Definitely Fall

 

Trees of gold and red and orange line our neighborhood streets. We have had mild weather the last two weeks and not a lot of rain, unlike this summer when we had too much rain.  Fall here is usually sunny and dry.

Yuletide Camellia

 The only thing blooming in the yard is this one Yuletide Camellia flower. An early bloom.  The three camellia bushes usually bloom near the end of November, not the first week of November.

Casa Grande Ruins

Since there is not much blooming going on in  the yard, I will share these last two photos taken on a trip to Phoenix at the end of October. This photo of the "Great House" at the Casa Grande Ruins National Monument was built in the 1300's C.E. It is one of the largest prehistoric structures ever built in North America. The Casa Grande was no longer used around 1450 C.E.  There is a complete village built around this structure.

Arizona Canal

The Arizona Canal is one of 8 major canals in the Phoenix area.  Many of the canals running through the Phoenix area are based on the 1,000 miles of canals the Native Americans built from 500 C.E. to 1450 C.E. to irrigate 100,000 acres of land.  They grew corn, beans, squash, cotton.

Not Much Blooming

Deer Resting in My Backyard

 After two weeks of gray, cloudy weather and rain, we finally saw the sun yesterday.  The deer did not mind resting in the wet grass.  When the sun returned yesterday, so did the cool fall weather. It was 45 degrees here yesterday morning and this morning. We turned the heat on.

Salvia

My three salvia plants are still blooming, but are getting scraggily. The deer chomped on  all the liriope plants so their flowers are gone.

Russian Sage

The Russian Sage  bushes are the only other plants in bloom, but are winding down.

Deck Flowers

When the sun came out yesterday I took a photo of the mums and pansies I planted two weeks ago.  It was the first time I had seen them in the sun.  I have been watching my Yuletide Camellias that were so badly damaged in the so called "snowcrete" we had last winter.  They seem to have buds, so I think they will be okay.  We'll see how they bloom in the November-December time frame.
 

25 Years?

Twin Towers New York

 Has it been 25 years since America was attacked on September 11, 2001? It doesn't seem that long ago to me. 2,753 people died in New York as a result of the attack.

Pentagon,  Arlington, Virginia

At that time I lived near the Pentagon where three of our neighbors died.  That attack, so close to where I lived, stayed with me for a long time. 189 people died at the Pentagon.

 

Shanksville, Pennsylvania

This is a photo from the National Parks Service website of the field of impact of the fourth plane that was brought down by the passengers so that it would not destroy another building.  The park service website calls this "a common field one day, a field of honor forever."  In the far distance on the right you can barely see a speck.  That speck is a huge boulder that marks the point of impact of the plane. 40 people died at Shanksville.

A Rose for remembrance

There were special and solemn remembrances at all three memorials today marking the 25th anniversary of the attack.  Everyone that helped that day was remembered including first responders like EMTs, firefighters, doctors, nurses, ordinary citizens and our Canadian friends who allowed our planes to land there and took care of the passengers. As the petals of the rose unfold in stages, it mirrors how our memories surface little by little.

A Hint of Fall

Weeping Cherry Trees

 Although it is still August, the weeping cherry trees in the yard are always the first trees whose leaves turn color.  We have had cooler weather these past two weeks. Also, because the the strong El Nino in the Pacific, it may be the cause of so many cloudy days and downpours this month.

Russian Sage

The only plants that are doing well this summer are the Russian Sage bushes.  All the rest of the blooms on the perennials are sparse.

Marigolds

 Some of the annuals in pots on my deck are doing well like these marigolds.

Dwarf Peppers

I always put dwarf peppers in one of my deck pots.  I like their shape and brightness. 

Pink Calibrachoa

This pot of pink calibrachoa was full of blooms, but now seems to be winding down.  I have a few more pots of calibrachoa on the deck and the heavy downpours we have been having several days a week have beaten the blooms down, and as soon as they try to recover, they are hit with another downpour. 

Resting Deer 

I was out in the back yard a few days ago taking photos of the Russian Sage bushes, when I looked up and saw a resting deer watching me.  They occasionally rest in the yard, sometimes two or three of them at a time.

August Already!

Heliopsis

 

Although it's August now, you wouldn't know it by looking at my flower gardens. This heliopsis, or false sunflower, is just now coming into bloom.  In  normal year the heliopsis plants would be in full bloom by the first of July. Many plants are behind normal bloom time.

Monarda

I have three monarda, or bee balm, plants that just now come into bloom when normally they start in June.  Since it has been somewhat dry here, they have escaped having powdery mildew this year.

Japanese Anemones

These are one of the few that plants are blooming right on time this year.  I think the brutal, prolonged winter and the late freeze in spring altered a lot of the plants blooming schedules.  Also, it has been so gray here day after day with little rain in June and July which probably pushed back bloom time .

Crepe Myrtle tree

The crepe myrtle tree next to our deck is blooming away.  It lost all of it's leaves that turned brown and died after the late spring frost.  It grew all new leaves and is now blossoming undeterred.  

A Week at the Beach

Sunset on Kiawah Island

 

Every summer our family spends a week at the beach on Kiawah Island, South Carolina.  It is uncrowded  with all natural vegetation. There are no high rise hotels.  Just some homes you can rent. Here are a few photos I took of the Island.

Storm Clouds

Three afternoons while we were there, storm clouds suddenly headed for the beach.  We had to scramble to pack up and get off the beach.  It was time for a late lunch anyway.

Bocce Ball

Because there are no crowds, there are several activities that people do on the beach, like bocce ball, kite flying, volley ball, bike riding, jogging, or just walking and looking for shells.

