Two Beauties!

My daughter took this stunning photo, and it's so beautiful that I just had to post it. 

This beautiful red Cardinal is sitting on a branch of our neighbor's beautiful Chickasaw Plum in full bloom last month. We are so lucky to be able to see this large tree from our patio. For the last two springs, I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the blooms, one by one, cover the entire tree creating one gorgeous blooming piece of art!

So glad she happened to look up at the right time and had her camera in hand!

Peaceful Easy Feeling

Winter has finally arrived and even though I'm not fond of really cold days, I don't mind a few chilly weeks. On these days, I really appreciate the sun. As I look out from inside my home, the sunlight has a soft warm glow which is very different from the bright, harsh sunlight of summer. The soft light seems to make everything glow and more enjoyable to look at.

On cold afternoons, you will find me enjoying the garden from a sunny area protected from the wind. The look on Makayla's face expresses exactly how good the sun feels on a cold day.

There was a lot going on in the garden on this beautiful sunny afternoon.

The Cardinals are daring the Carolina Chickadees and Titmice to come to the feeders when they're there.They are a beautiful sight in the garden.

 The woodpecker is hammering away in search of a snack. So glad he posed for me while I snapped a photo. 

This little dove is enjoying the warmth of the sun, too.

More low temperatures are forecasted for this coming Saturday, and  I do hope we can stay above freezing. I would hate to lose my pentas because the butterflies, moths and hummers are enjoying them.

There might be terrible things happening in the world and lots of sadness on the news, but in the garden I get a "peaceful easy feeling!" You might call this my tribute to Glenn Frey who's music also gives me a "peaceful easy feeling."

Serendipity in the Garden

Some of the best gardening experiences are those that are unplanned and unexpected.

Last autumn I purchased a couple of ornamental pumpkins to display on the front walkway. When Christmas rolled around, I sat the pumpkin (still in good shape) next to the compost bin in the backyard. In Spring, I noticed a large-leafed vine was starting to creep along the ground. When it started to take over and attach itself to all the plants, I decided to hang it along the top of the fence.

It wasn't long before large yellow flowers began to appear.

Look at the size of this flower and leaf. You can use the fence posts in the background for comparison.

At first the flowers died and did not set fruit, but then  . . . I noticed a yellow fruit getting bigger and bigger.

It looks like a large lemon hanging on the fence (LOL)! And, I swear, everyday it gets BIGGER! 

I'm not sure if the vine can hold this pumpkin up until it ripens. I may have to add a support beneath it. Isn't it huge??? 

Every time I see it I have to laugh!!!

I absolutely love seeing the fence covered by this large-leafed vine, and am going to miss it when it's gone. The ginormous leaves look so lovely as they float face up atop the fence. Another positive is the squirrels don't like it there. It interrupts their ability to scamper at top speed along the fence line (ha-ha). 

I'm so glad I didn't pull it out when it was small. It feels like a Jack in the Beanstalk kind of vine as it meanders along. It has truly been a source of entertainment and delight ~ ~ it obviously doesn't take much to amuse me (LOL)!

 As you can see in the photo it has also set additional fruit. There are at least 5 pumpkins altogether. Hopefully, I'll get a couple to display for autumn. 

It grows at least a foot a day and has covered the south side of the fence and is also growing on the west side (pictured above). I just keep weaving it through the fence posts, and enjoying this unexpected, serendipitous, wonderful surprise in my backyard!!!

This Week in the Garden

This morning I saw a wonderful thing! Daddy Cardinal brought one of his young uns' to my garden to show him where the food is. After feeding him a safflower seed, the little one followed him to the feeder where they ate breakfast. Dad then flew to the fountain to show him where to get a drink of water. That's the first time I've ever seen that, and I was so in awe of it all that by the time I got my camera they were gone. You can bet that I'll have my camera ready tomorrow!!!!

A new bloom in my garden. This little red hummingbird plant (can't remember the  name) is a shade specimen. It grows to about 3' tall with a loose habit. It very much reminds me of the Firespike plant. What do you think of my purple and red combo? I love using bold colors together that you wouldn't expect. Another favorite color combo is burgundy and apricot.

