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.

Storm Booty or How I Got My Banana

What kind of Storm Booty do you have?  What?  You don’t have any?  Well, it is one of the perks living on the water.  Tidal water brings and takes.  My first experience with the give and take with storm booty was about 16 years ago.  We had just come back from the vet, Monroe was just a puppy and got spayed.  We took her to the backyard to let her off the leash only to see the Little Tikes turtle sand box, filled with sand, floating out to sea.  The tide was high with a nor’easter and the turtle was floating as tide went out.  Luckily I was able to grab it and pull it back to higher ground. 

Fast forward many years to 2003.  Hurricane Isabel hit our area with lots of water.  Once the tides had subsided we took inventory of damages and the condition of the trees and bulkhead in the backyard.  Lo and behold---we were the proud owners of two pressure treated structures.  I am not sure what they were.  My guess is that they were steps from someone’s dock/decking area.  Whatever they were, they became two garden tables in my yard.  They were strong and could take the weight of some of the larger containers I had.  It made for a nice addition to the backyard.  I put it in the bed with the birdbath.

Here it is just before the last nor'easter.

A few years after Isabel we had another nor’easter and one of the tables floated off to a new home.  My neighbor across the creek was now the proud owner of a small table that they could use in her yard.  She asked if I wanted it back, but I said it was now hers.  I placed the remaining table back where I wanted it…creating a new setting. 

The past few years we have had many nor’easters, some worse than others.  This past December you may remember my post about the high water.  I was sad as the cute little yellow rose was sitting in the yard floated off the bulkhead as the tide receded.   We had just had the house and deck power washed and all my plants that were on the deck were now sitting in the yard.    Gaining and losing storm booty is standard fare, but I liked that little rose.   

The next day I found the rose had floated back into the grasses along the bulkhead. I was happy to rescue it!

After the storm I found another planter had floated through the yard and was caught up on the fence.














Later that day I was talking with my mom (who lives next door) and she asked if I had lost a banana tree.  what???  No, I didn’t have a banana to lose.  Well, new storm booty!  Mom didn’t want the tree, so now I have a banana tree…..currently residing in the garage ‘til next spring.  

For now I am happy to be done with storm booty coming or going.






words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Tuesday's Trees- Loblolly Pine, Pinus taeda

This native tree is very common in my area.   It took some very close looking to find that there were other pines as well.  As stated in other tree postings, I never used to noticed what kind of trees there were in my landscape.   Since I have been doing these Tuesday posts I have really learned how to identify a good number of trees.   I hope you too have learned a little as well.  I have changed my page a little bit, putting the tree links on a tab at the top.  The list was getting too long to have on the sidebar.  If you click the link, you will have the full list of postings about trees.

As I said, this is a native tree to the southeast.  It can grow up to 100+ feet tall and has an oval crown.  One of the interesting attributes of this tree is that it is self-pruning of its lower branches.   My first thought with many of these was that they were ‘city’ pruned or limbed up for the home landscape, apparently I was wrong. 

The needles are approximately 6- 9 inches long with three needles in each bundle.  The needles are twisted, green, and kind of stiff. 

Loblollys grow tall and straight and have been used in lumber, pulp, plywood, poles, and fuel.  Another interesting fact is that new wood grain and old wood grain are markedly different.   In addition to commercial uses it serves as a food source for birds, squirrel and deer as well as a common nesting site for osprey and bald eagles. 
The bark of the Pinus taeda is dark gray with large scaly plates.   It is a fragrant bark.  Sometimes called Rosemary Pine because of the fragrance.  

The name Loblolly means mud puddle.  It is commonly found in swampy wet areas where the water table is close to the surface.  The average age is 100-150 years and it is a fast grower.
The tree has both male and female flowers.  In the spring when the pollen is released it is almost like a yellow dust storm.   The cones are green at first and turn brown as it matures.  It stays on the tree for up to a year after it releases its seeds.    It is about 6 inches long.  The tips on the scales of the cone are sharp. 

My best online reference is once again Silvics from the Forestry Service.  
Next week’s tree is the American Beech.





words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.