Creative Garden Structures

 Storm coming!

If you are a weatherman selling the "Sunshine State" to the tourist or recently new Floridian, then the answer to this question is probably "Not to Rain".  But if you have lived in Florida for a while and you garden...then the answer will always be "To rain".  For me...it cannot rain enough from May to November. (Well...maybe it can...but I've never been put to the test!) It always is a surprise to me when a disc jockey or weatherman apologizes to his audience for the "poor, rainy weather we are having" or sings the praises of sunshine when it returns and chases away the "gloom". Don't they want our green things to grow?

It's been a dry Spring...as it typically is...and I am impatiently waiting for the return of the "afternoon storm" cycle.  When I first moved to Florida in the mid- 1970's, it seemed like you could set your watch by these storms ( 4pm, give or take a few minutes). But these days, the storms are more hit and miss and certainly not to be counted on every day.  Unfortunately for those who have to live with me, my moods are directly tied into the local weather. And I've been known to be pretty cranky when everyone around me is getting some rain, day after day....while I get none. I've been known to sit at the computer watching the radar and cursing every little storm that drifts away from my house. And I certainly know all about the microclimate caused by living just south and east of a lake (Lake Weir) when storms come from the west (they split and go north and south of my house!!!) Let's just say Ocklawaha and Lady Lake get ALL of MY rain!

It rained yesterday (hallelujah!) and then, unexpectedly, it rained again today!! There was only a 20% chance of rain and when I looked at the radar...in all of Central Florida, it was only raining here!  I can't tell you how happy that makes me!!!

 It's raining! (though you may not be able to see the drops)

 filling the rain barrel....

  My rain garden at work.....