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.  

 

 

Have you noticed that lovely scent in the air as you drive up Five Forks Drive?  It is the Black Locust trees blooming.  

Look up and you can see clusters of white pea-like flowers.  

 

Robinia pseudo-acacia, another botanical name I remember from Horticulture school. Black Locust, commonly.

 

Some people see the trees as great big weeds, because new trees grow up right from the roots, creating forests

of thorny, tough wood trees.  But they have big value.  They are so tough they are used for fence posts, because the wood

is strong, and holds up in the soil.  And they perfume the air this time of year.  
 

Thought you'd like to know what to call that beautiful smell:  Black Locust in bloom.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!
 

 

 

 

 

If you haven't been on the trail lately, you are missing the Flame azaleas in bloom.  They are bright orange and beautiful!  You can also see them along the roads and highways.  They are the only ones blooming orange right now.  Actually the flowers range in color from yellow through red, but mostly orange.

 

Azaleas are in the genus Rhododendron.  Most garden azaleas are evergreen, but Flame azaleas are deciduous shrubs that bloom May - June.  They bloom just as the leaves are coming out in early spring.  So look around, you're bound to see them.  Especially now.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Look who else is blooming in the park.  Mayapples.  I didn't need SEEK to identify this.  If you've ever seen Mayapples, you know what their name is.  Let's look into it further and see what else we can find.

 

Podophyllum peltatum, botanically.  Mayapples, commonly.  Mayapples grow in colonies, and stand about 1 - 1 1/2 inches tall.  First you see the huge green leaves acting like umbrellas;  then look underneath and you'll see the flowers.  Each set of leaves has just one white flower, nodding underneath.  They kinda look like apple blossoms.  All parts of the plant are poisonous, so just look, DO NOT EAT.  But do look and enjoy, they are definitely a happy sign of spring.

 

HAPPY GARDENING !!!

I have a new APP on my phone. SEEK.  With a picture of a plant or animal, it will identify it for me.  WAY easier than searching the books to figure out the ones we don't know.  
 

SEEK identified this small shrub as Carolina sweetshrub.  OK, now I'll go to the books and report back on it.  

 

I'm back.  Couldn't find it under the common names, so I had to look to Wikipedia.  It told me this:  Calycanthus floridus is its botanical name.  Now I can look in my books.  Peterson Field Guide called it Hairy Allspice.  So our horticultural lesson for today is:  Common names aren't the best way to identify plants.  It's  always best to use the botanical name if you can.  
 

OK, here we go.  Calycanthus has several species.  One is floridus, or hairy allspice.  Another is fertilis, or smooth allspice.  The difference is in the leaves.  Hmmm, didn't look at the undersides of the leaves, too excited with the flowers. Wikipedia shows some other species too, western and California allspice.  Probably not either of those.  These shrubs are growing at Meeks Park, in North Georgia.  
 

They grow 6 - 9 feet tall, and are blooming NOW!  Do stop and see them up close.  The flowers are about 2 inches across, and a brownish red, cinnamon color.  You can crush a leaf and smell a cinnamon-like fragrance.  Or scrape the bark and you can detect a camphor smell.  Just seeing them is exciting enough for me.  They are beautiful!  

 

I'm not sure if you can get these in the local garden center to plant in your own yard,  but they would be a lovely addition to any woodland garden.  Go to the park and see them for yourself.  It's worth the trip.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

We're going to have blueberries!  Lots of blueberries!  
 

This is a test message to see if I can get the pictures oriented correctly. This may not be such a good test cause orientation isn't necessary.  Don't care, I've missed you.  Just want to say HI!

 

HAPPY GARDENING !!!

I finally found something nice to write about, daffodils!!!  But I wasn't able to upload the picture.  Where's the sunshine in that?  No story without a picture.

 

I'll try another day, but right now I'm out of patience.  Sorry.

 

Our world was so pretty in the snow.  Even a scruffy ole sumac bush was beautiful.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Who knew that we were going to get this much snow yesterday?  

 

Wasn't it beautiful?  I hope you got to enjoy it.  We sure did!!!

 

I haven't really had anything to say lately, but SNOW!!!!!  That gives us all something to talk about.

 

The daffodils are coming up everywhere; but they really don't mind the snow.  It's normal for them to be emerging this time of year.  They'll be blooming soon.

 

Meanwhile, start looking for signs of Spring.  They should be happening soon.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!