Photo-a-Day Week 44

Welcome back to another summary of the week's photos. More photos of autumn are included in the collection. 

Day 300-

I have three Drift roses bushes near the front door, and they are really reliable bloomers. They are black spot resistant. The variety I have is 'Popcorn'. They will bloom until late November/ December. 

Roses

Day 301-

For most of October, we didn't have any rain, then we had four days of rain. There is riprap along the roadway to mitigate erosion, and this day, there was a lot of rainwater rushing downhill along the road. A rapid rushing of water cascading down, into the riprap and through the culverts, into the lake. 

Water

Day 302-

Many of my hostas are on the deck, away from the deer and their nibbling. I have some hostas in the garden and before the cold weather came, those hostas looked like celery stalks stuck in the ground. 

End of a Season

Day 303- 

Our Kmart in town closed several years ago, and a U-Haul storage place and rental facility moved in. The parking lot is sloped, and  I was surprised that the storage units were placed so that the front of the unit was not even with the ground.

Storage on an incline

Day 304- 

Remember the beautiful roses from a few days ago (see above)? The deer are very hungry. They nibbled almost every rose and rosebud off the shrubs. My poor rose bushes look like Morticia Addams pruned every single stem. 

Morticia Addams did my pruning

Day 305-

In the fall we get a lot of spider webs but I think these Funnel weaver spider webs are so interesting. They are a very tight funnels, though I rarely see the spider that makes these. 

Funnel weaver spider web

Day 306-

I have a variety of Camellias in the garden. Most of the ones I have are Camellia sasanquas, blooming anytime from September through December. This beauty is Camellia sasanqua 'Ashley Eden'.  In the coming weeks, I will be sharing more Camellias. There are lots of pollinators who like these beauties. 

Camellia sasanqua 'Ashley Eden'

And now for a few of the not chosen photos-

Possumhaw holly, or Ilex decidua. It is in berry at the corner of my septic drain field. 

This is the dogwood that grows along my driveway. The colors of the leaves almost make it look like candy corn. The colors of our fall foliage always makes me happy. 

Raindrops on Edgeworthia leaves. The leaves are a little fuzzy and the raindrops sit on the top of the leaf.

Afternoon light shines through the trees along the driveway. 

That's all for this week, hope you liked the chosen and not chosen photos. Come back again next week. 

©Copyright 2025 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet, The Queen of Seaford.

Photo-a-Day Week 8

Our weather has been nice the last few days, so I spent a good deal of time outside pruning those shrubs whose time is now. While showering I remembered I needed to post this past week's photos. All photos this week were taken with my cellphone. 

Day 48-

I have three Amaryllis bulbs on the laundry room window sill. They bloomed Christmas time in 2023 and spent last summer on the screened porch, each putting up a lot of foliage but no blooms. Once in the house for the winter, I noticed a flower stalk. I watched and watched, and then on Monday morning, I didn't see the flower bud, just a long stalk reaching up to the window. It had opened and put forth two beautiful blooms behind the curtain!

Reaching

Day 49-

Outside our dining room window, there is/was a bird feeder on a shepherd's hook. This was one of the feeders  I didn't ordinarily bring in the house overnight. I guess this was a mistake!  I imagine it was a raccoon that wanted the birdseed. The pole bent almost to the ground and all seed was gone! 

Raccoon?

Day 50-

We have rocks throughout our yard, some of it is really pretty. This one is about the size of a basketball or more. I believe it to be white quartz. 

Rock

Day 51-

Just outside our neighborhood, in the same yard that I shared last week with the bicycle and pink blooming tree, is a cute Gnome house. The tree stump has been disintegrating, so I think this little house is on borrowed time. It used to have an above-ground pool and clothesline and lots of Gnomes lounging about the yard.  

Our house is a very, very, very fine house...

Day 52-

Liebling, our German Shepherd, loves to play fetch. Both the dogs are always excited about going out front to play. Their stare is intense, waiting for the rings to be tossed.

Laser Focus

Day 53-

Edgeworthia chrysantha blooms every winter. Many of my winter-blooming plants have been blooming later this year than usual. The fragrance of these blooms is amazing! The honey bees love its nectar, on warm days you will see bees all over the shrubs. 

Edgeworthia Aglow

Day 54-

Washington Hawthorn shrubs are native to our area and true to their names, come with large thorns! This is Crataegus possibly uniflora.

HawTHORN

Thus wraps up another week of photos. Come back again next week. 

©Copyright 2025 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. Words and photos by Janet, The Queen of Seaford.

