Monday, March 30, 2009

Frosty Monday Morning

Yes, we woke to frost this morning. I didn't mind because the flowers didn't seem to mind it at all. The only thing that seemed to mind was the magnolia tree. The winds that brought the rain and then the cold and frost blew off many of the petals. We have a path that has been almost covered with magnolia leaves. What blooms that are left on the tree look pretty yucky.The white tulips out front just thumbed their pretty noses at the frost...you go girls.
Those freckled hellebores just giggled at the cross weather.
The hyacinths are a little fickle. They laid almost down then perked up in the sun. I hope this is our last frost.





Friday, March 27, 2009

Skywatch Friday

For the most part this week it has been fairly sunny with just a few clouds in the sky.

The weather people keep saying we will have some rain. I am ever hopeful since our garden could use some more rain. This blanket of clouds that came rolling in gave us a half inch of rain. It felt good. The grass responded by growing greener.

For more Skywatching all over the world go here. Have a great weekend.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

In and Out of the Garden

I went with a friend to a nursery a 2hr drive from our house. She had a credit there from a big job several years ago and decided it was time to collect. She got a shrub for a space where a tree died...anyway... We took the scenic route home. We drove across this covered bridge. It has been a long time since I went through a covered bridge. It spanned the White River. It seemed like a long drive through this one-car bridge. The bridge had been partially burned down a few years ago. The roof was replaced.
We also stopped at Williams Dam. The water was pouring over the dam as the spring thaw has the river running fast.
We stopped at a DQ for some refreshment. Near little town of Logoottee there is an Amish community. Logoottee has hitching posts at many of the stores in town. You often see horse and buggies hitched to the posts. I couldn't resist taking a picture of this horse and buggy. I don't think he wanted his picture taken. I apologized to him for my actions. I couldn't help myself. Back home I found the first honey bee of the season on the heather we just planted. Initially I only planted one since I didn't know if they would grow in this spot. When I saw the honey bee in this spot I went back and got two more. I hope they grow. And you thought I only posted about birds when I was out of the garden... Have a great weekend everyone.

Monday, March 23, 2009

A Spring Walk

We took Luna to the park today for a walk. It was warm but overcast. They are predicting rain every day lately but nothing has been in the gauge to measure as yet. At the beginning of the trail we were walking is a creek. It had a Great Blue Heron hunting along its edge. The river is up so the creek is high. I suppose there are more fish to lure the Great Blue Heron into less heron-like territory. He flew away when we approached. Way up the hill on top of a broken off tree.
Yes, that is it on top of the tree acting like a wood duck. The Wood Ducks are back trying to pick out the perfect nest hole. They fuss so when you walk near their territories.
The forest floor is alive again. It is such fun to see. The tiny ferns that carpet the forest floor have sprouted as the Trillium is blooming.
Wood Anemones are blooming up a storm. Not a great picture. I have broken my new camera and I can't
seem to get my old camera working properly. The Blood Root is blooming too. I just love this delicate plant. I have a double that grows in our garden but it isn't out of the ground yet. Hmmmmm If you would like to see a really good picture of blood root and read more about it you can go over to Marvin's blog. He has a great post about it.
I am not real good with wildflowers. I learn them one year and forget over winter what everything is. Like this sweet little pinky-violet flower. There is lots of it blooming but I don't know what it is.
As we head back up the hill to the truck I thought you might like to see these natural steps. The tree to the right has roots sticking up just at the right heigt for steps.
It is such a pleasure to walk the woods this time of year. You never know what you will come upon.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Mellow Yellow in the Garden

What with the magnolia blooming and a few red tulips I was thinking our garden was beginning to look quite lively when my DB made the remark that we have lots of yellow in the garden now. Hmmmmm See there is another color other than yellow. These tulips are only about six inches high. They almost get lost in the bed. I hate to move them because I think they have reproduced here. This area is a difficult area to get anything to grow in.What with the daffodils and the forsythia blooming up a storm there is quite a bit of yellow.Some of the narcissus do throw a shot of orange into the mix.
I hope your weekend is bright despite what the weather might be throwing at you.


Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Carolina Wrens Nesting

I just had told my DB that I wanted to get some pansies for the window box at the kitchen window and I noticed wren action. The Carolina Wrens are building a nest in the greenery in the window box. As some of you might recall, I put a wren box at one end of the window box as a decoration.
The Carolina wrens don't use this type of nesting box. They like to make their big nests in something but nothing as small as a Wren nesting box. The House Wrens, which haven't returned for the summer, do use the boxes.
It is fun to watch the pair build their nest. The male and female work at bringing materials to the building site. They use leaves, duff, feathers and any other material that they find suitable.
Obviously I couldn't get my camera to ignore the screen I was looking through. All of the birds in the neighborhood are singing up a storm. There will soon be nests everywhere.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day 3/15/09