High Tide

Everyone keeps track of the tides here for the best time to be on the beach for the activities they want to do.

Bike Path

There are several bike paths that traverse the 10 mile long island. Many people bike to get to different parts of the island they want to visit.  When my children were younger, they rode all over the island on bikes.

A Sparse May

Yellow Rose

 This is one of two miniature rose bushes brought at the grocery store a couple of years ago that I planted in the yard.  The deer don't usually come by this area, but this year right after this first bloom, they ate it and all the buds on both bushes.

Pink Astilbe

Not many pink astilbe plants made it through one of our coldest winters this year. The white astilbe plants never showed up.  We had cold weather in the 30's at night right up until the first of June.  I could not believe we  had to turn the heat on some nights the last week of May.  

Salvia

The salvia bloomed right on time in May.

Red Hot Poker

One of three Red Hot Poker plants have bloomed.  The other two don't look like they are going to bloom.  Many trees and plants are finally recovering from the late frost that turned their leaves brown. The crape myrtle tree has grown all new green leaves as well as the three sycamore trees, the camellias, the cotoneaster plants.  Although the cotoneaster plants had no flowers this spring.

A Seesaw Spring

Catmint

 There are several catmint plants in the front yard that have just started to bloom.  The weather has been up and down here all month. Unseasonably cool the first 17 days of May.  We had a night in the high 30's last week and a day where it did not get out of the 50's.  And now we are finally enjoying some heat for three days in the 90's.  And then back down in the 50's in two days.

Spirea bush

Several pink spirea bushes are just staring to bloom. Many plants are late because of the cool, cloudy weather the first three weeks of May.  The freeze that killed the crape myrtle tree leaves are just now starting to recover.  Leaves on three large sycamore trees that were killed in the freeze are now recovering also.

Peony

This is one of three red peony bushes that finally had flowers.  There is one yellow peony bush that was severely damaged in the freeze that is just recovering and has no blossoms yet. So many plants were damaged: the cotoneaster ground cover, the privet bushes, the yuletide camellias.  We'll see how they turn out.

Blueberries

The highbush blueberry bushes have a few berries coming.

Samaritan Jo clematis

 This clematis vine is behind schedule, and just opened three flowers but has several buds.

Dogwood 

Three dogwood trees in the yard are finally in bloom.  Many plants are damaged or late.  Usually by this time in May the temps average 75 to 85, but not this year.  I am longing for warm, sunny summer days.

A Freeze!

Crape Myrtle

 After the burst of warm weather in April, we had a freeze April 22nd that damaged this crape myrtle tree that sits next to our deck.  All the leaves curled up and turned brown.  This photo was taken three days after the freeze.

Pansies

There are four pots of pansies on the deck railing that the freeze did not bother.

Pansies

Another pot of yellow pansies on the deck.  This is one of the three pots that I put in the garage in January and left there until March, when I put them back on the deck. And they bloomed again. 

Perennial Bachelor buttons

There are several perennial bachelor button plants that the deer never bother, but this year they ate all the flowers but these two.

Pink Peony bush

There are five peony bushes in the back yard. This is the first one to bloom.  The rest of the peony bushes are yellow and red.

Purple Iris

A neighbor gave me this iris plant years ago.  There are two other iris plants that are different, but they are just starting to bloom. 

It has been so cloudy and unseasonably cool the last week and a half.  We have been stuck in the 40's at night and 50's during the day. This week we are supposed to have three days of warmer weather.  Then cooler than normal until the third week of May. We usually have temps in the 70"s and low 80's in May. 

Warm!

Daffodils

 We have had three days of warm weather in the 80's and 90's!  We have had to dig out the summer clothes and turn on the air conditioning. You can hear so much birdsong now when you are outside. There are three areas in the yard where there are late blooming white daffodils. This photo was taken 

April 3rd and now they are done blooming.

Brunnera

The brunnera plants are blooming, but they don't seem to have as many blooms and are not quite as a bright blue as last year.

Violets

One of the many purple violets that bloom throughout the pachysandra on the side yard .  They appeared just after the dandelions.

Grape Hyacinths

Grape hyacinths are growing around this tree trunk and in a side garden near the front of the house.

Clematis vine

I have a clematis called Samaritan Jo that has white blooms.  I see some flower buds on it and it should be blooming soon.

Viburnum bush

There is a viburnum bush, sometimes called the snowball bush, in the back yard that has beautiful white blooms.  It doesn't have a lot of blooms, probably because we don't prune it until fall (instead of right after it blooms) because birds always build a nest in it in spring.

Now after this recent hot spell we are supposed to get a possible freeze one night this week. I hope it doesn't bother the plants.  I have planted pansies in my deck railing pots.  They will handle the freeze, but I have held off getting petunias for my large deck pots because of this possible freeze.

Finally Spring

March 11 snowfall

 My daffodils had just bloomed three days ago when we got a light snowfall.  We had just had three wonderfully sunny days with temps in the 70's

.

The Next Day

Melting started immediately with temps hovering around 33 degrees, and the next morning the daffodils started recovering.

Daffodils fully recovered

It took a few days, but all the daffodils were finally standing up straight.  This photo was taken on March 21st, 10 days after the snowfall. And you can see the catmint plants emerging behind the daffodils.

Cherry Trees

There are four cherry trees on the side yard that just burst into bloom around the same time. All the cherry trees in the neighborhood are blooming also.

Pear trees

 At the same time the two pear trees in the back yard put out their blossoms.  It seemed everything bloomed right before the March 20th equinox.  We have had the coldest winter in years here as have a lot of other areas.  It has been so gray all winter, so it's wonderful to feel the warmth of the sun and see all the plants come to life.