Photo-a-Day Week 11

Week eleven and still going strong! 

Day 69- 

We still keep honey bees and dress in our beekeeper outfits when we tend to them. We were done, closed the hives, and came up the driveway to empty the smoker. I always listen to make sure I don't have any bees following me away from the hives. I heard nothing. After extinguishing the smoker I looked across the street to all my daffodils blooming in our septic drain field and thought I should take a photo. Reaching in my back pocket to get my cell I encountered a couple of bees hanging out on my phone. Needless to say, I was stung a couple times.

Which Finger Got Stung?

Day 70- 

This photo is kind of fun. One trick I learned along the way is using your video function. I took this photo/video while my husband was driving. I videoed the house as we drove by. My cell has a function where you can grab or rather export individual frames from a video to your folder. I have used this to get a mid-air photo of my five-year-old grandson jumping off a stone wall.  Anyhow, after I took the video I noticed the white smoke on the left side of the image. I thought it made for an eeriness to the photo. The white is a reflection of my windbreaker sleeve off the window. 

Rainy Day

Day 71- 

In the springtime we have an abundance of wildflowers that grow along our road. In the photo below there are Bluets, Houstonia pusilla, and Draba verna, a tiny white flower. 

Wildflowers Along the Road

Day 72- 

We had trees fall from the Hurricane in September. Root balls with upended trees still dot the landscape. This root ball has a clump of daffodils blooming. 

Resilience 

Day 73- 

While at the beauty shop to get my hair cut, I thought I'd get a photo for this day. So many items from which to choose!

Product

Day 74-  

Spring is here! My Crabapple is blooming. This one is Malus x 'Red Silver'. The leaves are burgundy and the blooms pink. The honey bees enjoy the pollen and nectar on these trees.

Crabapple bloom with Honey Bee

Day 75- 

Across the street from our house are many lots that still have trees on them. Some are septic fields but a few are buildable lots. I did no filter or light adjustment on this. Through the trees is a cleared area where the timber company has cleared the lumber and is getting ready to replant. 

Gloomy

That's all for this week, 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.

Wildflower Wednesday- Orchids

This is a quick addendum to my previous post on Crane-fly Orchids, back in July.  This native ephemeral plant has those beautiful green basal leaves that are present in the winter and then a flower stalk in the summer. Well, this week while walking through the shade garden I noticed a spent flower stalk.

Tipularia discolor

Difficult to photograph with a cell phone, the automatic focus function has a hard time focusing on the slender stalk.  I persevered and was able to get a couple shots. Here is the best. Look at all those seed pods! I believe we will have a nice stand of Tipularia discolor, Crane-fly Orchid for years to come. 

Be sure to stop by Gail's blog for Wildflower Wednesday.



©Copyright 2019 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Winter Walk-Off 2015

As winter winds down to a close, I am finally back to writing a post here. It is time for Les' Winter Walk-Off 2015. I have participated in this annual event every year he has hosted it. You can find my older posts here- 2014, 2013, 2012, & 2011.
The 'challenge' is to take a walk and photograph your sightings....nothing to be photographed from your garden. Not too tough to do. Over the years my walks have gotten shorter as my friends have gotten older and less interested in a long walk. They like eating grass on either side of the road. Maybe they are part cow? Newton, on the left, is now 13 + years old, and Skyler on the right, is 11 years old. Chasing bunnies and deer gets them running, otherwise they like to mosey.

Our neighborhood is still a quiet place and our walks are generally uninterrupted by cars.  Just past our property is a stream that runs under the road and into the lake. The frogs are always singing up a storm. Love how the sunshine is dappled through the woods - you can see into the forest a good bit before the undergrowth fills in.  Looks like I need to clean my lens. 

The wildflowers that pop up this time of year are so sweet. I enjoy the sea of purple along the roadside. I have shared pictures of this little beauty on Facebook and had to do a little more investigation to get the correct name. Common name is Bluets, botanical name, Houstonia pusilla.

Small four petaled little blooms, hardly a couple inches tall...but en masse--spectacular.

As I was looking for the name, a site I use quite often is namethatplant.net. listed it as H. pusilla. For some reason I saw it listed somewhere else as Houstonia caerulea and thought I had misnamed it. Oops, not unusual, but hate to do that. I apparently misnamed it last year in my Winter Walk-Off post.
More research and  I found that these beauties, above, are in fact Houstonia pusilla, one of the distinguishing features is a red eye. Check! Then I noticed that there were some that didn't have a red eye....and they were white.

 
See all those white little blooms and a pale blue one in the midst of them? White ones with a yellow eye are Houstonia caerulea and the pale blue are H. pusilla. The common name for the white ones is Quaker ladies, cute name.

Hard to photograph something so tiny...here is a side by side comparison.

Larger plants are coming to life as spring is really just about here...TOMORROW!!! The maples in  the woods have that reddish glow as their blooms emerge. The grasses from last year are still that lovely blonde but at the base you see new growth starting to show. The winged elms, Ulmus alata, have already blooms and will be leafing out soon.  They are a scrubby tree and quite abundant in our area. Luckily the pines haven't released their pollen yet, thought the river of yellow will be coming soon.

Another sign of spring on our walk is the blackberry brambles starting to leaf out. They are everywhere! We do get some blackberries but the birds and other wildlife get most of them. I pull out those brambles in my garden all the time and have thorn snags on my jeans to show for it.

