Mid-February staycation

We are half way through the cold season, or at least in my book that mark it as "plant now" after the Valentine day is over. I'm actually running behind the schedule on planting this year but it's for a good reason - didn't want my seedlings to die while I was away from home.  My hubby will water the big plants but seedlings require a lot more care than he'd like to be saddled with :)

Speaking of "big plants", the greenery in my home decided to wake up early this year. I normally overwinter few plants in the Addition livingroom where they are kept at about 55 degrees until spring and then I set them out in spring. But because my sister was visiting for 3 weeks she had that place set on high 70 and that triggered early "wake up" call for plants. I guess it's ok, they did get few weeks to rest.  Figs went into overdrive on new foliage and even started setting fruit.
My citrus went to bloom as well, but they always bloom in January so no surprise there. 
What was surprising is that my new grapevine that I'm keeping in a pot went into over-drive. I just hope that it will be ok because I'm not expecting to set this one out until mid-may at least.  Oh well, what's done is done and I just have to roll with it. Honestly I can't wait for spring to hurry up  and get here as I want to move them all outside and clean the space. And to get rid of all the aphids that have been attacking my poor plants. I don't like to spray anything inside the house so have to give them a bath instead, but would be nice to put them outside and let nature help with ladybugs and ants.

In the meantime, I'm sorting through my seeds and going to pick up seedling starter mix and get going with planting!

Greetings from Lisbon!

Once again I had to travel for work, but thankfully it's nice and sunny and warm in Portugal so I'm not complaining. Having left cold and snowy NJ for a week, I thought I'd entertain people with some nice pictures of the local stuff like fabulous sunrise, beach, incredibly tasty food and of course flower arrangements that I've seen in the hotel.
 
 
It's really beautiful place to be and I highly recommend everyone to visit at least once to experience it.