The Queen of Seaford: pulmonaria

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Spring is Just Around The Corner, 'Jane' Said So

We have had such a mild winter this year. Some of my daffodils are blooming a month earlier than they have for the past couple years. I know it is getting close to Spring because my Magnolia x 'Jane' is starting to open. 'Jane' is one of the Little Girl Series of Magnolias. She is a hybrid cross between M. liliiflora' Nigra' and M. stellate 'Rosea'. These 'girls' tend to bloom later in the spring, missing that late frost that causes damage to the delicate petals.

She isn't open fully, just a tease of color. Love this tree. She will be a show stopper in a few weeks...and in years to come, wow!!

For those of us in the South who love lilacs but don't have a lot of luck with them, here is a nice color substitute. Sadly it is not very fragrant. Daphne genkwa is a sweet little shrub that blooms before its leaves come out. Right now mine is full of light lavender tubular blooms. This time of year I welcome all color!!

A little more color this time of year is the Pulmonaria, this one is P. 'Raspberry Splash' with its foliage sporting white polka dots.

and here is P. 'Diana Clare' whose leaves are silver with a green edge. Will have to share the foliage later in the season. Right now it is pretty ratty, but the blooms are great. Pulmonarias bloom pink and age to a lovely dark purple blue.

A new plant in the lower part of the garden is a variegated Pieris. This one is P. japonica 'Passion Frost'. I bought three, one looks a little stressed. Hoping these colorful beauties will do well and grow to their 4-5 feet tall mature size. Pink blooms and variegated foliage....perfect!! Another month or so and these pink buds will be open.

Like a new parent or a new puppy owner who is camera happy, I can't stop taking pictures of the Edgeworthia chrysantha. She is in full bloom now and ever so fragrant. If you live in zones 7b- 10 and don't have one of these babies, time is wasting! Get one now!!!

Wanted to give you a wrap-up of the Great Backyard Bird Count-- had a lot of bird activity!! My count was almost 180 birds in 45 minutes. I got some feedback on the high count of the Brown-headed Nuthatch. The seed mix in this feeder was popular with all sorts of birds. At some points during my count I had 5 Nuthatches at one time on this feeder.

See the Nuthatch below? Busy little guys. They take a seed and fly off to eat it and return to get another.

Will be making the rounds to all the blogs I like to read, only have 113 posting in my Google reader right now.

©Copyright 2012 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford.

words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Great Nights and Lovely Mornings

We have been having some gorgeous sunsets. There are some great angles of the sun as the vernal equinox gets closer, bringing spring.

The phase of the moon gives that Cheshire Cat look in the tree. I am glad we didn't have too much cloud cover, hiding the moon.

Clear nights are leading to foggy mornings. We didn't really have rain, it was just heavy dew. Some mornings we can't see the water. The water droplets hang like little jewels on the spiderwebs.

There is something magical about the foggy mornings. Love how the Edgeworthia's fragrance it still on the breezes. All the buds are open now...

This morning is looked as if the garden fairies had had a party. These little webs were everywhere.

See how they are all over the floor of the woods?

Guess we have a lot of spiders in this part of our woods. It was funny that other spots in the area were less web filled, ours must be a great place to find dinner. Later I went across the street to check the blooms in the drain-field. I noticed some movement as I walked around. Looking down, expecting a little lizard/anole, I was surprised to see this guy..hiding in his den.

We are getting closer and closer to spring. I enjoy finding new blooms open each day.

A new Narcissus in my drain-field, Narcissus 'Grand Soleil d'Or', a Paperwhite. Think next year it will bloom earlier. It is a sweet little bloom. I think I should have planted this one closer to the walkways or street. It is up in the field. Didn't think about the blooms being so tiny.