Monday Macro

Pink Hibiscus

This One's for You, Nancy

In early March, our friend Nancy in Jacksonville and her daughter Nora, paid us a visit.  She brought Butch two Cherokee Purple Heirloom Tomato plants that she had started from seed.  They are really big now and are full of blooms and have several small tomatoes on them.

We are very optimistic about getting some pretty purple tomatoes from these plants this year.  Our last attempt at the heirloom tomatoes did not go well.  These are a little behind the Better Boys that Butch planted in a "topsy turvy" planter Chele gave him for Father's Day a year or two ago.  It has some good sized tomatoes on it now.

I love the smell of tomato vines.  These are really fragrant.  Butch has "suckered" this plant and stuck the suckers in pots, too.  They have taken off like gangbusters and have grown into large plants as well.

I can hardly wait for the tomatoes to ripen -- all of them.

And the "topsy turvy" planter?  It is just fascinating to watch the tomato vines grow down and curl up.  And I guess I will forgive him for taking down my lovely wind chimes so he could hang his 'maters...but only if I get the first ripe tomato!

I'll be back with pictures of the first ripe ones --especially the purple ones.

While I was at it, I took a picture of my Christmas poinsettia which has not made it into the ground just yet.  It is looking very healthy.  Amazingly, it has not lost many of its beautiful red leaves.  I am using it as a centerpiece on the patio table.

Plumeria

Our plumeria (Westerners call them "frangiapani) trees are really taking off and are blooming far earlier than in past years.  Maybe that is because of the warm winter we just had.

This is how they start.  Butch lops a "stick" off of an existing tree and lets it dry for a few weeks and then sticks it in a pot.  Remember that all photos can be clicked upon to "biggasize."

New Plumeria Plants

These he stuck in a pot last November and just let them sit through the winter doing nothing to them except letting the automatic sprinklers water them every Wednesday.  He will eventually plant them in the ground.  He usually does that each November.

With each year, the sticks mature into trees with ever-widening trunks like these below.

Plumeria Tree

The oldest of our trees have grown to between 8' and 10' tall and as much as 8' wide so pictures have to be taken on a diagonal:

Trees Along the Pool Screen Border

Or my shot has to be upward toward the sky:

Yellow Pumeria

They bloom quickly once the flower bract buds.  The shot below was taken in the morning around 10AM:

Large Flower Bract with Lots of Buds

And by 3 o'clock, they had unfurled into a couple of gorgeous blooms.

Plumeria Blooms

The plumeria is also known as the Hawaiian Lei Plant -- the blooms that are used for the lovely and fragrant leis with which you are greeted on arrival.  I love the fragrance and have a bottle of perfume Butch bought me on our trip to Kauai back in 2003.  I use it very sparingly.  But when I want a little fragrance in the house, I bring a few bloom in and float them in a crystal bowl.

Plumeria Blooms Floating

That's it for this year's plumeria post except for a few pictures I will post as the row of trees are covered in blooms.  Stay tuned for tomorrow's TOMATO post!