Finally, caterpillars are taking advantage of two large parsley plants in the garden.

 While I do love having fresh parsley available, I really planted them for the caterpillars to devour.

This red epidendrum orchid is really showing off in the garden these days. They are so easy to grow and once they start blooming, it's non-stop for at least 9 months. They delight in our full summer sun and humidity. 

Here's a close-up view of one of the red balls of fire!

The weatherman promises rain this week. We shall see! Hoping that a healthy dose of it falls on your garden this week!

Waiting is SO hard!

A slow and reluctant learner, I would now consider myself a relatively patient person. This hasn't come easy! Over many years and many "lessons in patience" sent by the universe, I've had no choice but to learn this trait. 

Gardening is definitely a hobby that includes many of those lessons in patience. Every time I see a new bud forming on one of my plants I get all excited and can hardly wait for it to open.

orchid cactus

But as the days go by, it seems like it's taking that tiny bud FOREVER to open up. Of course it doesn't help that I keep check the buds a couple of times a day! The amaryllis' seem to be the worst when it comes to taking their sweet time to open their gorgeous trumpet flowers.

Apple blossom amaryllis

Oh, the painstaking patience it requires to be a gardener can sometimes be frustrating!

Black-eyed Susan

But, when the day comes that I check the garden and . . .

discover this . . . I am truly rewarded for my reluctant patience!

Sombreuil - old garden rose

Late Summer Sunrise

I noticed there was an unusual layer of fog hovering right above the ground this morning.

It was sheer enough that I could just see the horse feeding out in the pasture.

But what really caught my eye was the brilliant sunbeams flowing through the Live Oak.

Up close, the scene looked more like an abstract painting than an actual photo. 

 The brilliance of the sunbeams were amazing. It looks like the tree and ground are on fire. 

What a majestic and wondrous sight!

Stumbling Upon the Unexpected

Look what I discovered in the garden this week . . .

After escorting the trash can to the curb,  I was walking back towards the house . . . just minding my own business . . . when the morning light on the east side of the garden caught my eye. It's always a treat to see rays of sunbeams filtering through the trees, so I stopped to admire the soft autumn light for a minute. That's when the 2 blue orbs caught my attention.

As I walked closer, both of the blue orbs and the bird feeder appeared to be lit up like lamps. "How neat is that!" I thought. And, then there it was on the right side . . . another surprise . . . the overnight handy work of a busy spider. Whenever, I come across a spider's web, I'm reminded of the lyrics in The Eagle's song "Waiting in the Weeds"  - - "A small, gray spider spinning in the dark, in spite of all the times the web is torn apart."   Don't you just love the meaning behind those lyrics? Spiders are resilient and people need to be resilient, too, to weather life's storms.

 This is my version . . . or, at least the beginning of a "bottle tree."  In the past, Southerners created bottle trees to keep evil spirits (or 'haints' as they were called) at bay. The Southerners would hang bottles, while the Europeans hung round globes (known as "witch balls") with an opening in them The evil spirits (or haints) would be attracted to the sound made by the wind around the bottle openings, and would be sucked into the bottle or ball. Since I'm of European descent and a Southerner, I wanted to include a bit of this history in my garden. Click on this link if you want to read the history around the "bottle tree."

 And, a view from the other side of the tree gave a whole different perspective. There's always 2 sides to every story . . .isn't there? Not to bore you but to quote Don Henley in his song "Long Way Home" he says. . . "there's 3 sides to every story - your side, my side and the cold hard truth." Now, how true is that, even though we'd rarely admit it. From the back side, the sunlight is illuminating the cinnamon-colored bark of the Natchez crape myrtle, and the gazing balls are their natural deep blue color.

Wouldn't you agree that was a neat little discovery? That's been happening in my front yard every morning since I hung those orbs there, and I didn't even know it. Wonder what else is going on in my garden that I don't know about!

