Finally Flowers

The yellow-flowered tree by my lanai is suddenly blooming. It had been dropping leaves like crazy, making it feel like fall in April. The leaves finally stopped, then I was thinking to myself that I never saw a lot of blooms, and maybe it was just poor conditions this year or something. But then suddenly today, it was covered:

While I was out on my lanai, I watered my plants. My hibiscus has had a lot of aphids on it. At first, I sprayed them with soapy water, as is my wont. But then I noticed there were ladybug lymphs on it. They eat aphids! Woo hoo! I’ve left the plant alone so the ladybugs can do their thing. And they really have:

It’s kind of hard to see. Here’s a zoom-in:

The white things are all dead aphids. Yeah! There is a lady bug under the bud, and some juvenile ladybugs on the bud itself. Go ladybugs!