Morning in the Garden

The angle of the sun is changing and moving. The air is a bit more chilly in the morning and the colour of the sky has drifted to a deeper blue. All of these signal the arrival of Christmas and after that, the dry season. Things are generally easier to grow when the humidity is not running in the high 90s. Below is a shot of my basil which is doing very well and has not be chewed to bits like my mint. I grow both spearmint and peppermint but I find mint to be very intolerant of any hint of fungus. I am even trying a small strawberry plant but I suspect we may not be cool enough for it to fruit.
My pink alocasias are still going strong and like many of my begonias I have found that growing them in a basket with a very light mixture of promix and manure has been the secret to keeping them alive in my damp garden.
A close up of "wild tobacco" and the flower. The foliage of this plant is an attractive dark brown.
My miniature pink banana is about to produce a small hand.

The zinnias are still bringing tons of butterflies into the garden but I think it is an island-wide phenomenon as there are butterflies everywhere. My daughter says that they have been flying in and out of the classrooms at school. Which makes me happy because I think that this little daily detail is going to be a precious memory for her later in life.

My vandas are coming back in now and (I don't even want the batchacs to hear me typing this) so far they remain uneaten. This lovely yellow spotted vanda is just beginning to show some wear and tear.Late blooms of the flamboyant.....I thought that the tree had packed up for the year but we got a burst of flowers earlier in the week. I have a bumper crop of hibiscus blooms that are about to pop open. But lots of things can happen overnight so I hope that the precious buds don't prove irresistible to the many wandering, nocturnal, hibiscus-bud predators that I never see but who can decimate an entire bush overnight.