Can't Get Enough of It

Do you have a bloom that you are thrilled when it opens?  One where you watch and watch as the bud gets plumper every day?  You know what I am talking about, the prized bloom.  I think everyone has one.  Mine is the Epiphyllum oxypetalum.  I have posted about it many times...here and here and here to name just a few.  One of the drawbacks is trying to get a great photo of this night bloomer....because it blooms at night!  If you use the flash it is too bright, the lack of flash you have the possibility of a blurry photo. 
This morning after feeding the dogs I noticed my Epi had bloomed...and the blooms were still open.  Maybe it was because the night was so cool...think the lows were in the low to mid 50's.  Camera in hand I went out and started taking photos.  I couldn't get enough .... I love photographing this beauty. 

 To be able to capture this great bloom in daylight was a treat.

 The lighting was super for capturing these blooms.

I took a bunch of pictures then ate breakfast, walked the dogs, went about my morning.  Just before noon, I looked out back and saw the blooms were still open!  Amazing!!  I was taking pictures from , the back.....

the front,

 the side

 I was enjoying every angle of blooms.  I wasn't sure how much later in the day before they faded so I kept snapping away.

For as gorgeous as the blooms are, the plant itself is sad looking and oddly shaped. It needs a good trim and other years I trimmed it just before briniging it in for the winter, which should be about now.  But I couldn't trim off flower buds before they opened.  So now that it has bloomed it will be trimmed and retired for the winter.  I have one person, Lola, who would like a piece of the plant, anyone else? 

This month the Gardening Gone Wild Photo Contest theme is 'Fill the Frame' I thought I would try my hand at it again.  I have two photos to argue with myself about which is the best choice.

Back of two or---

 inside of one..........

I think I am going for the back of two.   My entry is this one (see larger one above) or click on any photo for a larger view.

©Copyright 2011 Janet. All rights reserved.
 Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford.
 
words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Busy Time in the Garden, Little Friends, New Plants and a Contest

This month's photo contest over at Gardening Gone Wild is once again about light.  They are looking for how the amount/direction/filter and other nuances of light affect the photo or creates the mood.  My submission is my Japanese maple 'Garnet'.  It seems to just glow.

Keeping my fingers crossed for this month's attempt.

Now on to the rest of the garden.  We had been busy through March moving rocks.  When we first moved in the backyard garden looked like this after a rainfall.

While this looks nice, you can't see the pathway except for the runoff of the rainwater downhill creating a rut in the center of the pathway.  Originally the garden beds were mulched with pinestraw and the pathway was hardwood mulch.  It created a nice definition without being too harsh.  The lower part of the garden is walled with some flat rocks and looks nice.  I think in the beginning our landscaper asked if we wanted the walls all the way around the garden.  I think I said no.  Isn't is nice a gal can change her mind? 

I have some tender plants that would benefit from not being stepped on by dog or human.  Since we had a large load of rock leftover (sitting at the bottom of the hill) we decided that this would be a good winter project.  The load of stone was left on the flat part of the yard where the elevation is probably 445-450 feet above sea level.  Where we were starting to place the stones was about 465-470.  My friend Linda and I started the hauling of the rocks in one of my large garden wagons.  You know.....they get really heavy when you are going uphill, through the mulch.   We did four loads and felt like we had made headway....until we turned and looked down the hill.  

After Linda left Charlie started bringing up the rocks in the wheelbarrow, I think about 20 or more loads, dumping them midpath.  My job was to place the rocks.  In some instances it was hard to find where the path was as the washout went straight and of course the path didn't.

From above you can see the defined pathways once again.  I had about 10 more feet of rocks to place when I took this picture.  I carried the rest by hand (it was all on the flat part of the lower yard) to finish.

So from any angle it is a nicely laid out park setting, with pathways. 

I am thinking about a bench at the intersection of the two paths. 

We all know with this garden I have lots of room to have many plants.  Last Saturday I was able to go up to to the SC Native Plant Society plant sale.  I had a list so as to not go completely crazy.  I came home with two Mountain Laurels, Kalmia latifolia 'Carol'  and 'Sarah' (or 'Carousel'-- it had two tags, either is fine), three native deciduous azaleas- Rhododendron canescens, R. arborescens, R. periclymenoides--all will find a place to become as large as they want.  I also bought a  Cephalanthus occidentalis, Buttonbush, a False indigo, Baptista, and a Silene virginica, 'Fire Pink'. 

Isn't she pretty?

I have been walking around the yard and into the woods, checking out new growth, etc.  I didn't realize I was being watched.  We have lots of these little guys, various colors and sizes.  They are fun to see.

In the area where on of the Mountain Laurel will go is my Striped Wintergreen, Chimaphila maculata, who is getting ready to bloom. 

I also found an unknown coming up.....anyone have any ideas what this is?  The red stems caught my eye. 

After the woods I checked out the front garden, the Fringe tree, Chionanthus is blooming and so are the Narcissus 'White Marvel' planted around the base.

These blooms are so white. 

Also blooming are the Deutzia gracilis 'Nikko', really pretty little blooms.

