Catching up and new growth

While I was in Spokane for two weeks my plants went through a growth spurt! Here's my little succulent container garden on my back patio.

The blue atoll in the front pot sent up two stalks, and its babies around the outer edges multiplied! When I bought it eight months ago it looked like this ...

 

Now it's bursting out of the pot!

The babies are called "pups" and can be cut off and replanted. I've already cut off a few, but their spots have filled in again.

In the meantime, I've hit the ground running since I got back -- groceries, laundry, gas, emissions test for the car, dentist, yard work, AC tuneup, library.

Tomorrow the company that replaced a leaking window a year ago will come back for about the fourth time to "fix" it. The frame is bowing and it's cracking the stucco near the lower corner. They've already reinstalled it twice. I just want it fixed before the monsoon rains come this summer!

Those pretty colorful pots in the succulent garden are Talavera pottery, which is made in a certain town in Mexico. I've used the pots around the backyard for color, since I mainly have desert plants out there.

 

My front yard yuccas also went crazy while I was gone, sending up giant stalks:

The birds love to perch on the top and eat the seeds. Sometimes there will be five at a time munching away on one stalk.

And finally, my bougainvillea started blooming! Every winter it gets frost damage and has to be cut back and seems to take forever to grow back. I can't protect it with a frost cloth because it's too tall and prickly.

The day after the window gets fixed, another repairman comes to fix my refrigerator. It's started making horrid noises, but is still keeping the food cold. I called the Samsung technician line and they said it sounds like the ice maker/water dispenser, which I use constantly and could not live without.

Have a colorful day