While this doesn't look much like a bloom at first glance this rock is covered with blooming moss. I just love to discover the moss in early spring with their limey green blooms going on the rock. It is looking very Irish wouldn't you say?? A new bloom for this month is also a new bloom for my garden ever. This is a Hellebore that is a passalong plant and I don't know what kind it is. It is different than any others in my garden. The bloom stalk is tall and the blooms are a pinkish color and hang straight down. This bloom stalk seemed to come from nowhere except for the fact I knew there were helebores planted here. I was so happy it decided to make a show this month at bloom day. I had to hold its little face up to take a picture of it. It sure is a pretty blush of color.The only daffodils that I have blooming right now are the minatures. They are in clumps scattered all around the garden. They may be the smallest but they are the bravest as they pop up first and are the first daffodils to bloom every year.
One of my favorites is really putting on a show this spring. Pussy Willow. It is just full of these beautiful little catkins. I can hardly keep my hands off of them.
The other flowers blooming in my garden I posted a week ago. You can see them here. To see blooms from other gardens located all over the world go to Carol's May Dreams Gardens. Carol is the one that started this fun mid month show of blooms. If you want to join in making this bouquet even larger post your pictures then go to May Dreams Gardens and leave your address on Mr Linky and/or a comment for Carol.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Skywatch Friday - 3/13/09

We went out in the early evening this week to try to hear and see American Woodcocks doing their spring song and dance. The sun was setting amongst the clouds. It didn't make for a very pretty sunset.A little later the clouds started lining up in rows.
It almost appeared like someone was folding up the clouds for the night.Then the moon started playing peek a boo behind the clouds.
For more sky watching from all around the world go here. Have a wonderful weekend.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Eventful Sunday In and Out of the Garden

Our Sunday began as it usually does with a bird watching outing. We went to a place we don't often go to see water fowl. In this area is also a Bald Eagles nest. We stopped to see if the couple had taken up nest keeping for the year and we weren't disappointed. One of the adults was sitting tight in the nest as it swayed in the wind.
I zoomed out so you could see that the other adult was loafing above the nest. Keeping an eye on what was going on. You can see it in the upper right of the picture below.
After birding we went home and I checked the various crocus bunches to see if any were abloom. I wasn't disappointed here either. This sweet little crocus is named Lady Killer. It certainly is pretty with its spot of purple on the white petals.
Here, you can see it a little better in this photo.Looking down on it with the flower all the way open you can't see the purple on the bloom.
There are several groups of the large yellow crocus blooming now. The lavender striped crocus are abloom.We have some solid purple crocus but they aren't even budding yet. I wonder when they will show their pretty heads. This photo brings me to the helebores. Yes, look closely there is a tiny bud, middle left, in this picture of an Ivory Prince helebore.
I am not sure what this helebore is. It has a beautiful white bloom. It might be Ivory Prince too. This helebore with its shades of lime green on the bloom is not Ivory Prince but I am not sure what it is name is. It has deeply serrated leaves. This is the helebore that I thought was going to die because it was under the pine tree that came down last winter. Its companions were stomped to death when the men took the pine tree out. This brave little soul hung on and is blooming beautifully.
Speaking of storms. A terrible thunderstorm blew through here during the afternoon. There were tornadoes south and north of town. We were lucky that we only had a gust of wind at 92mph. Our only damage was when the neighbors fence had three of the panels come down. That wind actually broke the metal brackets holding the panels. I guess we were lucky that they didn't fly through the windows of our house. One of them broke a couple of pickets out of our fence. Easy fix. We feel lucky.
I hope you all had a good weekend and that you have a successful week ahead.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Skywatch Friday

While in Texas I had the opportunity to see trees with leaves and a beautiful cloud filled sky. Happy Skywatch Friday eveyrone. For more skies to watch go here. I hope you have a great weekend.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Texas Blooms

While we were in Texas they were having an unusually cold spell to add to their drought conditions. Even at that it got up in the high 70's during the afternoon. And yes it seems that everything grows bigger in Texas. I thought this agave was awesome. I am 5'6" and it was way taller than me. There were yuccas blooming.
I think that the Yucca buds are a pretty as when they are in full bloom.
We ran into several stands of aloes blooming. There were several different colors of blooms too. I like the aloes, they have different patterns and colors of green. When we got home I found that even my little aloe in a pot was sending out a bloom. I guess the longer days are triggering blooms everywhere.
The Texas Mountain Laurel has a beautiful bloom. It is native to Texas. they don't really have mountains so I wonder why the powers that be named it "mountain" laurel.
This pretty little wildflower was blooming in the most inhospitable area. I can't seem to find them in my wildflower book. They aren't as yellow as the camera depicts. They were more of a peach color. The butterflies liked them. More on that later. We found one small patch of Meadow Pinks. They are usually in large colonies. However they hadn't had enough rain to germinate many plants.The tropical side of Texas was evident too. The bouganvillia was booming all over. There were several colors.
The introduced bottle brush tree was scrubbing the air with its brushes.For all your orchid fans here is a bloom on an Orchid tree. There was a white blooming Orchid tree too.The famous roadside blooms were feww. These daisy/sunflower blooms were so cheerful in the dust.
The Texas, or Mexican, Olive tree was blooming. A beautiful plant. This ever present shrubby tree. I am not sure what it is. I think it is a mesquite of some sort. I think.
This bushy tree is also a mesquite. Someone told me it's common name is cat's claw. This would be very apt. Now if I have id'ed something incorrect, please feel free to tell me what it is. I want to know.

New Blogger, Old Blogger

     All I can say it is difficult to deal with change. This new Blogger format is not as user friendly in my opinion. I guess I will get us...