercial garden centers and is a good groundcover or border option - beautiful, heat/drought tolerant, and a pollinator favorite ...sunshine mimosa is a great groundcover with the cutest little pink fuzzy balls that remind me of Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who! You will likely only find sunshine mimosa in local native plant nurseries. It transplants pretty easily so you can also grab some from your favorite native plant friend! Her leaves have such a distinct and beautiful feathery pattern...Cam has always loved sunshine mimosa because at work one day when she was little, a volunteer showed her how the leaves retract and curl up when you touch it.

Also, check out this wicked bug - but first the purple passionflower incarnata flower and vine. The flower is obviously fantastic but I also love the leaf structure - it reminds me of frog feet. The bug is a type of Gonocerus also known as squash bugs and apparently I would probably hate doing battle with these dudes if I was trying to grow food. I had to have hope in googling 'squash bugs function in native florida plant gardening' and this guy is described as a little blazing path of destruction that uses "piercing-sucking mouthparts" to sap zap everything. The intense AI overview also claims this guy has zero ecological benefit and I am resisting that rabbit hole in favor of indulging in the season premier of House of the Dragon!

Peace <3