Monarch Chrysalis. sunday's lone caterpillar

Monarch Chrysalis. sunday's lone caterpillar is now encased in a chrysalis on the redtip.

Plumbago Blooming. the plumbago by

Plumbago Blooming. the plumbago by the driveway is beginning to bloom. i'd never heard of plumbago before we bought this house; now it's one of my favorite plants. minimal maintenance (needs to be cut back a few times a year), lots of nice greenery, pretty blue flowers. i promise, i'll have photos available soon.

Figs, Again. the first round

Figs, Again. the first round of figs disappeared without a trace a couple of weeks ago. i don't know whether the disappearance was due to the heavy rains we had around that time, or some other cause.

but there are now even more than before. very nearly every leaf juncture has a tiny fig. we'll see how long they last this time.

Caterpillars. the monarch caterpillars have

Caterpillars. the monarch caterpillars have completely stripped the two butterfly weed plants, as expected.

this morning one lone caterpillar was finishing off the last leaves. the others had all vacated the premises, presumably to find a suitable place for the next step of their lifecycle.

careful examination of the redtip bush a few feet away did reveal one spent chrysalis and one caterpillar hanging upside down from a leaf, ready to pupate.

Holly Clean-Up. the hollies that

Holly Clean-Up. the hollies that i pruned in mid-january have been putting out lots of new growth lately, so i tackled them again today.

as i had hoped when i did the first cutting in january, there now is a lot of new growth on the inside of the bushes, where there had been nothing before due to the lack of sunlight. i cut back some of the longest / tallest main branches and pinched back some of the new growth in an effort to bring the bushes back into the confines of their given space.

once again, they look somewhat pathetic, but i am slowly getting them to a more manageable size.

i also tackled two other hollies - these are against the fence between the front and back yards. eventually, one of them will probably be removed when we move the fence. until then, i'd like to keep the hollies smaller than the crepe myrtles.

Boxwood. ours needs pruning. and

Boxwood. ours needs pruning. and cleaning - boxwood is a very effective collector of debris (leaves, pinecones, branches...).

Mexican Heather. folks keep coming

Mexican Heather. folks keep coming here from yahoo and google searching for "mexican heather." before last fall, i had never heard of this stuff. but i saw it at a gardening center in the post-season sales, liked the nice greenery and the tiny flowers, bought a couple of plants (turned out to be three), and planted it.

in february, while cleaning out flower beds and trimming the plants, i saved a few of the mexican heather clippings and put them in water to root.

after a few weeks rooting in water on a windowsill, i was ready to plant two sprigs.

i am happy to report that the planted sprigs are putting out new growth, and the three plants i started with last fall are perking up for the spring. the "parent plants" are covered in new growth, despite suffering through 2 or 3 (just barely) below freezing nights.

the plants propagate by themselves by putting down roots from longer stems that fall to the ground - no doubt, there is a technical term for this. i've gained at least three new plants this way.

no flowers yet, but hopefully soon.

Eradicating the Elephant Ear. not

Eradicating the Elephant Ear. not only the elephant ear, but also the asian jasmine has proven very tenacious in the plot formerly known as the jungle. i keep pulling out more jasmine as i spot it. last night i dug up a dozen or so tiny elephant ears.

Pepper Progress. two updates, actually.

Pepper Progress. two updates, actually. first, the pepper and tomato seedlings i put out in the garden are doing well. i've left the soda bottle covers in place and i think that is helping shelter the seedlings.

and those aren't the only peppers we have. i forgot to mention that darin's plant purchases the other day included six serrano peppers. these plants are now in the bed under the sunroom windows.

More on Monarchs. nine, yes,

More on Monarchs. nine, yes, nine caterpillars congregating on the butterfly weed. they seem to be in the fourth and fifth instars, so they should pupate soon.