Confederate Rose - I Like It.

Hibiscus mutabilis with its double flowers is in full show now. It will flower from late September until frost. Nice plant for fall color in central Florida. The small trees are a little distorted due to the hurricane winds but the flowers are great. They open white in the morning and turn pink as they age. This results in a bush with different colored flowers. There also is single flowered form but I like the double better. Either is a winner this time of year.

Conferate Rose - old and new flowers. 

Conderate Rose - new flower. 

Confederate Rose - day-old-flower. 

Back to Basics

Plantdaddy is focused. Forget fishing, car repair, going to the Y or woodworking. That is it. Too many hobbies and not enough focus. Ornamental plant breeding is where the future is.

In this arena ornamental aroids rule. They have been the basis of my breeding research for 2 decades. It is great fun to play in my hybrid farm. The plants are cooperating at the moment and we have several new items of interest. I put in a photo below to remind me of what a great feeling it is to see a new product make it on the market. So what it the cultivar shown is not mine. Grrrr.........

Next baby shown will be a plantdaddy original. Until then ...... FOCUS...........

An Anthurium Field. 

Peaceful Day

Nice day today. Picked up the last of the Z shop repair items in hope (slim hope) that some workers may show up Saturday. My plants at work are growing nicely and I officially have coded and labeled 13 pothos mutants. Also selected 2 nice dieffenbachia mutants for further studies.

Mosaic Mom was to grout her sunflower birdbath today. Can’t wait to see it. If it turns out half as good as it weighs it will be awesome. Now we have to rent the crane to move it. Hope she sells it by the pound.

It is still too windy to try surf fishing again but the urge has already returned. Like I said, “I just don’t get it”. Ordered a new golf cart to get around at work. My old one is worn out after 4 years of hard use. It will be sent it for overhaul once the new one gets here. Then we will have 2. I probably should get one at home also, but all that riding is not a good habit to get into ---yet.

I Don't Get It ????

I just never learn. Grrrr.......Winds from NE at 10-15 and 6-8 foot seas to do not a good surf fishing day make. It is like casting into the side of mountain. Grrrrrrrrrr........Have sworn not to do that time after time but still did it yesterday. Dumb. No bites, no hits no fishes. Duh. No more fishing trips until the winds are less the 5 mph ----- period. Wellllllllllllllllll, maybe 10 mph is not too bad.

The Z shop repair crew finally stopped in Sat afternoon and did a little work. Nice boys. Said they would be back on Sunday and of course didn't show. Grrrrrrrrrrrr.......... I was dumb enough to get hopeful that they may finish someday. Gee, we get to go thru the same routine this weekend. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr..........

Mind escape stopped by last night. That was great. She really loves biology ----- NOT.. This too will pass so hang in there kid. We love ya...... Mosaic Mom is nearing completion on a really cool birdbath. Great work. I love art........I used to love fishing too. Have always hated wind............especially the hurricane type............Grrrr........

Nothin Happening

I took a half day off of work yesterday becaused they were to come Friday afternoon. If not then, today for sure. Of course it is noon today and no one has showed. Who??? The crumbs who were going to repair and recover the Z shop and my greenhouses.

You would think I would learn that anyone's word, especially in the construction industry, is not worth much these days. As I like to say 'they probably don't stop puking until noon Saturday'. Must have found a bar with 2 for 1 last night. Oh well, the greenbean, the watering stands and those metal scluptures will have to wait a while longer. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr............

Another sobering life experience. Gee, maybe I will pull the old 'the check is in the mail routine' if they ever actually finish the job. Such a fun thought. At least it is not my home they are dicking with you say??? Well, this involves my Z shop and that is even more critical.!!!!!!!!!!!!

And then there is the generator. I took it in for repair in August and it is still there. Hope to get it back by next year's hurricane season. At least I won't have to store it all winter. Grrrrrrrr................

Thanks, I feel better now. Think I will order some new fishing gear.

Not Much Happening

Not much happening but the weather is nice – a little cooler. My confederate roses (Hibiscus mutabilis) are flowering along with the turk’s cap (Malvaviscus sp.). I really like these two plants because they add color to the fall when not much else is happening.

Not much happening. The crews are fixing the greenhouses at work today. They say we are next on the list. So maybe they will be in to repair our greenhouses and Z shop by the end of the week – we hope….. The Z shop needs to be cleaned in the worst way but it needs a roof first. Of course we had a real blitz of a rain storm tonight, so at least the floors are clean.

Not much happening but after a week our email at work is going again. Thank God my address files were not lost in the chaos. Was so happy that I sent Mosaic Mom and Mind Escape a note today. Now our email is not working at home due to storm so I am doing this update to pass the time – it helps when not much is happening.

