You lose some . . . you win some?

One of the cucumber plants died. My home help told me one seemed to be in trouble. When I went to see, I found the stem of one plant seemed to have been hollowed out. As I looked, I disturbed some tiny black flies, which flew away. The second plant was fine. I sprayed both with neem soap solution but couldn't save the affected one.

 Cucumber -- plant in the foreground is dying

I finally transplanted the lettuce -- the seedlings seemed to have grown large enough. But they are so delicate and languishing. Do hope they will survive.

Lettuce, just transplanted

I have some new additions to the garden-- calladiums and an agave. I will have to put some pebbles around the calladiums until they spread or I find some other ground cover. Otherwise the rain will splash earth all over them and they'll start languishing too.

Calladium

Agave

Some old and trusted friends continue to bloom. The pink hibiscus was trimmed right back to a third of its length but has loyally started flowering again, even though my husband felt I'd been cruel to it. He's a bit like Dogmatix in the Asterix comics. Hates it when I prune plants, even though I've explained that it's good for them. I have to prepare him for the sight whenever I'm going to prune.

Hibiscus

Evening bells

Clematis