Gardenias in September...

It's been an odd summer... Very dry, if you check the monthly averages. However,you wouldn't know it to see it: Longish periods of drought, then heavy rainfall right in the nick of time, greening everything up for a time, only to return to more dry weather. Instead of daily or near-daily rains, we've been getting one rain shower a week. South of us, say Sanford and down, has seen plenty of rain after a dry spring. North of here is just plain parched, with drought conditions in north-Volusia county.

Anyway, what with the odd weather, some cool breezes, and shortening days, many of my plants think it's springtime: Many of my orchids (dendrobiums and oncidiums, mostly) have spiked, and this morning I noticed a bloom on my Gardenia, which typically blooms the first week of May. Roses are budding profusely, and by the middle of October they, and many other plants in my garden, will have shaken off the doldrums of sub-tropical climes. In the evening, sitting blowing bubbles with my daughter, I can catch from time to time soft, cool puffs of air, promising more clement weather.