April 2020 Bloom Day

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of the month

I didn't think there was much blooming for this month's post, but I looked for blooms in the gardens... and I found some!

The last of the poeticus daffodils are blooming.

Pieris japonica is blooming.

Azalea Snow was part of the original landscape over 25 years ago. Yup -- this is a dwarf azalea.

Ajuga looks amazing at this time of year when all the plants push out blue blooms.

I just noticed the Polygonatum (Solomon's Seal) is beginning to bloom.

Virburnum plicatum closeup. I wish it was fragrant.

Dogwood

For other garden bloggers' bloom day photos, spring over to the blog May Dreams Gardens.

And Into Adulthood

From season to season, year to year, I wish some of my garden inhabitants would pick up the pace and grow a little faster. I often imagine what they would look like when fully grown after initially placing them in their 'permanent' new homes. In reality, I only imagine the feeling or ambience each would create, and not the actual visual.


Some of those plants are now in their adulthood. Consider the phlox divaricata or woodland phlox. This was a plant sale purchase at a local botanic garden. It is now in its year five and as vibrant as ever. I wrote about its three-year birthday in 2016. [posted 29.04.2016] In fact, it is now getting to a point where I don't want it to spread any more. Some pieces have ended up in neighbor's yards and at the local plant swap.

As another example, take my 'dwarf' Snow azaleas. Please. They are beautiful, but I cannot label them dwarf any longer. They are part of the first attempt at landscaping after purchasing my abode in late 1980s. I killed one trying to move it. It was too close to the magnolia tree, and extracting its roots intertwined with the tree roots was like pulling a tooth - I dare not repeat with the other four plants so I left them and they seem to be happy for it.


Oh that red one - the one that looks like something from your LSD trip? That was in the yard when I bought this place. I just moved it down to the end of the yard with the new white azaleas so they all had some company and could get to know each other. Red has remained somewhat dwarf because I trim it back every so often. I hate those unnatural sickening colors.

Now I wait for the bearded iris and the daylilies that I have bred to bloom some year. I thought one or two of the seven iris would flower out this year, but looks like another year's wait.

April 2016 Bloom Day

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of the month

Leave the office early on a sunny Friday afternoon. Rush home to beat the rush hour traffic. Test out the new nuclear powered camera for the first time on the blog. See what's in the zone 7a garden.

I still have the simple rustic Canon Elph that I used for nine years -- for all blog photos up to now -- except for a few iPad and iPhone photos. But the new Canon T5i, well, there are as many settings as the space shuttle. Let's try figuring this contraption out to get closer than the old camera did. One photo was taken with a lens attachment that did not produce a clear image. Put that attachment in the closet or sell it.

My, I have a lot of white photos. I just realized that after looking at what I shot this afternoon. But the white is not all in one place except on my blog. The sun is setting, on another Bloom Day.

Maybe a new camera will help me take photos like A Tidewater Gardener, you think? Nah, no way.

Cornus florida

Azalea 'Snow'

Spirea prunifolia (Bridal Wreath)

Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum 'Shasta'
Looking better now -- years after I severely pruned it and almost lost it

Pieris japonica cultivar

Phlox divaricata -- this is its third year and its leaping!

Tulip 'Princess Irene' not looking good in its second year

Narcissus poeticus -- the late fragrant daffodil even the ant appreciates

For other garden bloggers bloom day photos, check out our host at blog May Dreams Gardens.

A Patriotic Spring

It's been almost a month since the last post - there is little happening in the garden at this time of year. And, Google dumped me into Google Plus requiring information that screwed up my blog, Blogger profile, settings, and name that I cannot correct. (Was that Wordpress option still open?) This mess also prevented me from commenting on other blogs, (unless authored with my 'new' Google Plus account.)

The back yard looks like the 4th of July - red, white and blue. The white 'snow' azaleas were planted under the magnolia and dogwood when both trees and shrubs were small. I tried moving one two years ago and killed it. The azalea roots are too entangled with the trees.

The red (shocking acid pink) azalea is loud and was here when I bought the house over 20 years ago. Although very popular around town, I would never buy a plant of this color. It looks like my yard is on an LSD trip. Keep it from getting too big and put a white azalea next to it to calm your brain down.

The blue ajuga reptans has never looked so good or thick. It really loves its part shade and dry clay home. A few sprigs were picked up at our neighborhood plant swap two years ago and now, wow.

That barren viburnum is another story for later.

Enjoy the cool colors while the season progresses and while I learn how to restore myself on Google.

Wine & Wetlands

I resolved this summer to visit many of the local sites and attractions that I have never visited. I guess that human nature is such that convenient nearby activities and diversions are not a high priority since the opportunity for a visit will always be there.

A leisurely Sunday was spent visiting a few Maryland attractions located less than an hour's drive away. A wine sampling at Friday's Creek winery lead to a stroll through its old tobacco barn art gallery. Afterwards, a hike ensued at Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary, and then a visit to Lower Marlboro Nursery, specializing in native species and run by a local women in her front yard.

The walk on the boardwalk at Jug Bay, along the tidal Patuxent River, yielded opportunities for bird spying on some winged friends not found in my neighborhood. Five osprey nests on platforms dotted the wetlands. Seven great blue herons foraged near each other. A group of palm warblers played in the trees on the old railroad bed trail. Bird watching friends brought along a scope to bring the birds closer.

The trails were filled in with a native rhododendron shrub in bloom, more appealing and delicate than the solid-color pink and fuchsia azaleas overpopulating every suburban garden in the area. A lookup on the internet revealed them as a Pinxter Azalea (Rhododendron periclymenoides (Michx.) Shinners). It likes wet areas, which explains why it was found in the shady spots around the shores of the wetlands. It is also supposed to be highly toxic to both humans and animals, leading one to believe it deer-proof.

The end of the wetlands trails wove along a beaver lodge, where red belly turtles were sunning themselves, perched on logs and rocks in the pond behind - 45 turtles in all. Orange-red coloring around the bottom of the shell with yellow and black tripes on the head were certainly not considered camouflage.

Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: coreopsis, iris, allium

April 2010 Bloom Day

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of each month

This day, I got the urge to be more creative with the photos. Lighting from behind the azalea, lighting casting shadows to bring out highlights, chartreuse all alone among the red, and depth of field changing.

It is a toss-up on which photo to submit for this month's photo contest Green World theme. Please help me decide.

Doublefile Viburnum buds		St. John's Wort 'Brigadoon'
Azalea 'Snow'		Dogwood

Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: dogwood, azalea, poet & chiffon daffodils, grape hyacinth   • Seedlings: tomatoes, pepper, cleome, millet sprouted