Have you noticed the smell of summer in the air lately?  We have on our trips to Blairsville and Murphy, and on our walks around the neighborhood.  The Ligustrum is in bloom.  This is the deciduous one up near Bella Vista, and there are a couple other ones on Stonebriar.  

 

I love that smell.  It reminds me of youthful summers in Norfolk.  

 

Now that it is semi-officially summer, I hope you are out and about, and enjoying all the joys of summer.  

 

HAPPY “SUMMER!!!”

 

OK…Back to the garden.  Here is just a little bit of dill.  It is so easy to grow from seed.  We love dill.

 

And when I looked it up in Dr. Cass Ingram’s Super-Market Remedies, I learned that dill is not just pretty in the garden, and pretty on the plate, it has medicinal qualities.  Yep.  Dill is loaded with magnesium and potassium. So, it is more than just a garnish, it’s actually good for us.  Good for the heart and the brain.  Can’t go wrong there.  

 

We grow dill because it is beautiful and tasty, and now we know that it is also good for us.  LOVE THAT!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

You would think that Miss Gerry is obsessed with Poison Ivy.  And you’d be right.  I can spot it at 100 yards doing 45 miles an hour!!!  hahaha

 

This huge vine is blooming!!!  See the little clusters of green flowers?  Don’t touch it, but do look.  It is fascinating.

 

Anyway, I thought you’d also like to know that 100 percent of the answers to my test were the correct identification of Virginia Creeper and Poison Ivy.  I’m glad you all know which ones are ok to touch.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

We noticed on our walk the other day that the Elders are beginning to bloom.  

 

This one is close to the top on Five Forks Drive.  But if you look around, you will see lots of them.  They are all over the hillside just below the WalMart in Blairsville, and all along the roadsides from Murphy to Jasper.  

 

They are easy to see now with their 6 inch white blooms, and when those fade you can see hundreds of purple berries hanging on the branches.  

 

I love seeing Elderflowers and berries.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

This is Mountain Laurel too. Usually they bloom in shades from white to pink.  These blooms are RED.  This is the only one I know of, and it’s in Meeks Park, right before the bridge. 

 

I have shown it to you before, a few years ago, but for the last two years it hasn’t bloomed.  That’s why I got so excited to see it this year, getting ready to bloom.  

 

Mountain Laurel is native to the eastern United States. I wonder if this one was cultivated and planted here, if it just hybridized itself and decided to be red.  Either way, we love it.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!! 

 

 

 

The Mountain Laurel is still blooming and is gorgeous.  

 

These bushes are about 10 feet tall;  you have to look up.  They remind me of the ones in our backyard in Yorktown.  I guess they get so big because the deer don’t eat them.  

 

Be sure to take Mocassin Church Rd. next time you go to Blairsville.  The mountain laurels are really pretty all along the roadside.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

Just checking to see if you have been paying attention.

 

 

Plant #1. Name this plant.

 

 

 

Plant #2. Name this plant.

 

Hint:  one of these vining plants you can touch, and the other NOT.

 

Extra credit for answering in the comment section.  :)

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

The peas are blooming!!  That means we’ll have sweet peas soon.  These are called Sugar Magnolia Tendril Peas.  The tendrils are humongous, the flowers are purple, and the pea pods will be purple too!!  Sure makes it easy to see them.

 

So exciting!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

When I was taking the picture of the Ox-eye daisies, I saw these cute things blooming.  I had to look in the wildflower book for blue flowers, and found out they are Wild Blue Flax.  This perennial is related to the Common Flax (an annual) which is the source of the fiber for linen, and the seeds from which linseed oil is derived.  

 

This flax didn’t just happen to show up in my flower bed.  A few years ago I flung some old wildflower seeds around, and each year something new comes up.  I think I see some Black-eyed Susies in there too.  Very exciting.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

The Ox-eye Daisies are blooming all over the mountain.  They are so bright and cheery.

 

These are in my flower bed, and I can see them from the kitchen window.  I love that!!!

 

When they are finished blooming, I will cut off the spent blooms, and cut the greens back short.  They are perennial, and this way, they can stay in the flower bed, to come back next year.  I plant winter squashes at the edge of this bed, and they need room to sprawl.  Everybody wins.  I get sweet flowers AND squashes, all from the same little piece of earth.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!