Finally, Spring

4/10/13

Yoshino cherry blossoms

     It sure took its time, but spring finally arrived with a vengeance here.  We went from the 50's to the 80's in five days.  And every plant and tree that has been holding back has finally burst into bloom.  The famed cherry blossoms around the Tidal Basin in Wasjington, DC finally bloomed three days ago.  So many tourists have come to see them in the last two weeks and have missed their blooming.

     There are some Bradford pear trees in the neighborhood that just put out their flowers today.  I know they are a problematic tree, but I love their blossoms and their chalky fragrance.  Here are some photos from my yard of what has just bloomed.

      These are some of the Yoshino cherry trees in my front yard.  They just bloomed today.

daffodils

hyacinth

crocus

     These tulips in the back yard are up but not a one is blooming.  I still have some hyacinths that are holding out also.

My Brother's Florida Garden

4/7/13

Star begonia

     During our recent Florida trip we spent a couple of days at my brother's home in Lakeland, Florida.  He and his wife have taken out all the grass in their back yard and have put in plants, bushes and trees, making this a wildlife-friendly area.

     These photos were all taken in their yard.  Most of these plants were new to me.

Bridal bouquet

     This Bridal bouquet bush has unique leaves that look like a spoon with a long handle to me.  It wasn't flowering while I was there, but it produces lovely white flowers that would make a beautiful bridal bouquet.

Nun's orchid

     I have never lived in a tropical area, so it was surprising to me to see orchids just blooming away in the yard.

Snowbush

     This Snowbush brightened a corner of the yard with its snowy-colored leaves.

Winged elm

     One of the trees they planted in the front yard was this Winged elm.  This tree was new to me.  If you look closely you can see corky wings along its branches.  This elm grows in the southeast US, and it is susceptible to Dutch elm disease.

Prayer plant

     Many gardeners grow this as a houseplant, but in Florida and the tropics it can grow in the ground outside.  It is also known as arrowroot.  There are many species of this plant.

Japanese blueberry

      This Japanese blueberry is in the front yard.  It is evergreen and grows in zones 8-11.  It produces a fragrant, creamy flowers and a blue-black, olive-like fruit. Older leaves can turn bright red in the fall before dropping.




bromiliad

      This bromiliad has purple flowers, name long forgotten.  Many of these plants were given to my brother and his wife from neighbors up and down the street.  Another surprise I saw was a beautiful, red stand of amaryllis blooming in their next door neighbors yard.  I have only grown them in a pot in winter.  Oh the things you can grow in Florida!

James J. Smith Bonsai Gallery

3/29/13

     We just returned from a week in Florida to this snowy scene in our backyard last weekend.  We didn't expect this.  Isn't winter over?

     While in Florida we toured the James J. Smith Bonsai Gallery located in the Heathcote Botanical Gardens in the town of Ft. Pierce.  The James J. Smith Bonsai Gallery is the largest public tropical bonsai collection in the United States.  It features 100 bonsai trees on permanent display and special rotating exhibits by guest bonsai artists.

     James Smith started studying bonsai in 1950 by reading books.  When he moved to Vero Beach, Florida in 1956, he discovered tropical bonsai.  He studied under some of the most accomplished bonsai teachers in America.  He has written many articles for bonsai publications and pictures of his bonsai can be seen in books published around the world.  He started a nursery in 1979 and has been providing quality bonsai to customers ever since.  The following photos are from this special gallery.

bougainvillea

weeping fig

dwarf jade

surinam cherry

Brazilian raintree

dwarf schefflera

ficus retusa

neea

     As you can see, he is one of the leading artists in his field.  I was charmed by so many of his works during my quiet, contemplative visit to this gallery.  Next post will be about other places I visited in Florida, since not much is happening in my gardens yet.

Hurry Spring

3/5/13

tulips from the grocery

    

     We have had some really cold weather the last two weeks and lots of grey, cloudy days.  And now we are facing a snowstorm.  I bought these potted tulips at the grocery to help me think spring.  Despite all this winter weather, signs of spring are ocurring.

