Almost Winter

We had a storm front go through this morning. Lots of wind for a half inch of rain, but we're grateful for whatever we can get at this point in the year. Central Florida is about 9 inches below normal for rainfall; we've had about 38 inches of precipitation this year, and the concerns have begun already about drought and water usage. Kissimmee and St. Cloud were put on 2 day/week lawn rationing this week, which brought them into alignment with the rest of us.
The back yard is looking lush, so now I'll rework a little along the wall. I got permission from the homeowners' association to remove the Royal Palm. It's grown too close to the wall; if I leave it

alone, it will push the wall over. The bougainvillea will also go. I want to put in some bamboo in the room that we'll then have. The fishtail palms have given us the green barrier from Michigan Street that I had hoped, so the loss of the tree (other than we just love Royal Palms) is OK. We will lose the color of the bougainvillea by the wall, but we can't see it from the house anymore.

The camellia is beginning to bloom. This is the first of at least 50 buds on the tree.

After 18 months, our paphiopedilum 'Pinocchio' orchid has begun to bloom again. Not bad, eh, Bob?

Sooo, with all that green and flowering beauty here, we will be en-wintered in Denver in a week. And looking forward to it! Just one week of kids to go, and an early dismissal on Friday.