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Oh, and look what other unexpected, and not so wonderful, things I discovered when checking on my vegetable garden. I actually love seeing caterpillars in my garden but not on my eggplant leaves, so he was quickly relocated. Can anyone identify this little guy for me?

And, then there was this feisty green stinkbug hanging out on my tomato bush. He is definitely not a welcome visitor! I actually saw two of them fighting over a small Sungold tomato yesterday. He was quite agitated by my picture taking attempts, and finally flew away.

But before heading indoors to get some work done, my walk ended on an upbeat note when I came across this bright green Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly sunning himself on the tomato cage. Can't blame him, as it was quite a delightful morning following 3 days of rain and gray skies!

It should be a wonderful weekend . . . so enjoy!

Precious

To a gardener who's barely received a half an inch of rain in the last 60 days...these water droplets from last night's rainshower are a precious sight.

May at a Glance

Oranges & Lemons Gaillardia

~~~ Notes from the May Garden ~~~

Wow, it seems like May has just whizzed by in such a gosh darn hurry to get on to summer. And, speaking of summer...isn't this Orange & Lemons gaillardia just the epitome of a summer flower? She's like a ray of sunshine beaming up at me everytime I pass her in the garden. She makes me smile!

This May has definitely been the driest month of the year so far. While three separate storms brought hope and a bit of windy weather with them...in the end, they only managed to sprinkle the garden with a bit more than an inch of rain. That was a big disappointment!

But May did bring a pleasant and unexpected surprise...a "real" cool front that actually lasted for 3 whole days. A reminder of those pleasantly cool spring mornings followed by humidless afternoons in the 80's. That was a total joy!

Even though we didn't have too many April showers, we did have plenty of May flowers. A lot of  plants are blooming, but I'd have to say the daylilies are at the head of the class. 

 These daylilies act as border plants for the island bed when they're not in bloom. The island bed has changed quite a bit in the last year, so I'll do an update on it soon.

Last year the red/yellow variety bloomed along with the solid yellows, but this year the red/yellow variety went first, followed by the solid yellows. Hhmm, I wonder why that would be?

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Finally, two finicky hydrangeas have decided on a location in the garden. Both of these plants have been relocated a couple of times in search of the right spot, and THANKFULLY they've finally found it! 

Now they're deciding if they're going to bloom blue or pink!

I'm envious of those gardeners who can grow them in full sun with very little water. My two "princesses" want very little to do with the sun, and they demand that I provide cool splashes of water on them regularly.

Lacecap

And, to make matters wors,e I've got an Oakleaf hydrangea that I've had to move once...he finally found a spot he likes, only to be somehow broken off near the base of the plant...and now, finally is about 2 feet tall again. I think he's gonna stay, too. I have to admit...quietly though...they are quite pretty and have attractive foliage.

More Flowers in the May garden....

Texas sage, Fruit cocktail shrimp plant & Agapanthus

Unknown cold-hardy butterfly plant (if anyone can I.D. it that would be great), Russian sage & Simpson Stopper

Coneflower, Yarrow, Sweet almond (heavenly fragrance) & Mealy cup sage in a pale shade of blue.

Two nice-sized patches...one pink, one white...of Gaura a/k/a whirling butterfly. The pink looks so pretty against the gray fronds of the Bismarck palm.

And some fruit and veggies, too...

Blackberries (Navaho & Apache - both thornless varieties), Fennel producing seeds, Sungold tomatoes (excellent producer/wonderful taste), Currant tomatoes (terrifically sweet taste) & Red mulberries (a yummy memory from my childhood)

And, some orchids, too...

May's Simple Pleasures...

Enjoying a bowlful of warm blueberry crisp on Memorial Day in complete gratitude to the men and women who so bravely serve(d) our country to protect the freedom that we enjoy today. Thank you!

Queen butterfly on Milkweed

And, in closing, I have to say that even though the afternoons are quite warm...the humidity has been low (for this time of the year)...and it was a very pleasant month right up through to the end.

That doesn't always happen, so I'm VERY thankful that May is gently easing us into summer!