     In the last two weeks I have heard birdsong almost daily.  The sun feels a litlle stronger, the days are getting longer.  It's hard to believe that daylight savings time starts this weekend.  The trees are budding.  And some things are emerging in the yard.  The tulip bulbs I planted in the back yard are pushing through the soil.  But the daffodils in the side front garden are still hiding.  The rose bushes have tiny buds forming.

tulips in back yard

buds on rose bush

 

twelve feet deep

     We finally have had our plumbing problems found and fixed.  It has been an awful last two weeks at the house, with intermittent stays at a hotel because we had no water.  There were two problem pipes.  Fixing the first involved jackhammering the cement slab under the family room floor to get to and repair that pipe.  Dust everywhere, and we couldn't use the room for several days.  The repair of the second problem involved a six-foot-deep hole on one side of the front yard, and a twelve-foot-deep hole on the other side of the front yard. 



looking into the twelve foot deep trench

      There were two backhoes here, huge piles of dirt, and it took five days to complete it all.  What a circus it was.  The new ceiling and floor in the basement that was flooded were finally finished today.  I feel that we can finally start living normally in the house as repairs are finall getting done.  Except for the dryer.  It is still not working properly.

     We are all fairly exhausted from all this, and we have decided we are going to Florida next week to recoup, visit relatives, get some sun and see some spring training games.    

Finally Moved In

2/18/13

     Whew!  We're in our new house.  But what a job moving is.  I have finally found all my clothes and dishes.  The kitchen is set up.  So we are making progress.  But it has been nightmarish with one crisis after another.  It has gotten so bad we wake up every morning wondering what will go wrong that day.  The house looks nice on the outside, but it is a maintenance nightmare on the inside.

     We woke up this morning with no heat.  Over the last two weeks we have had sewage back up into the laundry room from the drain in the floor five times that ruined the basement rec room ceiling and floor (plumbers think they have finally found the problem), a front storm door that blew off during move-in, no phone service or mail for the first week (even though these were taken care of before the move), a dryer that won't work properly (the repairman after two visits says he has pinpointed the problem, and it will be fixed this week), a fireplace with a damper that's broken.  We have had some repair person here every day since we moved in.  I don't think I will ever buy an old house again.

     But we are thankful we did not get the snowstorm the northeast got last weekend or this weekend.  And I am glad to see ten hours of daylight that we get after January 25th.  Some bulbs I planted in November are poking through the soil.  Here are photos of some of the tulips I planted in the back yard garden.

Pink Diamond tulips



Mellow Yellow mix tulips




White Silver Dollar tulip

      I hope after this week things settle down.  And I hope Punxutawney Phil was right about an early spring.

The Bones of Winter

1/25/13

woods behind my house

     We've had three light snowfalls here with the fourth one coming today.  But the real story is the bitter cold that has enveloped the mid-Atlantic region the last several days.  It has been in the teens at night and the 20's during the day, but the wind chills have made it feel like it is in the single digits.  I know in the northeast it is even colder.

     The bare trees without their leafy disguise are showing their bones.  I took these photos of the trees around the rental house we are still in.  Several crises have developed during the renovation of the house we bought which pushed our move forward three weeks.  But we are finally moving in one week.  Can't wait.

oak tree

kwanzan cherry tree

magnolia tree with bird

magnolia tree close up

sunset on the woods

     Even though winter is my least favorite season, I am able to find beauty if I look.

Awaiting Spring Blooms

1/12/13

     These three gardens are on the side near the front of the house.  In late November right after we closed on the house, I planted about 50 Dutch Master daffodils in these beds around the rose bushes that are in the center of each garden  I am anxious to see what color/kind of roses are planted here, since they were through blooming when we bought the house.  In about ten weeks I should see the daffodil blooms.

Dutch Master daffodils

 

front garden

      In this garden along the front of the house I planted St. Patrick's Day daffodils and Delft Blue hyacinths.

St. Patrick's Day daffodils

back yard garden

     In the back yard garden I planted three kinds of daffodils:  Rushlight, Gigantic Star, and Papillon Blanc, as well as Delft Blue hyacinths, crocus and several colors of tulips.

Rushlight daffodils

Gigantic Star daffodils

Papillon Blanc daffodils

     My next post will tell about the tulips I planted.  We are moving in two weeks, and we are still renovating and running boxes over to the new house which is about 4 miles away from the house we are renting.  I will be glad when all this is done and we are moved.  But I can dream about my gardens in the meantime.