And sadly, the Pieris japonica 'Cavatine' is done for this year and starting to lose its blooms.

How is your garden shaping up?

©Copyright 2011 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Color Emerges from the Green World

This month's photo contest theme at Gardening Gone Wild is 'Green World'. Choosing a photo was hard....really hard. I had a bunch that I shared with some friends and family to get some help. The choices were mixed. I also was arguing with myself between this one and one other. In order to keep this post short and sweet I leave you with the photo.... Amsonia hubrechtii, almost ready to bloom.



Be sure to check out everyone else's entries! There are some really great ones.



words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Awakening and Lessons Learned or Were They?

I have been absent for a little while in the blogosphere. I have been busy with the prep work for getting the house on the market. We have had inspections and realtors coming through. I have one more appraisal tomorrow and then I think it will be on the market this week. So far all the inspections have been positive. Hooray!!
This month's Gardening Gone Wild photo contest theme is 'Awakening'. As the weather has been milder this week, there is a good deal of awakening going on in the garden. This was taken in the Learning Garden on Thursday -- the light seemed to make the crocus just glow.




And to the lessons learned. This past week my mom called me in the morning to say there was a Bald Eagle on the dead tree across the creek. I was sitting down in the kitchen and where was the camera??? Yes, upstairs. And did this camera have its new lens that is a telephoto lens on the body of the camera?? Of course not. So I quickly changed lens and ran to the window in our bedroom, hoping the eagle was still perched on the tree. Was he still perched??? You guessed it! He had taken flight and this is all I got.


One would gather from this experience that I would have my camera on hand at all times. HA!! Driving to the commissary today I saw the prettiest blue wildflowers along the roadside, at a place I could have easily stopped. Where was my camera??? Right, it was home.  Will try to carry the camera with me more often.

Now that we are having the house up for sale, the rooms are staged a bit. My fast computer is upstairs on a desk in my daughter's room. The ease of jumping from one post to another isn't quite at my fingertips. I have a little netbook, which is very nice to use, but I am still trying to get the hang of the touch pad. Please bear with me as I try to visit your blogs, I have been trying to catch up a little today. With hope I will have gone by and said hello to most of you within the next few days.

I also will have Tuesday's Trees back on track.  I want to do my research and photos for these posts without rushing too much.  Again, the next tree is the American Beech.




words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Winter Light, Seaford Style

This month the Gardening Gone Wild photo theme is "Winter Light". I know I have shared this photo before, but after sorting through my recent photos, this seemed to best depict winter light.


I was so glad this weekend gave us a couple warmer days. Today I spent a bit of time outside transplanting a Gardenia bush. One of the storms we had earlier this year uprooted this poor bush.  It now has a new home in the garden.

We have been busy painting, readying our house to be put on the market. I have been trying to visit all blogs I usually read, but time has been limited. If I haven't commented on your blog lately-- rest assured I will get back to you soon!

I hope we continue to have warmer days, but since this is still February, chances are slim.
Please head over to the Gardening Gone Wild sight to see some of the other entries.
Stay warm.....spring is just around the corner, I'm sure of it.



words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Don't You Have Lots of Color In Your Garden?

I have lots of color in my garden at this time of year. I hadn't really planned any of this color....it just happened. The dusting of snow covered it for a while but after the snow melted the color was still there.


I have orange.


Some really nice blue with the orange.


A big white "X".


And a large area of flags and yellow, orange, blue, white, and red.

Before we left for South Carolina we had some sewer issues that we thought were resolved. When we returned there were flags. Now we have Miss Utility marking all the utilities. Apparently the county needs to do some repair on the sewer line. While I am glad something is getting fixed, I do not relish my front garden getting dug up. I went to save some daffodil bulbs inside the white square...the ground is frozen solid. Will keep you posted.

In the meanwhile I will enjoy the scenery out back with the ice sparkles on the creek. This is my entry for Gardening Gone Wild's photo contest this month. The theme this month is 'Winter's Beauty'.

November's GGW Photo Entry 'The End of the Line'

Many of you know of the contest over at Gardening Gone Wild. The theme this month is 'The End of the Line'. I have contemplated which photo would be my best entry. After narrowing the choices down from a bazillion to 6 then to 4 I asked a few family members. The prefered choice was the one I kept going back to --- a rotten tomato and a mushroom. Isn't compost/decay really the end of the line? I think so too.

Here is my entry for 'The End of the Line'



The runners up were- my backyard (pre-storm) on a foggy morning



A view to the end of the creek



And the last one, the Coleman Bridge. While it is a cool picture, my daughter points out it doesn't lead to the end of the line, just to Gloucester!

GGW Photo Contest September 09

I thought I would try my luck with the photo contest hosted by Gardening Gone Wild. This month's subject is ornamental grasses.
This contest allows only one entry per person and boy was that hard to decide which photo to use. I went into the garden this evening to try and get another photo of this Miscanthus sinensis 'Dixieland'. None of the pictures I took tonight were as good as this one. This was posted earlier this summer. I really like this one and one of my darling daughters agreed.



Wish me luck!