June 14th, 2022

I had a few people ask about the bird bath experiment.  In case you missed that one, I had the idea that since it's so hot here in the summer time, perhaps the many many birds that hand around our yard might appreciate a nice birdbath.  They could cool off splashing around or just get a drink.  Hydration is hot weather is essential!

I was going to kind of create one out of things already here, but Tim, because he is a dear sweet man, brought home this very cool looking grey, textured ummmmm urn (?) thing that had a clear plastic inset.  I suspect that it was intended to be a planter but sure, there is no reason at all why it couldn't be a birdbath. Awesome!

I read up on bird baths, did my best to adapt it and placed at the far end of the courtyard in a place much as was described by the birdbath sites I read on line.  And then we waited.  And waited and waited.  No one single bird paid a bit of attention to it.  They, in effect, turned up their beaks at it.  (that's the 'birdbath' in the courtyard in the photo above)

Well dang.  Try to do a nice thing, humph.  Maybe the birds would like it better if I moved it to a different part of the yard.  Or perhaps if I painted the plastic insert? Maybe  that would help?  I did more reading. I considered a lot of things.  One of the things I debated was giving up on the birdbath idea and just making it back into the planter it was originally intended to be. I have not had terrific luck growing flowers here in Florida.  Everywhere else we ever lived I had pretty gardens, here, not so much.  But I could try again I suppose.   Back and forth I went.  Bird bath/Planter.  Bird bath/Planter.  What to do, what to do.  I thought about it and I talked about it.  Apparently I talked about it a lot.  Because one day, Tim went out into the Courtyard, picked up the bird bath and moved it out of the pathway and  into the garden part.  And there it sat.  Still completely ignored by all things feathered.

Over this past weekend one day while we were running errands and therefore out and about, suddenly Tim pulled into the Lowe's parking lot.  "What do we need at  Lowe's?" I asked.  I followed him into the building through the garden center.   I love all garden centers.  Quite often, if we have to go into a home improvement store I tell Tim that, "I'll be in the garden center".  He nods and goes off after whatever he needs while I get to wander through the lovely flowers and plants and have a wonderful time.  I treat it almost like a visit to a botanic garden :)  

I paused outside to admire some big  pots of brightly coloured flowers that were on sale.  Tim suggested that if I'm going to turn the birdbath into a large flower pot, this might be a good opportunity to get started.  YAYAYAY!  I was excited to even think about it.

As I wandered around admiring the many choices, I tried to get my thoughts in proper order.  The first thing I needed to consider was that quite honestly, even after living here for 6 years, do not know much about Florida flowers.  I admire them, but I do not know the names of many.  So I stared with what I do know. For example, the fact that where the planter is now is a sunny spot so I only bothered looking at flowers that had "full sun" written on their tags.  And since I do not have the best luck with my gardens here in Florida, I didn't want to make an expensive investment.  Perhaps starting with something on the lower end would be the right choice here.  "On Sale" is the price range I was considering.  The next choice was, if possible, I would love to have something fragrant.  There are a lot of absolutely gorgeous flowers out there in the world, but remarkably few of them have fragrance.  I have no idea what that's all about but I love a smelly flower :)  

All of these categories helped me to narrow down possibilities.  At the end, it was just a matter of deciding what colour I wanted.  This is what I ended up with:

Isn't it just the sweetest little thing?  It's called a Lantana.  Some are annuals and others are perennial.  I believe that this particular one is an annual.  They come in a lot of different colours. For whatever reason, on that day, I was drawn to this cute little yellow one. I don't know if you can tell but there are multiple different shades of yellow involved.  It's cheery and happy and cute as a button. 

I chose to buy just the one plant.  Let's see how it goes with one.  If I manage to keep one alive and well then we can move on to adding to the planter.  There is plenty of room.  I am starting small but hopeful.

I was very excited to read more about this little Lantana plant once I got back home.  Not only is it a rather rugged plant that can tolerate less moisture and more sun than most, but it also attracts bees, butterflies and (biggest and most awesome surprise) hummingbirds!  What?  That is so cool!

For now it's still in the pot that it came in. I thought I had some potting soil leftover. Turns out, I do not.  So for now, this will do.  We will see if I manage to keep it healthy and happy.

Here is my new plant in my planter turned bird bath turned back into a planter:

It'll look better once I get more potting soil and perhaps another flower or two?

Life proves to me over and over again that no matter what sort of plans I make, it's important to be adaptable.   And in the end, even if it's not what I originally intended, most of the time, it's not bad at all.