As I was walking the other day, I noticed this nice little kitchen garden alongside the flower beds.  There is Yarrow, Parsley, and these beautiful chives.  So I pinched a few leaves of chives and added them to our Lemon Orzo.

 

Maybe I will add that to the recipe section.  It is easy and delicious!!

 

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!

 

See the little tree with the dark red leaves?  It is a Redbud!!!  I didn't get to see it when it was blooming, so I don't know what color the flowers are, but it is really pretty now.  The leaves will stay this color until the fall, and then I have no idea what color they will be before they drop for the winter.  I guess I need to come back to Yorktown to find out.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I love the bearded iris, and these are SO pretty.  They smell good too.  They are on my morning walk path here in Virginia Beach.  If course, I have to bend down and give them a sniff.  It makes my morning!!!

 

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!

 

This is the cutest thing.  See these yellow "dandelion" flowers?  This is one stem with two blossoms.  Linda picked it last Wednesday on her walk.  That night the flowers closed up.  She thought it was done.  BUT, WAIT!!!  The next day when it got light they opened up again.  Not new blossoms, the same two.  That's so cool!!

 

Well, they closed up on Thursday night and opened on Friday;  closed up Friday night and opened again on Saturday.  I wonder how long they will last.  I'll let you know.

 

Oh, yeah:  it's called Common Cat's Ear.  Love it!!!

 

Here she is:  last year's Mullein.  It grew in my driveway from a seed and this beautiful rosette survived the winter.  It was not pretty, but it survived.  Now it is thriving, getting bigger and will bloom.  

 

When I cut down all the bloom spikes last fall, I walked around my yard shaking the stalks.  I hope to find some first year plants from that seeding.  We'll see...

 

But for now, we are going to have a Mullein bloom!!!  Yay!!!   Even if it is in the driveway.  

 

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!

 

Remember buttercups from when we were kids?  I know you remember the legend about holding the little flowers under your chin and if you like butter your chin glows yellow.  This is from my memory, and when I looked it up in Wikipedia it said exactly that!!!  The petals have a luminous sheen that reflects the color onto your skin.  It also said that the flowers and leaves can be poisonous to livestock, and I am assuming to us.

 

Well, I think this is the biggest buttercup I've ever seen.  Pretend you are holding a giant beach ball, and barely touch your fingertips together.  That's how big this one plant is.  And the flowers radiate from the center.  Pretty, huh?  

 

It's ok to pick them and admire the flowers, but don't let them grow in your vegetable patch, because you don't want to eat the flowers or the leaves.  That's your garden tip for today.  DON'T eat buttercups.

 

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!!

 

 

 

We have been watching the Mayapples as they are emerging.  They die all the way down to the forest floor in winter, then emerge in April.  At first they are really light green and fragile looking.  Then they harden off some, and become gorgeous green colonies all over the ground.  

 

The tops of the leaves stand about 12 inches high, and form a low canopy for the flowers.  You can see a white flower bud in the crook of two leaves.  Only the double leaves bloom.  So those are the ones I look for as we walk in the park.  I hope I get to show you some open flowers in the next week or so.  

 

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!

 

 

I am so relieved.  We had that cold spell just as the Mahonia was blooming, and I wasn't sure the berries were going to make it.  And ALL of them did not, but lots of them are hanging on.  It looks like the birds will be happy with this bush.  I am too.

 

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!

 

Can you believe this gorgeous thing, right outside my front door!!!!  And all the way down to the basement floor.  I planted it in this spot in 2006, and it has been beautiful ever since.  Yay!!!

 

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!

 

 

 

The Elaeagnus is blooming, and it is one of those bushes that announces itself BEFORE you see it.  It smells so sweet:  like cloves.  I love the scent;  Jon thinks it's too, too.  This is a spring blooming variety, not the autumn one.  I'll show you that one in September.  

 

I hope you have some near you.  If not, there are a bunch of them in the park, and one little one down by the creek.

 

 

 

HAPPY SPRING!!!