It's that time of year!!!  Poison ivy is dormant in winter, but it is coming back!!!

 

I've written a few good articles about poison ivy.  To see them, scroll down through the archives, or go back to The Home page, and click the Searching the site tab.  Put in poison ivy, and the articles will come up.  

 

If you have experienced poison ivy, then you know about it already, but if you don't know about it, you SHOULD!!!!  It is all over our woods, near the mailboxes, growing up the trees.  

 

I'm trying to help you learn about it, so you don't have to learn the hard way!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!!

 

Have you seen Jim and Roxanne's Clematis?   It's worth the walk over there!!!!

 

Each blossom is about 6 inches across, and the vines are loaded with them.  Breathtaking!!!!

 

What I know about Clematis is they like their feet in the shade, and their heads in the sun.  If you get them in the right spot they will live for years, and grace your garden with beauty every spring.

 

I'm just saying, Jim and Roxanne got it right.  Maybe the garden gnomes helped a little.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

We were walking on the Creekside trail last week and saw the Flame azaleas starting to bloom.  There must be thousands of them.  

 

Botanically, Rhododendron calendulaceum, these azaleas are deciduous, and bloom just as the new leaves are coming out.  It really makes the flowers POP!!!

 

The colors range from all shades of yellow to orange-yellow to scarlet.  You can see them on the trail, and in the woods on your travels.  Be sure to look for them;  they'll make you smile.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Look who's blooming at our house!!!!  Wisteria!

 

Terry Thomas gave us some vines about 10 years ago, and we had the perfect place to plant them.  We planted them in a bed just in front of this trellis.  They took a few years to get established, and have been blooming ever since.  Now we have wisteria growing up the trees behind the trellis.  It is beautiful, and sweet smelling!!!

 

Wisteria is a fast grower, and will take over a flower bed or deck, so you have to be selective when planting it.  Give it space, and tall trees to climb, and supervision the first few years.  

 

You'll be glad when April comes and it blooms. 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!!

 

 

 

Have you seen all the dogwoods blooming??? Most of them are white, but they also come in red and pink.  

 

I love them all, but this one is my absolute favorite.  It lives in the Christensen's garden.  It was Ayi's favorite tree.  

 

Cornus florida is the botanical name of dogwoods.  The white ones are native to our area and grow all over the woods.  The pink and red ones are cultivated.  They all like sun and partial shade, but they don't transplant well.  So if you want one in your garden, it's best to purchase a healthy one from a garden center, so it has a better chance for transplant.

 

Dogwoods are beautiful in spring with their bright blossoms, in summer with clouds of green leaves, in the fall those leaves turn red and purple, and in winter bare branches sport bright red berries.  

 

Fabulous trees!!!

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

This is our Redbud tree.  Breathtaking!!!!!  

 

Botanically, Cercis canadensis, the Eastern Redbud is native to Eastern North America, and grows from Canada to North Florida, and as far west as Texas.  Redbud is the state tree of Oklahoma.  It grows wild in our North Carolina woods, and is easy to spot at 55 mph, especially when it's blooming.  We've seen lots of them along the highways on our way to Virginia and back.  

 

Redbud is a smallish tree, growing to about 25-30 feet.  It usually grows as an understory tree, since it likes part sun, part shade.  It blooms in early spring, before the leaves emerge, with bright reddish-purple pea like flowers.  The flowers are clustered along the twigs and branches, and sometimes along the trunk.  

 

Besides her beautiful color, my favorite part about Redbuds is that the flowers are edible.  We look forward to putting these beautiful flowers in our spring salads.  They have a sweet tart flavor, and look so pretty!!!

 

I love it when our Redbud blooms!!!  Look for them this spring!!!

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

These are Bluets, Houstonia spp.  They grow all along the Blue Ridge Parkway and Great Smoky Mountains.  They also grow at lower altitudes, carpeting roadsides and open grassy habitats.

 

For perspective:  See the moss in the background?  It's about 2 inches tall.  OK, so we're talking SMALL!!!  

 

These Bluets are in a cute little patch on Stonebriar, just below Al's house.  They're easy to spot because THEY ARE BLUE!!!  When you're walking or driving slowly, you may see a haze of blue in the grass in early spring; it's probably a patch of Bluets.  Get up close, they are really cute.  

 

I hope you get to see some this spring.

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!!!!

 

 

 

They're back!!!  The rhododendrons at Meeks Park are better now!!

 

I told you they are amazing.  This picture was taken just one week after the previous picture;  in the same patch of rhododendrons.  They're back, and ready to get back to the business of blooming.

 

Makes me happy!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!!

 

 

Have you heard this?  Rhododendrons can tell the temperature.  Some people claim to be able to tell the temperature just by looking at the Rhodies!!

 

We went for our walk on Tuesday at Meeks Park, and saw the Rhododendrons looking a bit sad.  They looked as if they were weeping.  I had heard about their reaction to temperature, so I took this picture, and looked it up when we got home.  

 

It is NORMAL for Rhododendrons to droop, and curl their leaves when the temperature drops below 32 degrees.  And the colder it gets, the tighter the leaves curl.

 

So if your Rhodies or Azaleas seem sad, it could just be the weather.  They'll be better when it warms up.  Just like the rest of us!!!

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

And here she is, gorgeous as ever.  Everything else is sorta gray, but the peach trees are blooming.  I love seeing this!!!  It means we might have peaches this year.  Lots of ifs involved:  temperatures not too cold, bees to pollinate the blossoms,  and as bad as I hate to say this: no snow.  

 

We'll know by April if there will be peaches.  Then we just have to keep the deer and squirrels away from them.  

 

There's quite a bit of work involved, but, there's nothing as sweet as picking real peaches from my own trees.

 

I hope you are enjoying the early signs of spring.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!!