Dragon's Orchid Garden

I was so glad to have the work week over.  Upon arriving home, I went straight to change into shorts and put my hair up, grab a beer and head out to the back patio to commune with my husband and with nature.  We sat chatting for a bit when Wayne mentioned that the heat and humidity seemed to make the air smell a bit musty.  Hmm...yes, it did.  In fact, it smelled a bit like something was rotting somewhere.  We talked a while more and Wayne went into the house to start dinner.  I sat in my rocker, checking out NPR news on my ipod.  It wasn't long before the aroma of something rotting caused me to start breathing through my mouth instead of my nose. I put the ipod down and walked around to the back of the house where the voodoo lilies are starting to come up.  There, I saw the origin of that fetid stink.  An Amorphophallus bloom!  The flies were all over it. We have a fan on the patio to move the air about and it was moving the perfume...

This afternoon, Wayne and I headed out to the USF Botanical Gardens for the last few hours of the annual Butterfly and Herb Fair. We scored a six pack of assorted flowering butterfly plants to fill a planter Wayne made out of the bottom of an old compressor tank. We found a Tibouchina to replace the one we lost in the freeze, and an amorphophallus bulbifer . Since the voodoo lily bloom, I've wanted more of these. This one will eventually have a jack-in-the-pulpit type bloom. After the hot and sweaty work of planting our finds, we sat on the patio with a cold beverage to enjoy the view.  Here are a few pictures of what's blooming now.  Clicking on them will give you descriptions and bigger pictures. From orchids From orchids From orchids From orchids