I've missed a few months participating in @simplymike's Garden Journal, so here's an update; I feel so fortunate to have this large space to work with :)
BEFORE: August 22/18
AFTER: October 22/18
It's amazing what two months of sunshine, watering and a little love will do! Yep, I'm one of those people who talks to her plants :)
This guy needed a little extra TLC, especially on the right where you can see he was in a sorry state after moving here from our last place. And see all the little shoots coming out on the more recent pic? I'm able to snap those off and plant them in all of the larger posts that were already on this patio. They act as a bit of ground cover and trailers. I don't know what the plant is because I just "picked it up" somewhere, literally, and stuck it in some dirt to see what would happen. So, I'm curious to see if it will bloom or just keep growing like a cornstalk!
We inherited this guy at our last place; the previous occupants had left him limp and dying ... how rude! Poor thing. Anyway, he had been planted in a cut-off water bottle and desperately needed to spread out. Straighten up and fly right ... that's my daily advice to him :)
I guess he was too smooshed in that little bottle to be able to bloom, but now I notice at night these little pods open up and have tiny white flowers in them; then they close up during the daylight again :) The whole plant has grown so well that I've been able to break several pieces away and transplant them elsewhere.
This palm has taken off like crazy,
as well as the fern used as a ground cover in the large pot. The before photo is kind of blurry, but you can see how much it's grown regardless.
That "grass" in the white pots are both lemongrass! I had no idea until Buddy was chewing on it one day and when I picked him up, his breath smelled of lemons :) I looked it up, and apparently lemongrass is good for cats; ferns, not so much. That's why I've got the fern somewhat surrounded.
Now I use the lemongrass to make tea; just boil it with a bit of ginger ... great for digestion. And yes, there's Wolfie, the latest edition, always a big help when I'm gardening; it's a good thing kittens are cute haha
Here is the row of Bougainvillea that came with this apartment, and although there was some greenery, they were all very 'twiggy' and quite dry.
This one had very few leaves and no blooms, but looks pretty good now.
This one blossomed beautifully and reminds me of those "flowers" we used to make in elementary school art class with little squares of tissue paper folded on the end of a pencil and glued on paper. Do you have any idea what I'm talking about? haha
So did these :) There are five in total, and these bloom year round with a little care and attention.
They even show off in the rain :)
Do you remember when our palapa was being repaired? The worker left a bare branch running up through the new one; at the time I wondered what he was doing, but look what bloomed there!
He obviously knew what he was doing :)
These plants will grow huge, like a tree, and continually bloom all year round. This is the house two doors down that we see from the patio; notice the pink flowers? :)
Anyone know what this is called? I call it Elephant Ears :)
Before:
After: 
I've planted a pineapple, just by cutting the spiky top off, trimming it, until you find the "roots" and planting it! If anyone wants pineapple, I'll have some for you in about 7 years or so :)
I also took a slice of tomato, stuck it in the dirt (literally just buried it), and look at what happened!!
Last but not least, my landlord surprised me with two things because he knows how much I love plants, and he does as well :) He brought me a red and white Calla Lily that I planted together,
and these seeds he brought home from a vacation in France; zucchini, basil, mint and lavender. He said to me, show me your magic :) Yikes! Cus that's not pressure at all haha :)
Kudos to you if you managed to make it this far in a rather lengthy post! Thanks for hanging in there :) There are more plants here, but they'll just have to wait for another post next month; and no worries, I'll talk to them so they get through the heartache of being left out without too many scars:)
You also may have noticed what appears to be a bathtub in the middle of the patio, and that's because it is one :)
Stay tuned...that's for another post!
This has absolutely NOTHING to do with gardening, but look who's getting along :)
Cheers!
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