The Queen of Seaford

Sunday, January 12, 2025

Photo-a-day Week 2

Welcome to week 2 of the photo-a-day posts. All of the photos have been taken with my cell phone, Pixel 7, except for the last one, today's photo at the bottom of this array.

Day 6- Forsythia bush sprouting and blooming well ahead of the season. This poor shrub has not done well though it keeps holding on.

Day 7- Glowing rain gauge. The sun setting behind the gauge. I volunteer to observe and report rainfall to Cocorahs.org, a citizen scientist program. Do you like observing weather and want to be a part of this large organization? Go to the link above and find out how.

Day 8- Frosty morning photo of lichen, moss, and leaves in one of the planters on my deck.

Day 9- Two dogs, anxious to play, regardless of the chilly tempertures.

Day 10- Our snowfall has begun. It was short lived, changing to sleet then rain in a couple hours. Weeping Redbud, Ruby Falls.

Day 11- Seed pods of Leucothoe fontanesiana, in my front woods.

Day 12- American Goldfinch feeding on Rose of Sharon seed pods. This one taken with the camera instead of my cellphone.

Thanks for stopping by again this week. Now that Christmas items are packed away until next year, we can get back to Puget Sound Fling photos. Stay tuned.

Sunday, January 5, 2025

Photo-A-Day Week 1

Before I get back to the Puget Sound Fling, still have some fantastic gardens to share, I am starting a new series.

My friend David Sullivan, CIOPhoto instagram, has had a series of a photo a day for 365 days for a number of years. After enjoying his series, I thought I would jump in and do the same. Mine are posted daily on my personal Facebook page, but every Sunday I will share what was previously posted here on my blog. This week's photos will include only 5 photos as this is the first week of the year, a short week.

Day 1- A ground level photo of my dog, Liebling. She doesn't seem to be very impressed with this project. Perhaps I will photograph her in the coming year showing more enthusiasm.

Day 2- A frosty morning with long angles of the winter sun. Below is our septic drain field, cut not too long ago to make way for daffodils to emerge come spring.

Day 3- A waxed Amaryllis bulb in bloom on my dining room table. Christmas tree is still up and all decorations still out for us to enjoy.

Day 4- A side view of one of our Nutcrackers, perhaps looking sad as it is time to begin to put away the decorations.

Day 5- Outside with the dogs I spied the first open bloom of the Prunus mume 'Hokkia-Bungo' one of the flowering apricot trees. I especially love this one as its fragrance is that of cinnamon and the flowers are dark pink. It is a lovely small tree and on warm winter days our honey bees enjoy the flowers.

This ends our first week of photo-a-day. Please come back weekly to see what has been posted next.

More of the Fling will come soon....as soon as I finish putting all the decorations away!

Saturday, August 24, 2024

Puget Sound Fling day #3- First Stop Heckler Garden

On our third day of the Fling we headed to the Kitsap Peninsula. Our first stop was the Heckler's garden. The write up said that there were over 100 hydrangeas in this small garden! We have been seeing so many hydrangeas in these gardens, it is just amazing. Walking up the gravel driveway we were greeted by a long planting along the side of the house. Besides hydrangeas there were palms and Japanese maples and various containers with more plants!

Love these double blossomed hydrangeas!

This garden also had some

climbing hydrangeas.

This garden had a lot of parasols over the hydrangeas, to protect them from the sun. As one who lives in South Carolina and has lots of hydrangeas in my garden, I found this interesting.

One variety of hydrangea that was new to me was Hydrangea aspera. The leaves are fuzzy and the unopened blooms are so different looking. They are native to China and seem to be happy in the Pacific Northwest.

Hydrangea aspera

The fuzzy leaves of the H. aspera

Another variety of hydrangea, these double white blooms really pop in the shade.

See the parasols above the plants?

Working our way around the garden we enter a very shaded area, mulched areas with slices of logs as stepping pads lead us through the wooded area.

Edging the beds there are logs, or what remains of the logs. The beds have Epimedium, ferns, and some hellebore; all shade loving plants. Do you like the pop of color of the glass ball in the water?

As you round the back edge of the shaded woody garden you encounter some limbed up fir, this one had some artwork in the form of a salamander or lizard. Do you see it?

Here is the lizard outlined so you can see it better

Quite tall trees in this garden

As you emerge from the back area in the woods, there is a lawn area, with large spheres made of formed branches. They were a nice bit of understated artwork on the lawn.

More gorgeous hydrangeas for your enjoyment.

My last photo of this hydrangea laden garden with a is full of foliage color variation. There is a Brunnera with its heart shaped white leaves with green veins and edging, a Fatshedera with spidery white coloring and light green ferns, and more Hellebores. In the foreground there's a concrete pad with green and white glass beads. Color echoes galore!

Next stop is Heronswood! Stay tuned.

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