CALAMITY

No drainage in the fiberglass trough by the handrail. I was in the middle of replacing some soil, I reached down in the soil and hit water!! 2" of water. I had to pull out 25lb of mud, stone and confederate jasmine. The jasmine looked like it was fairly healthy but they're cheap and probably smarter to start over. It was really, really a pain in the ass-- sorry for language, but i have to imprint on you, imaginary reader, the absolute importance of ensuring that a container has good drainage. It is so much easier doing it right from the beginning. When I first planted it, there is one 1" hole in the bottom of the trough, I put down some screen, covered with at lease a 1" of stone and put down another screen, then soil. One hole is not enough, probably ever. Poor drainage can never be a good thing. I am not working with water plants.

Wind is really an adversary when trying to grow young plants that just don't have the strong petioles or root structure to hold them in place. Too much water, too much wind. I just don't know if it's possible.

It was a tough day in the garden. I wanted to rip it all out and start over. Just because persian shield looks fabulous at home depot  doesn't mean that it will fit in my garden. i need to rethink my plan because i haven't really have one. There are a few plants that were to be the main theme: bougainvillea, bamboo, plumeria has become a part of it, an orange tree -- and  begonias.

I need more tropical plants and I need them to work together. I pulled of a few pups off of the bromeliad. Just because I have them, doesn't mean I have to stick them around the garden.