Please check out Les at A Tidewater Gardener to see other Winter Walk-Off posts from various blogs.

©Copyright 2015 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Harbingers of Spring

(här′bĭn-jər)  One that indicates or foreshadows what is to come-thefreedictionary.com 

Some of you are still in the grips of old man winter, I am so sorry.  We are fully embracing spring in my little area of South Carolina. It is time for the Winter Walk-off, hosted by Les of A Tidewater Gardener. The rules are simple, walk and take pictures (though not of your garden) and link to Les' blog.  I have participated in Les' Winter Walk-off in 2013, 2012, and 2011. Most of my walks begin the same way...with the dogs and our long winding road. So let's get this show on the road....literally!

Here are my two companions getting ready for the walk.  As they have gotten older they are less interested in a long walk....

And would much rather enjoy a free run. Newton is 12 now and getting whiter around the muzzle.

Skyler is Mr. Energy, a 10 year old Australian Shepherd.  He loves to run and is seldom far away from his ball.

I love how the light plays through the woods.  It won't be too much longer and you won't see this far into the forest. 

Many of my previous Winter Walk-off posts have been wide views, so today, we are looking for those smaller signs or harbingers of spring, starting with the beautiful and much aligned, Henbit, Lamium amplexicaule. Such a pretty little flower, one I like seeing in landscape.

See the little polka dots? Who wouldn't love this little flower?

Mosses are putting out new lime green growth, water droplets hanging on each stem.

Another 'weed' with a sweet little flower, Bittercress, Cardamine hirsuta.

Many of you know the little Houstonia pusilla, some are white and some are blue.  My favorite harbinger of spring.

Earlier this winter when we took a walk after a snowfall (yes we got some as well!) this fern was peeking out of the cover of snow.  This time, it was hard to find, hiding with the other green growth. I am not a fern authority, so I will leave this guy unnamed for now.  Thanks to Marian we have a fern ID- Christmas fern, Polystichum acrostichoides. thanks Marian!

After seeing ground level signs it is time to look up, into the trees for signs of spring.

Cornus florida 'minarets' plumping up, ready to open

Maples in the woods, possibly Chalk Maple, Acer leucoderme,  sporting bright reddish pink blooms.

Pines putting forth new candles and emit a heavenly pine scent--nothing like the pine cleaners!

A tree I have been eyeballing for a while, trying to get a firm ID has its spring catkins. Final verdict, Cottonwood, Populus deltoides.

Almost a trash tree, Winged Elm, Ulmus alata, blooms early in our woods. Don't you love the fuzzy seedpods?

In addition to the sights and smells of spring, we have the sound of water rushing through the creeks/streams that feed our lake.  You can see the stream through the trees. 

One last sound of spring, the frogs singing their spring song. So I leave you with a small clip of the frogs searching for love.... 

Enjoy! 

(be sure to visit Les!)

Randy says these are most likely Southern Chorus Frogs, thanks Randy!

©Copyright 2014 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Wildflower Wednesday (ok, Saturday) in Purple and Yellow

This time of year the wildflowers that jump out at me are of course all the different Goldenrod varieties that are blooming now.  There are about 60 species of Goldenrod, Solidago native to North America.  Pair that gorgeous yellow with some of the purple blooms are are gracing us with their presence to complement the yellows.   This is along the road as I go into town.  A field of Solidago with Ironweed, Vernonia noveboracensis creating a dreamy mixture of golden yellows and bold purples.

I stopped the car and walked over to the edge of this road to try and get a great photo as evening fell.  I was worried that there wouldn't be enough light.   For your viewing pleasure.... purple Vernonia and yellow Solidago growing wild along the roadside.

This year I was able to buy some Vernonia noveboracensis at the native plant sale.  Mine isn't quite this tall yet, we shall see over the next few years if it is happy where I planted it.

This wonderful example in nature makes me smile, it is a happy happenstance.  

While mine are small, I will enjoy these big and bold natives.  

Another purple and yellow combination a little closer to home are some Liatris and Chamaecrista fasciculata or Partridge Pea.  This is just outside our back gate of the neighborhood.

Here is a closer view of  the Partridge Pea, a favorite of the Cloudless Sulphur butterfly.

The pollinators are happy with these bright yellow blooms.  I am happy to say I have a number of varieties of Solidago in my yard.  Thanks to Ellen, this is not a Solidago but a Chrysopsis mariana, Golden Aster.  Thanks!!!

Also appearing in my yard is Liatris, (happy dance!!) I bought some that are in the backyard gardens, they bloom in the late spring/early summer.  These natives bloom in the fall.  Hoping they reseed and spread in this rather hostile dry area by the street.  

I wanted to include a new little bloom.  This sweet little flower's common name is Wart-removing Herb.  Such a icky name for a cute little flower.   It is Murdannia keisak.  It is growing in a damp area in the turf.

Doesn't this remind you of a Spiderwort?  One of the links says it is similar to a miniature Spiderwort.

I stumbled across another purple/yellow combo this afternoon while enjoying my woodland garden in the backyard.  Blue Lobelia, Lobelia siphilitica and another Solidago.  Wonderful!!

Thanks to Gail at Clay and Limestone for hosting another Wildflower Wednesday.  Stop by and see some of the other natives across the country and around the world.

©Copyright 2013 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford. words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.