The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

That may not be the perfect way to describe what's happening (or not) in our backyard, since I'm not quite sure which situation to describe as bad and which as ugly. The Good, The Disappointing, and The Mystery would be more accurate.

I'll start with The Disappointing and save The Good for last. Since I promised an update on the upside down tomato planting experiment, I'll start there. Let's just say it's mostly show and little go - or all foliage and no fruit. Oh, make that two small tomatoes which don't show much interest in ripening anytime soon. We've been fairly faithful with watering, not as much with fertilizing. Call it bad or ugly, but all-in-all it's pretty much a disappointment.
The Mystery has to do with some plantings we did about two months ago. We're still trying to adapt to a semi-tropical climate, so have decided it's best to stick with things that are native to the area. Fortunately, I'd done a freelance story on the oldest business in Seminole County, the Crystal Lake Nursery, which only sells plants that are native to central Florida. Among other things, we picked up several decorative peanut plants--a groundcover that produces yellow flowers. Bob weeded around them last weekend and we noticed they were thriving and spreading, as expected. On Tuesday I noticed 3 holes in the bed where the peanut plants had been. They had obviously been dug up and removed by someone. No sign of any animals. To our knowledge, the only people who have been in our backyard, besides us, are the lawn service folks. After playing a few rounds of phone tag with the lawn service supervisor, we connected, and though they claim none of their crew is responsible, they have agreed to replace them. Doesn't solve the mystery, but does fill the holes. 

The Good: The hydrangea that we planted last summer, and did nothing to protect during the winter, has come back in full splendor--producing oodles of blue and pink flowers. I love hydrangeas! I love the fact that novices that we are, we've been able to add just the right amount of acid to the soil to get some blue flowers! It doesn't quite compensate for the disappointing tomato plant, or the 'lost' peanut plants, but it does make me smile when I step outside and a full-blooming hydrangea greets me.