One of my favorite things about gardening – the little bursts of joy along the way. Finding that first tomato, or mango, or anything edible that I have planted is a true joy. This week it was the hidden treasures that survived and thrived through record breaking cold to provide flowers for my Monday vase.

I have been hauling dead bodies out of the garden this week. Plants only! although I found some frozen invasive lizards; unfortunately after the dog (who was fascinated) did. The good news, I gather they were not very tasty or emerald green guts offend greyhounds, so I got my tongs and removed the offending lizards. I like our little native Anole lizards, but the invasives are sometimes a foot long, ugh!

The most interesting survivor this week is the Graptosedum succulent. Flowering! I always thought these were tropical, but they are fine. There seems to be a microclimate where these were growing in a pot, uncovered. Another garden mystery to ponder.

The tulips of South Florida are back again – pink flowers from Quesnelia testudo bromeliad. These Quesnelias are known for their cold tolerance. This one is common much further north of my garden. The flowers that were open burned to beige, but the new ones look great. The spiky stem in the back is a flower stalk from Dracaena reflexa. I am not sure what this was doing, there are berries on the plant, so it could be forming berries or just burnt from the cold. The ferny stuff is Climbing Asparagus Fern, a weed that pops up from time to time.

That is all from my garden this week. Hopefully, no more cold or lizard finds in the foreseeable future. Visit Cathy’s blog RamblingintheGarden and follow the links to see more vases.