Christmastime at The Tropical Paradise

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It's December 22nd, and The Tropical Paradise is settling in for winter. I turned off the water about a month ago, so the moisture that you see on the flagstone is just from the rain we had a couple of days ago. The cannas and the elephant ears are still growing, as is the lettuce, which I am now harvesting. Of course, the turf is artificial, so it doesn't require any water. Best investment I ever made. I won't need to turn the water back on until February.

The temperature right now at 9:30 am is in the low forties, (about 6 C) and it should get into the high fifties (about 15 C) by this afternoon. My backyard gets a lot of shade, which is good for the summertime, but not so good in the winter when you want to go out and work on your tan! There is enough sun on the other side of the yard (where Macintosh is looking) for flowering bulbs like daffodils and freesia, which I have seen bloom here as early as January. That would be nice to see again.

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