After much dividing and transplanting to friend's gardens, labeling plants for the new owners and sad farewells to our Virginia garden, we have moved to Lafayette, Louisiana and a Zone 9 (!!!) garden. The plants here so different. They are just well...errrr...big! I guess that's what a 12 month growing season will do for you. On my morning walks I see camellias that are three times as tall as me and live oaks that are so massive and articulated that they really are "live!" This region has had a serious dry spell, and yesterday was the first rain here since June 2nd. I was so thrilled to walk up the path this morning and see that the limbs of the live oaks are no longer covered in shriveled, dried ferns but in lush green Resurrection fern - resurrected.
The house we are renting has some beautiful plants in the garden, but I've been especially grateful for the burst of color the hibiscus outside our sunroom window provides. When everything else looked so scorched and dry, this just seems to keep blooming.
