The Changing Face of my Garden

This is the side view of my garden. The Double Chaconia really outdid itself this year and produced huge crimson blooms. It is amazing how quickly the landscape changes. The sun moves constantly during the year with certain areas moving quite dramatically from full shade to full sun. My ferns often get unruly and begin leaping from spot to spot (quite literally!) and it is quite a job to keep them in line. When I first started gardening this space, I was more lenient but as the plants and I have grown together I realize that I must be the alpha and show them who's boss! As is often the case with people, they tend to really thrive with a little reining in.
My brand new arbour was set up to showcase my odontodenia. I had to dramatically prune the vine after the old arbour collapsed (right before a bumper crop of flowers). Thankfully this all took place at the end of the dry season and not at the beginning. This photo was taken about one month ago and since then the flamboyant above has come into full bloom. With the transition of dry into wet, my lawn is suffering and like the rest of Trinidad, I am being attacked by cinch bug but I've decided that I am not going to spray this year. I'm going to ride it out and see what happens.
This is our Texas smoker! It was custom built on one of the rigs by an old Texan friend. We do use it regularly but I always feel a bit of a fraud when people assume that we know what we are doing and ask me pointed smoking questions. Our smoking experiments have not been terribly successful (yet). The last time we attempted some ribs, the house was fumigated and we all stank of apple chips for days.

I pass this odd tree every day as I drive past the President's grounds. For a long time I really thought that someone had tied these boomerang shapes onto the tree. And in that bizarre, abstract way of idle thoughts, this would cross my mind every time I passed by. This went on for a long time until I noticed that the hanging blooms changed over the months into small, ball like things. If anyone visiting this site has any idea what this tree might be, please post and let me know. I've never seen it anywhere else and I've become very attached to it and its strange offerings.
This little orchid just blooms and blooms and blooms. She is so cheerful and her resilience in rain or shine just seems so pioneer like to me.