Author: Flower Roberts

Dear Followers

| Flower Roberts

I will not be posting for a while.  I do not want you to be concerned.

I have other necessary tasks at hand.

I want you to know how important you have been to me these past years.

There is a reason for my garden. It came from pain.

My home has been a beautiful prison. My daughter’s epilepsy was its bars.

She is seizure-free now, but damage was done to us both.

I grew where I was planted. I had a secret garden that no one could see.

We live among woods, down a long drive, inside a gate along a river.

I shared my garden as the Flower with all of you so someone else could enjoy it.

My connection with nature always gets me through hardships. It will again now.

I will NOT be watching the television. I know what is going to happen.

My dream was to be a disease cowboy like Joe McCormick.

I have spent years studying diseases.

I was almost killed by my Smallpox vaccine as a baby. Vaccines were different in 1962.

Serum (IgGs/IgIV) from the Red Cross saved me. My dad tells the story often.

I wanted to go out in the world and save strangers from transmittable diseases.

Instead, I have been home saving my daughter from another type.

I will continue to find solace in my garden.

It is blooming profusely right now despite the weeds.

I WILL BE FINE. I know how to stay safe.

Take care of yourselves my precious followers. In a way, you saved me. Thank you.

Flower

Sweet Betsy

| Flower Roberts

This plant was sent to me by one of my first garden blogger friends.

I will think of her every spring when it blooms.

Sweet Betsy’s scientific name is Trillium cuneatum.

Sweet Betsy, Trillium cuneatum

It is also called toadshade because of the mottled coloration of its leaves.

It is thriving under the fig tree. Thanks Marian.

Flower

Seeing Stars

| Flower Roberts

Starflowers are in full bloom today.

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This variety of ipheion is named ‘Alberto Castillo.’

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Some little forager gave this bunch a trim last week.

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The petals have lovely green and brown stripes down their backsides.

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I love seeing stars!

Flower

 

Daffodil Meme

| Flower Roberts

I am a fan of variations on a theme.

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I also like unusual daffodils.

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Here are some of the many varieties blooming right now in my gardens.

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They aren’t just yellow.

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They aren’t  all mellow.

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Some have trumpets. (Like Dizzy Gillespie)

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I must mention that the cups are called coronas. (These are not contagious.)

They have divisions named for their cup type or lack of one or petal curvature or blooms per stem… (Look Knight, there’s twee!)

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A daffodil by another name, is a Narcissus.

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FLOW

 

Goodbye Cheraw

| Flower Roberts

My son has taken a new job. I am happy for him, but I will miss his former town. Cheraw was the homeplace of the jazz artist, Dizzy Gillespie.

Goodbye Dizzy!

Flower

 

OTHER CHERAW POST LINKS BELOW

https://floweralley.org/2016/04/13/im-getting-dizzy/

https://floweralley.org/2016/04/15/yellow-trumpets/

https://floweralley.org/2015/10/26/charmed-by-cheraw/

https://floweralley.org/2016/04/11/cheraw-in-the-spring/

My Wild Friends

| Flower Roberts

My wild friends live in dens.

I must to climb up banks to peek into their dwellings.

They were all out and about yesterday afternoon.  Hi, Ho nobody home!

The highest and biggest den was under some tree roots on a cliff.

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This may be a coyote or a bobcat’s home.

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Smaller dens likely belong to ground hogs/woodchucks or fox kits.

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There were no clear tracks to identify the residents due to recent rains.

The woods are full of the trails and dens of my wild friends.

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I love my neighbors.

Flow

 

Old Home Place on the Hill

| Flower Roberts

I wandered through the woods this afternoon.

Early spring is the best time to explore.

I visited the old home place on the hill.

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The house was moved about a mile away when the road moved.

What remains of the former road bed has been reclaimed by nature.

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Vinca marks the location of the yard.

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Spirea bushes are located on each side, now covered with brambles.

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I love finding old bricks where the house used to be.

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There are thousands of daffodils on the hill.

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I can almost see the mistress of the house walking along this path and watching the river.

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As I walked back to my house, I wondered if my daffodils will mark my home place a hundred years from now.

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I hope so.

Flow

First Flowers

| Flower Roberts

I am always delighted with the first flowers of spring.

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I must touch them and talk to them.

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Thanking them for surviving and showing up again.

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Happy to see their colorful faces.

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No matter how small,

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I love them all.

FLOW

Through the Roof

| Flower Roberts

I have had to be away from home more than usual.

I spent months constructing a “Coyote Cage” inside the bunny pen so they would be safe.

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I close it up at night when the bunnies go inside so that no wildlife can get in and poop.

I never leave out water or food.

When I escorted them out this morning, I noticed the fencing in the gate had been pushed out.

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Something had been trapped in during the night and forced its way out.

It was either the stray cat that has been lurking about, or one of our raccoon neighbors.

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I found where it had fallen through the roof.

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Now I must shore up the roof and the gate before I leave today.

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Barley’s bottom sticking out of a box.

Too much to do, too little time.

I’m about to go through the roof!

FLOW