Other plants that have flowered despite the freeze and burning sun are the red and yellow Pride of Barbados (caesalpinia pulcherrima) and an orange orchid tree (bauhinia galpini); the former is from the Caribbean; the latter from Africa--which tells us why they are doing well.

My hummingbird bushes (hamilia patens) have sluggishly recovered from freezing to the ground; the oldest and largest is about to bloom. Many birds like to eat their black fruit, then drop it--with a little personal fertilizer--yielding new plants. Moved to other beds, they get taller by the minute. Swallowtail butterflies and many other pollinators seem to be attracted to a hamilia outside my living room window. Dick and Diane Schenke showed me the joy of having hummingbird bushes near a window so one can observe hummingbirds up close.

   I like hamilias so much that I bought a new cultivar last year that has yellow leaves edged with red—"Lime Sizzler Firebush”--a Southern Living plant. I despaired after they froze, but like the green hamilia, they slowly recovered. Though not yet tall enough to show their yellow leaves above the day lilies, they are said to reach 4-5 feet.

Variegated-leaf plants give color even when nothing is blooming. I love them.

This year, my special garden treat was putting in beds along the creek, which you can see from the front fence. Their scalloped curves are planted with both giant elephant ears (colocasia) and giant purple-leaf crinums (crinum asiaticum).