Since my flowers can’t read, I can tell you
that I prefer the poisonous Digitalis
above all my other flowers.
They make my heart race.
I have a weakness for their
spots and spires.
I try not to stare at them, but they are hypnotic.
They self- seed and I let them grow where ever they wish.
I can’t get enough of these lovely foxgloves.
Happy Mother’s Day
Follow the FLOWER!
The flowers are delicate and complex.
The seed pods resemble green jesters’ hats.
The leaves…ugly, whitish and sickly.
I hate leafminers. I got so disgusted with them that I chopped down the infected plants.
No use feeding the enemy! Leaf miners are larvae of a tiny fly.
The fly lays its eggs on the leaves. The hatched larvae eat their way through the middle of the leaf’s layers.
The flowers are so beautiful,
but the leaves look ravaged.
No pesticides for this gardener,
so chop chop chop.
I’ll just take photos of the blooms this spring.
Almost thirty years ago, we were given a young Bigleaf Magnolia (Magnolia macrophylla) tree from the yard of some friends.
We admired a larger one of these trees through a sky-light in their dining room. It looked like big green umbrellas.
The Cunninghams dug up a small one for us that evening.
The tree is now over twenty feet tall.
Last year it had its first ever bloom.
This spring it has eleven.
Worth the wait?
You tell me.
Wait for the FLOWER.
I went on the trip of my dreams last fall.
My family spent two weeks in beautiful Italy.
Everywhere we looked there was something new, unusual and exciting.
This flower stopped my in my tracks.
Everything else fell away
the only two things in the world were me and this face.
Passion flower.
I posted it as a wordless Wednesday from Tuscany.
Now, I have this plant. It arrived last week, wrapped up in a box from Easy to Grow Bulbs.com.
Every year when it blooms, I will pause and remember
that I got to have one of my dreams. I am so grateful.
FLOWER is fortunate!
April is the month of the Bearded Iris in North Carolina.
Most of mine are showing off right now.
Enjoy the show.
I will be doing a post on how to divide and care for bearded iris after July 4th. Check back then if you are interested.
Follow the Flower!
I planted this perennial last spring.
I love the deep red, crinkled flowers with yellow centers.
I also like its wiry, wild stems and the bloom buds
which look like tiny crowns just before they pop open.
This plant has exploded with color this April
with no special care from me.
When I find a plant that thrives without being needy,
I like to spread the word.
Blazing Sunset Chilean Avens/ Geum chiloense
also named Hallante Blazing Sunset is a keeper.
Find this FLOWER!
Tree roots are like sculpture.
I have been cleaning around my tree trunks for several weeks.
I use a digger, clippers and several sizes of bristle brushes.
I have cut off crossing roots that cut into the bark
and even removed some rocks surrounded by bark.
I felt like I was removing a thorn from a lion’s paw.
I could almost hear the trees sigh.
These lovely shapes were made by the tree.
I just enhanced them with my tools.
This is where I sit to hide. It’s like a tree throne.
Stay tuned for the magical transformation in the coming weeks.
Follow the sneaky FLOWER.
Two toads met in the quiet little pond.
They spawned in the cozy lily basket.
They left behind a slimy string of black eggs
These hatched into squiggly little tadpoles.
Most stay inside the basket where it is safe
The ones that swim out become snacks for the King of the Koi pond
Mama toad is unconcerned
She’s busy napping under my bag of potting soil.
Follow the FLOWER.
We had a row of bearded iris behind the vegetable garden.
They hadn’t bloomed in years.
They were crowded and full of weeds.
Nobody had time to tend them.
My sister and I were teenagers finding ourselves.
My mama was teaching junior high. Bless her.
My daddy was keeping the power on at work.
The iris never made it on the list of things to do.
Then Great Grandma Ida May came for a visit.
She disappeared from the house.
We looked out the back windows.
There she was, bent over those iris in her little cotton dress.
Her locket was swinging from her neck as she stooped and straightened up.
She spent hours weeding and cleaning around those iris.
Giving them room to grow.
It puzzled my adolescent self why this old woman felt the need to stand out there in the hot sun bent over those iris.
The next spring they bloomed like never before.
They bloomed again the next year, and the next.
Now I have iris in my own garden.
I guess when I’m old, my grandchildren will see me bent over them,
helping them to grow and bloom.
The iris I mean.
Follow the FLOWER.
