Look how beautiful the Sage is right now.  This bloom period lasts almost a month.  

 

You know that the leaves are edible, and used a lot in cooking.  Well, the flowers are edible too, and are delicious sprinkled on top of all kinds of salads.  We put some on potato salad, and they were beautiful and tasty.

 

Ya gotta love Sage.  We do!!!

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!

 

The Mountain Laurel is starting to bloom.  This one is on the Creekside Trail, but they are all over the place.  

 

Next time you drive to Blairsville, take Mocassin Church Road, and you will see hundreds of them in glorious bloom.

 

HAPPY MAY!!!

 

Look up!!!  The Black Locust trees are blooming.  You can smell them before you see them.  Of course I can spot them at 50 yards going 45 miles an hour.  It's just my thing.  ;)

 

There are lots of them in the neighborhood.  Most people see them as weed trees, but I love them, especially this month.

 

HAPPY MAY!!!

 

Just across the street from that Tulip Poplar is this huge wild rose bush.  We smelled it before we saw it.  It smells like cloves.

 

So when you are out for a walk, or driving by, look for them;  they are blooming all over the neighborhood.  Fabulous!!!

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!

 

Usually the flowers are up too high to get a good picture, but these are low enough for me to get a close up.

 

I just love it when the Tulip Poplars bloom.  Look for orange and green flowers all over the trees.  There are lots in our neighborhood.

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!

 

I am so glad that our neighbors on Five Forks Drive planted these Korean Dogwoods.  

 

They are just below the third switchback, and close enough to the road to see them every time we drive by.

 

And aren't they gorgeous right now?  

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!

 

This is how we plant tomatoes. 

 

Jon digs a deep hole and adds a handful of gravel.  Then I put in a 2 liter jug (upside down, with the top off, and the bottom cut out.)  I add a little more gravel to the jug, then put in the tomato plant right next to the upside down jug.  This is how we deep water our tomatoes.  See how the water goes directly to the roots, and doesn't get on the leaves?  

 

I learned this method from Alma and Jim when they lived in Swansboro.  Hmmm, about 1980.  Been doing it this way ever since.  

 

Looks funny, but works great!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

We all know this vegetable in the grocery store, but do you know it in the garden?  

 

I found a few sprouting in the basement, (last fall) so I stuck them in the ground, and forgot about them.

 

Now I have potatoes growing in the garden:  for FREE!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

When I was looking up something about Mother's Day, I read in the Farmers Almanac about the "Mother's Day Rule."  It says to wait until after Mother's Day to plant.  Seems reasonable for warm weather crops like tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, and squash.  But our cool weather crops have been in the ground for over a month, and loving the cool weather.  

 

Warm weather crops don't like nighttime temperatures below 40, so we wait on these. 

 

We also keep an eye on the blackberries.  Often when the blackberries bloom, we get one last frost, affectionately referred to as "Blackberry Winter."  

 

OK, Mother's Day is past, the blackberries are looking gorgeous, and no freezing weather in the forecast.  I guess we can get busy now, since the danger of frost has passed.  

 

I love this time of year;  it is so exciting!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I had never seen Honeysuckle growing as a shrub, but here is one growing at the Methodist Church in Blairsville.  

 

As we were leaving the Fringe trees and Iris, we saw this 6 foot tall and wide shrub, and stopped for a close up view.  I was surprised to see that it is Honeysuckle.  The flowers look just like the vining Honeysuckle that we all know, and the scent is the same.  

 

My Landscape Gardening book says that they can grow up to 10 feet tall and wide.  WOW!!!  That's a lot of Honeysuckle.  

 

So while you are checking out the Fringe trees and Iris at the church, go around the corner toward the exit, and you can see this gorgeous bush. 

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!