Spring, Finally

First Daffodil Bloom

 Spring is late to this area.  After a very snowy and bitterly cold February, there were signs of spring the end of the first week of March.

Maple Tree

None of the trees in the yard showed any signs of leaf budding until the end of the first week of March. The Bradford pears trees in the yard showed no signs of budding.

Hellebores Cinnamon Snow

I have several hellebores in the back yard under a stand of trees that usually bloom in February. This year many of the flowers just started to open the first week of March also. Many of the flower buds are still tightly closed.

Pansies

 I have four pots of pansies in railing pots on the deck that I planted last fall. They have been snowed on, frozen to single digits many times, and they are still alive. They looked brown and dead, but last week some green started showing through the winter damage. Two blooms appeared this week. 

Winter Holiday

Joshua Tree

 

My family took a weeks vacation in January to Palm Springs. One of the sights we visited was Joshua Tree National Park.  We visit a national park almost every year. We had visited Joshua Tree National ten years ago. It seemed to me that there were a lesser amount of Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) this time we visited.

Cholla Garden

 We saw the cholla garden in Joshua Tree National Park. Teddy Bear cholla (Opuntia bigelovii) also known as jumping cholla tend to grow in clustered formations.  They seem to jump at anything that brushes by as a way to propagate. They have barbed spines that make it hard to take them out of skin.

Rock Formation in Joshua Tree Nat Park

 There are many rock formations in the park that attract climbers.

Windmill Farm

We toured one of the several windmill farms in Palm Springs.  Winds come through the San Gorgonio Pass. There is enough wind energy to power almost the entire Coachella valley. There are over 3,000 wind turbines in Palm Springs, one of the largest in the United States.

Winter

First Snow

 

The first snow we had here was January 2, and it was very light.

Second Snow

The weather turned extremely cold and six days later we had 81/2 inches of snow. This is the same area of the yard as the first photo, and you can see the deer tracks in the snow.  We had bitterly cold weather (it did not get above freezing) as much of the country did for almost three weeks. We had single digit temps in the morning during that time. We finally got above freezing, and the snow which was ice hard, finally started melting.  We could finally see grass.

Yuletide Camellias

The three Yuletide Camellia bushes were still blooming at the first light snow  on January 2.

Yuletide Camellias

After all that freezing weather and snow, the Yuletide camellias are looking tired and worn. But there are still buds that haven't opened. We are supposed to get 50 degree temps one or two days this week.   At that time I will be checking on the helleborus plants in the backyard

Third Snow

We got our third snow storm (along with a lot of the country) of about 9 inches last night the 11th of February. We are looking at another storm next week.

Amaryllis

When I can't have flowers outside, I have them inside. One of my sons gave me this amaryllis bulb for Christmas and it finally bloomed a week ago. When it is so cold and snowy during the winter, our family likes to vacation for a week in a warm climate.  I will share photos from our January trip next time.

Happy Holidays

Yuletide Camellias

 Fall flew by without any posts on my blog. Vacation trips to the beach and to Minnesota took time, and then it seemed to be Thanksgiving.  Shopping for family and friends, as well as for four birthdays in the family took a lot of time.  But the three Yuletide Camellias in the yard bloomed right on time. 

Japanese Anemones

Fall photos that I managed to take include these Japanese Anemones. I have three of these plants that have done exceptionally well almost to the point of taking over this garden that they are in.

Chrysanthemums

This is one of the pots of chrysanthemums I had on the deck in the fall.

Pansies

I filled four railing pots with pansies in the fall.  They are still in the pots but very bedraggled with the cold weather we have had in most of December.  Temps went down to the high tens a couple of nights, but most of the night s were in the twenties.  We'll see if they survive and bloom in spring.

Rose

 

An unopened rose that I originally got at the grocery store and planted in the yard last year. It bloomed this summer and continued to bloom well into the fall.  This photo was taken at the end of November as it was still trying to bloom in the micro climate that surrounds it.

Happy New Year

Too Much Heat, Not Enough Rain

Heliopsis

Our area in Virginia is in a drought watch, which means we should minimize nonessential water use. Several areas in Virginia are in a moderate drought because of so little rain and very hot temps in the 90's most days.  But summer plants are blooming. I have four of these heliopsis plants that I planted four years ago when we moved here.  They bloom reliably, and the deer don't touch them.

Coreopsis

I planted four coreopsis plants last year in the garden near the stand of trees, but only two are blooming this year.  The deer did not bother them last year, but they nibbled on them this year.

Gladiolus

This late blooming gladiolus was a surprise.  It seemingly appeared out of nowhere in July .  There are no gladiolus that I know of anywhere in or near our yard.

Eastern Red Cedar

 This Eastern Red Cedar was another surprise. It suddenly appeared under the stand of trees in June.  I suspect that all the rain we had in the spring helped everything bloom and grow, and this was just waiting for the right conditions.  There are two baby cedars that appeared behind it.

The Heat is On

Yarrow

 We finally got the heat the other parts of the country has had. I love hot sunny weather. 
It has been in the 90's many days in the last two weeks.  The hottest we recorded in our yard was 98.  But the good thing about all this hot weather is that we have had low humidity around 40 to 50% most days. It reminded me of Phoenix weather somewhat, although the humidity was usually much lower there. Here is a stand of red Yarrow in the far backyard. The deer won't touch it.

Red Hot Poker

My Red Hot Poker plants are blooming like crazy in the heat and sun.

Highbush Blueberries

The highbush blueberries are finally fruiting.  There are still some green ones near the center of the photo.  The two bushes were in the yard when we bought the house. They don't produce many berries and we let the animals eat them.

Eastern Bluebird

Speaking of blue, we have a pair of nesting bluebirds under the deck.  This male of the pair is sitting on the deck railing. This photo was taken out of my family room door.  Every time I tried to get closer to the window to get a better photo, he would fly away.   

Cosmos 

I always buy a few annuals to complement the perennials in the yard. Here is a photo  of one of several cosmos plants I bought.

 

Summer, Finally

White Astilbe

 

Summer has finally arrived here in northern Virginia. We finally broke out of the low 50's at night and  above 70 during the day. The almost daily rain and clouds seem to be gone. We have had three days of sunshine in a row now.  We have had very low humidity, 30 to 40 percent which is unusual for this area. The white Astilbe has just bloomed under the trees in the side yard among the pachysandra.  The pink Astilbe in the same area bloomed three weeks ago and has just finished.

Hairy Beardtongue

The hairy beardtongue (Penstemon Blackbeard) in the far backyard area has been blooming for a few weeks. I think it is showy, pretty and delicate.

St. John's Wort

There are several St. John's Wort bushes that line the far backyard.  This is a close up of the bright yellow flowers that can be seen out my kitchen window even though they are a half an acre away.

Red Hot Poker

I have three torch-like red hot poker plants (Kniphofia uvaria). This herbaceous perennial likes well-drained soil and full sun.  They are attractive to bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, but not to deer. Almost everything in my yard has to be deer resistant, as the yard is regularly traversed by deer.

Salvia

There are salvia plants in the same garden as the red hot poker plants, and they have finally come into full bloom.