Winter Observations

I am outside every day, multiple times a day with the dogs. This time of year I see so many different things. Looking down, along the house I see that I have an oakleaf hydrangea, Hydrangea quercifolia growing along the foundation of the house. This area gets water from the condensation pipe from the AC, so it makes a nice place to try and root new shrubs. I thought I had dug up the whole shrub and put it in a new place, guess not. 

Hydrangea quercifolia

Moss covers the ground in this area in a thick patch. Have you ever looked closely at a patch of moss? It is quite delightful. 

I have wildflowers/volunteers that sprout up throughout the garden and into the woods. I think this is Solidago sp. Goldenrod. The pollinators love it and I don't mind volunteers.

Solidago sp.

Continuing looking at the ground, I see lots of nuts - hickory nuts and acorns are so plentiful that one could fall on the hillside, it is like walking on marbles. 

hickory nut

Some of my daffodils are emerging through the leaves. I moved these out of a container last year in the spring. Narcissus 'Hawera', pretty petit blooms. 

Daffodils 

As I walk through the yard I catch the fragrance of a new bloom. Currently the prevailing fragrance is from my flowering apricot, Prunus mume 'Hokkai bungo'. It has a lovely hint of cinnamon in its fragrance, I really enjoy it. The honey bees enjoy it as well.

Prunus mume 'Hokkai bungo'

No, this wasn't the apricot, the Edgeworthia chrysantha is starting to open! It will bloom now through March. The fragrance is wonderful.  

Edgeworthia chrysantha

Look up and look down, you never know what you will find. We have a lot of fallen branches in the woods, some are covered with lichen and fungus, almost other worldly. 

Jelly fungus mushroom

Jelly fungus and lichen

Also growing low are my Hellebores, this one is Pink Frost. It is one of my earliest ones to bloom. Helleborus x ballardiae HGC 'Pink Frost'- beautiful buds, almost open.

Pink Frost

My last observation for this post is a crazy orange flower, or what is left of a flower on my gardenia. Gardenia jasminoides 'Frostproof'. As you know, the blooms on gardenias are white. This orange coloring caught my eye. Not sure what happened to give off this dark orange color, but will watch for others in future years to see if it happens again.

Gardenia jasminoides 'Frostproof'

What do you see in the garden this time of year? Look closely, you might find something amazing!

©Copyright 2024 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Observations at the End of the Year

The weather has been so unusual for much of the country, ours being warmer and drier than the norms. I record and report the rainfall to CoCoRaHS, a citizen community, reporting of precipitation across the country and Canada. If you are interested is participating, please go to cocorahs.org for all the info. Since I have been recording the rainfall for a number of years, I can gather that data and chart it. You know, if you have had rain for a week you might think it has been a wet fall (or spring or winter or summer) but if you record those rainfall amounts over time you will see highs and lows. Below is my chart for the years 2016- 2021

Our November was especially dry, so when the December rains came, some of my winter blooming plants perked up. 

Join me as I walked through my yard on December 31, 2021. It was a warm afternoon and a joy to be outside. The following plants are in the front yard- 

Unknown beautiful Camellia

Prunus mume 'Hokkai bungo' 

Camellia sasanqua 'Yuletide'

Perhaps Zinnia seedlings- awakened early 

Salvia elegans- Pineapple sage, still blooming!

Earliest blooming daffodil in my garden
Narcissus 'Grand Soleil d'Or'

I walked up to the street to my wildflower garden, many of the Gaillardia are in various stages of bloom to seedhead.

Gaillardia sp. bud and seedhead

Encore Azalea 'Autumn Twist' still putting out a few blooms

Back to the front yard- my largest Tea Olive, seen below next to the shed.

Osmanthus fragrans

close up of the tiny blooms that are quite fragrant

In the backyard there are more blooms to behold

Camellia sasanqua 'Ashley Eden'

Not quite in flower yet, but so close
Helleborus x ballardiae 'HGC Pink Frost'

Edgeworthia chrysantha has started to open

Venturing into the woods in the backyard brings planned and unplanned bits of beauty.

Lichen on wood along the dry creek bed

More fungi growth on logs that line the path

Cyclamen hederifolium

Thanks for joining me on a quick walk around the yard. Besides seeing the beautiful blooms, the fragrances of three of these plants are filling the air with their delightful aromas. 1. Prunus mume 'Hokkai bungo' 2. Osmanthus fragrans 3. Edgeworthia chrysantha

Truly an enjoyment for many of the senses. 

Happy New Year, one and all!

©Copyright 2022

  Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.