Although not much is happening, we have 10 pompano in the freezer now – probably enough for several months. Catching sand fleas is still a hoot and my massive flea catcher is working flawlessly since I welded it back together. If only my back and shoulders would do the same. Tossing a 4 oz sinker plus bait on 10 foot poles all day takes its toll. If I could only weld joints…..

Since not much was happening mosaic mom and I went to the Y last night after a month of misses. A strained hamstring and hurricanes sort of upended the routine. Took it easy and survived. Will go again tomorrow. Must stay in some sort of decent shape so I can carry the 200 lbs of fishing gear up the beach. Hey not much else is happening.

Oh wait!!!!!... The email is now working. Now there is much happening.

One of Plantdaddy's favorite mandevilla hybrids. 

Cool Flower for a Cool Day

Ahhhhhhhhhhh... I do love mandevillas (photo above). It is cloudy and cool today and the temperature is heading into the 70's by Friday. The cucumbers are growing by leaps and bounds. Mosaic Mom is in a creative frenzy. Time to pollinate the mandies. Life is good again.

On the other hand, fishing was terrible Sunday due to weeds and wind but I will try again tomorrow. Must figure out the new beach ASAP.

Like Mosaic Mom I was shocked to see that Superman had died. I still remember when the original one died many years ago. He was my hero. I Even can picture where the headline was in the paper.

You just never know. That is why I am going fishing tomorrow. Do it while you still can. Hope to dig some sand fleas and get some photos of the incredible sand flea rake in action. Now that is worth waiting for. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh........

Sand flea colony - the rough area just above the center of the photo. 

Sand Fleas

Sand fleas are cute. They also make great bait for whiting and pompano in the surf. However, finding them can be difficult. Sand fleas exit in colonies at the surf line and move in and out with the tide. Each colony is sort of like a patch of vibrating sand that occurs every 20-2-30 yards along the beach. An active sand flea colony is in the photo above. Colonies may be 10 feet long and 2 feet wide (photo above). Once you learn how to spot them you are home free.

Sand fleas can be caught by setting a sand flea rake in the receding water just in front of a colony. The fleas will be washed up and into the rake. The rake needs to have pores big enough to let water and sand through but small enough to catch the sand fleas. Pores about 3/8 of an inch work well. Sand fleas range from 0.25 inch to 1.25 inches in length.

Sand flea rakes vary in size. I made one that was 12 inches wide. Of course that was too small once I saw someone with one that was bigger at 20 inches wide - Grrrr.... You guessed it. I made a second one that is 24 inches wide and am currently designing the 30 inch "ultimate special". Photos later.

My beach October 2003. 

My beach October 2004. 

Where's the beach??

I do not like change - especially after spending 2 years figuring out my favorite surf fishing area. Had it down good as fishing trips were getting consistently more fruitful. Then comes Charley, Francis and Jeanne. The beaches survived but are entirely different now.

The previous vast hard beach area that was uncovered during low tide is gone (upper photo). We are left with a beach that is narrower and very soft - too soft to easily pull my custom fishing cart (lower photo). Increased slope of the beach means that there is little change between low and high tides in terms of area uncovered or covered. Surf suds comes and goes very fast leaving little of no time to net unsuspecting bait fish.

What will this mean? Time will tell and fishing may improve in the long run but it will take a year or so to find out. At least there are lots of sand fleas here now which should be good for finding whiting and pompano. That would be a good change - and I will be there..........

Seemed Like a Good Idea Last Week

Random Thoughts about Stuff

The picture above was borrowed from the Florida Surf Fishing board. It seemed like a good idea last Sunday as we sat with no power and the wind still screaming at us. The wind is gone now – all of it. Now we have 90 degrees and zero wind. Grrrr….

So I had to go over to the beach this week to and check out how bad it was. My favorite fishing area looked pretty good actually and I got to fish a little. Looks like there may be fall surf fishing this season after all. Now all we need are some fish and gas that costs less than $2.00. Oh well that really doesn’t matter as the fish I catch and eat cost around $324.00 a pound anyway.

As I was leaving, a wise old fisherman showed me how to tell where sand flea colonies were on the beach. He was catching them by the gallon. That made my whole day and brought me out of my sun drenched stupor as I was trudging home. Next thing you know I had a cooler full of prime bait for the pompono and whiting. I now have 3 bags of vacuum sealed primo bait in the freezer. With the dollars saved by having my own bait, the per pound cost of fish fillets in my house is now down to $319.00 per pound. At least costs are heading the right direction.

Must get back into the work routine this week as there is a lot of good stuff going on in my research house. It has been quite a 6 week fling with wind, rain and stress but things are looking up. May have to wet a line again this week. Plus there may even be some cooler weather heading this way later in the week. Cool huh…………………..