Waiting for new lupines

The unknown timing of the next step of the lupine recovery effort occupies my thoughts.
Last spring's bloom resulted in seeds.but the question is whether any will germinate and produce new plants this year.
I've been looking, but so far haven't seen anything that looks like sprouting lupines.
The unexpected January rains have improved the prospects, perhaps.
Other than that, the lupine appear healthy, but I'd love to see a patch of scrub lupine that looks like the sky blue lupine along I-4 near the Polk-Osceola line, which was growing very lushly as I drove by Sunday.

Meanwhile, the one section of fence continues to be vandalized. I'll get to it this weekend.

An old fence cut again

During a check this afternoon and a search for some trash, I found the fence had been cut in the back area near the TECO substation. This section hadn't been cut in a couple of years. I can't figure out the purpose other than simple vandalism.
I did find an electric meter wrapped in an old towlel near the fencel cut. I made a partial fix. I'll come back with extra wire to finish the job.
The biggest trash today was an old car engine head.

Finally, some rain

The December cold fronts were fairly dry. The first front in January dropped 0.8 of an inch, which was welcome because it may aid the germination of seeds put out last year from the first lupine bloom.

The planted areas appear to be in good shape. I checked one of the volunteer lupine sites where the larger plants are located. Both now appear to be in decline. I've seen that with the L. diffusus in the southeast corner, but the cycle seems to be that they come up and either bloom or don't and die, but eventually resprout. That may be the case here.

I checked the fences. They're mostly intact, though bent from being climbed over, it seems. I'm still not sure whether the new fencing solved a problem or created a problem.

No holiday from fence repairs

I stopped by Christmas afternoon to check 0n things and discovered another fence cut had occurred.

It was in back of the vacant lot where the old woman had lived. This time instead of cutting the bottom strands of the barbed wire and the new fence, they cut the top half.

I went out this morning and did a quick fix. I'm beginning to wonder about the wisdom of the double fencing from a maintenance standpoint.It doesn't appear to have kept the dogs out, either.

The older lupine planting appeared to be OK.

I hauled out another bag or so of trash from inside the preserve and the right of way along Hobbs Road. It was starting to look trashy.

Crosstown lupine planting

Tomorrow the usual suspects will be at Mackay Gardens in Lake Alfred to plant some more Scrub Lupine seedlings.

There will be an educational sign, too, I've heard, which is good because that is a more public site and there are more possibilities there.

The city is assisting the effort, so it's a good deal all around.

Post-fire cleanup continues

I continued working my way along the south fire lane to level the remnant piles and removing trash. I took out four bags of trash and a couple of buckets of recyclables while the ground is still clear and the trash is visible.
A freeze is forecast for Tuesday morning.

Collecting the trash, filling the hole

I went out today to finish picking up the trash I had unearthed in the fire lane.

I filled five small garbage bags and a bucket full of recyclables.

I then filled the hole as well as I could. There's always a volume deficit when you haul out that much. It will equalize over time.