Check out this cluster of Ladyslipper orchids!!!  Cypripedium acaule.  
 

This picture was taken at Brasstown Bald, on the trail coming up from Hwy 180.  I still remember the first time I saw one in the wild.  First I saw the thick, leathery leaves, and thought, "that looks like an orchid."  We continued on up the trail, and saw colonies of them in bloom!!!!!  I almost fainted.  There were thousands of them.  Since then, we go up every year around May 1st, to walk the trail up to Brasstown Bald and see the Ladyslipper orchids.  
 

I wish these grew in our woods too.  But they don't transplant well.  This orchid has a symbiotic relationship with the mycelia in the soil in the places where they grow.    They have to grow where the conditions are right.  So we just have to go to them.  WORTH IT!!!!  
 

Thought you'd like to see them.  
 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

Here we are in Roxanne's fairy garden.  The columbine are blooming.  Jim says they act like "weeds."

 

They reproduce themselves way too fast, but they are still beautiful!!!  Maybe you can get some seeds from them.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!!

 

Looking for something the deer won't eat?  Check out our garden sage.  It's been here for 10 years, and they haven't eaten it yet!!!

 

I thought you might like to see it in bloom.  So pretty.  Sage is available in the garden center, but it's easily grown from seed.  Give it full sun, and well-drained soil, and you've got a winner!!!

 

Botanically, Salvia officinalis, sage is in the mint family.  Its Latin name, Salvia comes from a word meaning "healthy."  The ancients used sage for many medicinal purposes, but today it is mainly used as a culinary herb.  
 

We cut a few branches and use it as a rack underneath a chicken or turkey breast on the grill.  I have a friend who puts a few leafy stems in a vase on her cheese tray.  Sage is so good with meats and cheeses, because it helps our bodies digest fat.  And it tastes great!!!!

 

Besides, it is beautiful in the garden.  Give it a try.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thought you'd like to see my friends' colony of Jack-in-the-pulpits...Jacks-in-the-pulpit?  Either way you like to say it, here they are.  
 

Botanically, Arisaema triphyllum, "Jacks" live in damp woods and swampy areas.  The leaves have long stalks, and are 3-parted, making them look a little like poison ivy, but not viney or shiny.  Each double-leaf plant sends up one bloom.  These stand about two feet tall.  
 

Look how many they have!!!!  This is just one of several colonies in their woods.  I circled the bloom, but here is a close-up so you can see the blossom better.  

 

 

How fabulous is that ?!!!!!!  Seeing Jacks always thrills me.
 

We've seen them in Meeks Park, and Brasstown Bald on the paths.  We've even seen them on our Creekside Trail, although, not lately.  I wish they grew in my woods.  Thanks Nick, for sharing.  
 

HAPPY GARDENING!!! 

 

Cinnamon fern in our neighborhood.  I looked it up to be sure, and yep!!!  I love when that happens.  We've been calling this beautiful thing "Cinnamon fern" for years, and sure enough, Wikipedia calls it that too.  Botanically, it is Osmundastrum cinnamomeum.

 

This one grows down by the creek on Stonebriar Road.  We always look for it in the spring, and praise the lawn guys for not mowing it.  Actually, as you can see, it would be hard to miss.  I'm in the picture to show you how big it is.  I'm 5 feet tall, and this fern is, well, you can see...about that.

 

I read this about it:  it is native to the Americas and Eastern Asia.  It resides in swamps, bogs, and moist woodlands.  The green 'leaves' are the sterile fronds, and the reddish-brown 'spikes' are the fertile fronds.  The fertile fronds appear after the green fronds are about 4 feet tall.  The fertile fronds are full of spores that drop to the ground and form colonies of ferns.  So far, our colony consists of two large ferns, but it comes back every year.

 

Be on the lookout for it in your travels.  It will make you smile;  and now you know what to call it.  
 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Usually when I report on Clematis blooming, I show you Roxanne's fairyland garden.  Well, this time I'm showing you our Clematis.  
 

I didn't save the nursery tag, so I don't know its species name, but the genus name is Clematis.  This species is a deciduous vine.  It requires support, so that it doesn't take over the front yard.  Although, that  would be kinda pretty.  We planted it about 15 years ago, and got lucky.  It blooms every year like this!!!

 

I heard a long time ago that Clematis likes its head in the sun and its feet in the shade.  Sounds difficult to do, but we planted it under the deck, and trained it up the post.  It faces south, so it is happy.  
 

I am too!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!
 

 

Wild roses are blooming just as you turn onto Beaconhill Drive.  There are others in the neighborhood too:  way down on Stonebriar and on FiveForks Drive.  We usually smell them before we get to them and can see them.  
 

Wild roses and blackberries look very much alike.  Blackberries have long, arching branches, and the flowers are not so tightly packed.  The roses are denser, both their flowers and leaves.  
 

Be sure to look for them when you're out for a walk or drive.  Remember to notice their smell too, they're lovely.  
 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

We got a bit excited with all this warm weather, and planted our peppers and eggplants last week.  We know better.  But we did it anyway.

 

Our cold hardiness zone is between 6 and 7 and our last frost date is actually May 15th.  When we heard the forecast for this week, we had to do something to protect those tender plants from cold damage.  The kale, spinach, and lettuces don't mind 40 degrees, but tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants want to be warm.
 

Fortunately we haven't planted our tomatoes yet, so we still have all the 2 liter bottles that we use to deep-water the tomatoes.  We put bamboo stakes beside each plant and dropped the big bottles down over each one letting the stake come through the small hole at the top.  
 

IT WORKED!!!!  All our plants did fine!  We take them off during the day when it's warm, and put them back on at night to protect them from the cold.

The last cold snap before planting season is called "blackberry winter" around here.  Look around and you can see that the wild blackberries everywhere are blooming, hence the name.  

Maybe, next year I will be patient and wait until after blackberry winter to plant the warm season crops.  I don't mind planting them once, but I really don't want to have to plant them twice.  Maybe I'll wait til May 15th.  Then again, since we now have a garden hack, maybe we'll risk it.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

This is a White Fringe Tree, Chionanthus virginicus.  We saw it last week in Meeks Park.  It was still blooming this week.  
 

It is a shrub or small tree, growing 8 to 18 feet, and kinda spindly.  The white flowers hang in drooping clusters, May-June, and the petals are very slender;  "thready" is a good word to describe the flowers.  We've seen these small trees used in highway plantings, in mall parking lots, and I think there's one at the Methodist Church in Blairsville.  I really love seeing them in the wild, though.  It makes me think they are native trees.  I better look that up, not sure.

 

Wow, when I started looking around in my other books, I found this:  Chionanthus is native to the Southeastern US, but is so pretty that it is cultivated to grow outside its natural range.  I also found that it can grow to 35 feet!  
 

And one other thing I forgot to mention:  the flowers are FRAGRANT.  Such a lovely tree.  Be on the lookout in your travels, or go take a walk in Meeks park.  
 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I am so glad our neighbors on Five Forks Drive planted Korean dogwood in their yard.  It is blooming now, and is magnificent!

 

As you are driving into the neighborhood, once you pass the first village of houses, you make the big curve to the left.  First house on the left has several Korean dogwoods planted there.  They are mature and blooming right now.  

Korean dogwood, Cornus kousa, looks quite different from the Flowering dogwood, Cornus florida.   Kousa's bracts are pointed, and florida's bracts are rounded.  Another striking difference is the kousa blooms after the leaves emerge in spring, florida blooms before the leaves are out.  I love them both.