I was taking a walk around the pond one morning, and I saw this fabulous hedge of giant holly bushes.  Well, growing up the trunk of this particular holly bush is Poison ivy (my favorite subject for blogs.)  I told you I can spot it 100 yards away at 45 mph, NO, really.  I have an eye for the stuff.  

 

Look in the middle of the picture and you can see poison ivy showing its fall color.  The leaves turn yellow and red, then fall off.  The Urushiol is still there, on the vines, so be careful.  You need to know where it is, especially in your yard, so you don't touch it, even in the winter.  Urushiol is an oil on all surfaces of poison ivy:  leaves, stems, roots, and causes a dermatitis reaction in most people.  Trust me on that, I am an expert at poison ivy related dermatitis.  That's why I want you to be able to identify it, so you can avoid it.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

While we were pruning Elaine's Fatsia, we kept seeing these little frogs.  They were all over the bushes in her garden.  Touch your index finger to your thumb:  that's how big they are.  SO stinkin' cute.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I hope you remembered to fall back an hour to Eastern Standard Time.  

 

This picture has nothing to do with that, but it is a pretty picture, and I love the rainbow.

 

 

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!

 

This is the patio just below the pot full of parsley.  See the baby parsley coming up in the cracks?  It does the same thing in my garden.  In the second year it goes to seed, and those seeds fall off, and start new baby parsley plants.  

 

Grow parsley;  it's very fun:  it attracts black swallowtail butterflies to your garden, it regrows itself, and it is great in the kitchen.  Win/win/win.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

I love this picture.  Linda grows parsley to support her black swallowtail population.  As you can see, they love her parsley.  We are hoping that there is enough for them to eat until they cocoon.  

 

 

FINGERS CROSSED!!!

 

Do you know this plant?  I love it;  it is Fatsia japonica.  It is a very cool landscape plant, as it likes shade and grows slowly.  I think it's interesting too that it was once classified in the genus Aralia which is the same genus as our familiar Devil's Walking Stick.  It looks similar, doesn't it.  The flowers are also similar:  creamy white clusters ripening to dark purple fruit.

 

There is also a sterile cultivar of English ivy crossed with Fatsia, called Fatshedera.  It has smaller leaves and a vining habit.  Another very cool landscape plant.  

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

I was in Manteo this year in June, and my Waterlily friend took this picture. I remember a dear old friend, Tommy Tillett, talking about the sign that read "Manteo to Murphy 563 miles."  There was also one in Murphy that read "Murphy to Manteo 563 miles."  Well, the sign has changed a bit, but you get the drift.  

 

Next time you are on 64 coming back from Chattanooga, or the Ocoee:  after you enter North Carolina, look for the sign.  Manteo 563.  I don't know why this tickles me, but it does.

 

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!

 

Another beautiful morning in the Outer Banks.  Well, not exactly the Outer Banks;  I saw this sunrise over the Currituck Sound, near my friends' house in Waterlily.  If you enlarge the picture, you can see the Currituck Lighthouse in Corolla.

 

To get to the Outer Banks, you have to go over the Wright Memorial Bridge.  If you travel north, you get to Duck, then Corolla, where the Currituck light is, and then Corova, where the wild horses are.  Farther north you are in Virginia.  If you travel south, you get to Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, and Nags Head.  From Nags Head you can go west on 64 and get to Manteo, where there is a sign.  Hey, maybe I'll show you that tomorrow.

 

I'm still here in Virginia Beach, for a few more days.  

 

HAPPY FALL!!!

 

 

 

Look at this beautiful trellis of hyacinth beans.  It is in my friend's yard.  She bought the seeds at Monticello, the Charlottesville home of Thomas Jefferson.  Botanically they are Dolichos lablab, and she promised to save some seeds for me to grow in our mountains next spring.  Yay!!!

 

I found them in the Baker Creek Rare Seeds Catalog, and the description included the reference to Thomas Jefferson.  But they named the genus and species as Lablab purpureus.  Seems pretty close, but maybe they are different.  I think I'll go with the offspring from the Monticello ones.  Thanks, Elaine.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Have I shown you Bayberry before?  I think I have, but I love it, so I'm showing you again.  Myrica cerifera, also called Wax Myrtle.  It doesn't really grow well in the mountains, but it is all over the place here near the coast.  Typically it grows near wetlands, which is where I took this picture.  I read that the roots can withstand burning, regenerating the plant even after the tops have been burned to the ground.  I think that's pretty interesting.

 

Of course, the waxy blue-gray berries are used in the making of bayberry candles.  It's my favorite Christmas scent.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!