Agapanthus

Since moving here, I loved the look of Agapanthus but was not able to grow them until I tried some against the front wall in a sheltered "L" shaped place. They love that spot, as this photo of the bloom shows.

Mary Guenther Daylily

Shown here is the Daylily MARY GUENTHER. This is a recent arrival here, and I hope it does well for me. The colors are so bright. This flower dates back to 1942.

Doomsday Daylily

This is the Daylily DOOMSDAY (Taylor, 1956). This is an interesting plant to have too.

Altered State Daylily

More Daylilies... Shown is ALTERED STATE (Carr, 1997). It was hybridized about 23 miles from where I live. This thing is so pretty.

Daylily SWEET PATOOTIE

SWEET PATOOTIE (Warner, 1976) is another early blooming Daylily. I love that color and shape of it. This is a very dependable Daylily here.

Daylily AZTEC GOLD

Coming into bloom is the Daylily AZTEC GOLD (Dennett, 1936). It can bloom three times in one season here and typically starts early. It is short but pretty.

Fox Squirrels

Taking a small diversion from plants, I thought I may would mention Fox Squirrels. There are several that come around, and I feed them some intentionally. While much larger than the common gray squirrels, the Fox Squirrels are much better behaved. Unlike the grays, the Fox Squirrels can feed peacefully with ground feeding birds such as various types of Doves. Since Fox Squirrels are not very common, I am including a couple photos of them.

Here come the Daylilies...

The first Daylily of the 2010 season here was ROSIE MEYER (Alexander, 1957) with the first bloom being on April 22. ROSIE MEYER is an excellent Daylily for this area, and is among the earliest and the latest Daylilies to bloom. It is a repeat bloomer. The one drawback is it cannot be grown in a shady spot because in such setting, it will get the Daylily Rust. There will be more Daylily entries following.

Iris virginica

Iris virginica is another of few Irises I can grow. It is native to wet spots including here in Florida, but will grow in a normal flower bed if watered regularly. I find it to be very attractive.

Iris albicans

Most types of Irises will not grow in Florida. There are a few that will. One of those few is Iris albicans, which is shown with this post. Around here, it will grow in the ground but not well and does not bloom. But, put it in a pot with potting soil, and it grows well and will bloom. When I lived in Kentucky, I had a lot of Irises so any Iris that will grow and bloom here is special.

Fringe Trees

I love fringe trees. They are native in much of the eastern half of the USA, but nowhere are they very common. These wonderful trees can be grown from central Florida northward to southern Canada. The blooms are fragrant. The trees are desciduous. In the fall, the leaves turn gold then fall quickly. While not common, they are native to the area. Shown is a young Fringe Tree in bloom, and a closeup of the blooms.

More Azaleas

Here are more Azaleas in bloom. These are along a wall of the house going right under my bedroom window. The larger plant at the corner is a Camellia. The season is running somewhat late this year. I finally have found a scape on a Daylily though.

Azaleas

Azaleas are common in this area, but I have not had that grand of luck with them. I have a few that are doing okay. Currently in bloom are the Red Ruffles Azalea, which are shown with this post. These plants, while small, are a few years old. I hope I can get them to grow. For one spectacular showing of Azalea blooms, the place to check out is Rainbow Springs State Park.

More White Flowers

Here are a couple more plants with white flowers. One is a Violet of some sort. I don't know the species. The other is Walter's Viburnum shrub form. It makes a good showing of blooms.

Bridal Wreath Spireas

Bridal Wreath Spirea is another one of our spring blooming plants. In some years, they buds get froze a time or two before they bloom out. Although this was a very cold winter, it did not happen this year. When they finally budded, they were able to bloom. I first noticed Bridal Wreath Spireas over 35 years ago when a female classmate I knew then lived in a house with some of those planted there.

I was surprised to find them growing so well in Florida, and now had space to grow them, so I now have several Bridal Wreath Spireas. I love them.

Blue Eyed Grass

This may sound crazy to some, but I love Blue-Eyed-Grass. Its small blue blooms in the spring are so nice, like a way of saying that spring has finally come. When I lived in Kentucky, I had a little bit of Blue-Eyed-Grass there, but it did not bloom as long or spread near as much as here in Florida. This is a native wildflower. Intentionally let it grow within the flower beds as well as in the turf.

As promised, a couple more pictures. Shown here is a closeup of blooms on Walter's Viburnum tree form and Chickasaw Plum. Both are native to this area. A few other flowers are starting to bloom out which may be shown later. The season here is running near a month behind average but that may start to equalize with the onset of warmer weather. Last year I had the first Daylily bloom on March 29. Today is March 27 and I still have not found a scape.

While my mother was ill, things sort of got out of hand, but I am in the process now of re-doing the garden. Some areas that are harder to maintain I will allow to go to grass. I can mow in between some Crinum clumps easier than I can hand weed. The flowers that need more tending will be concentrated around the house.

Signs of Spring

Although the temperature here is still running somewhat below the long term average, it is warmer than it had been and signs of spring are starting to show up. In this entry, I am showing a Redbud in bloom, and a flower on a Spiderwort. I will be posting more Spring soon.

Snow

I am still having trouble with font size... I hope this is better. We have had some winter this year, with a lot of freezes and many abnormally chilly days. In January, we even had SNOW. While it was not much, it was enough to make a very slight dusting on the ground. Very slight that is. Someone from a snowy climate said in my picture, it looked more like spilled flour. But, it was actually snow.

I'm still here.

After being absent from posting since last June, I am still here. My Mother had been in rather poor health, and it took a turn for the worse soon after that last post. Her health continued to deteriorate, and she basically bedridden the last couple months of her life. Her wish was to not go to a nursing home, and I honored that. Taking care of her took a lot of time, but I do not regret it. The Hospice Doctor said she had better care at home than in any nursing facilty would have provided. On December 21, 2009, she passed away. About ten or so days ago, when doing a search, I found a blog that had not been posted to in a couple years. That reminded me...