The Mountain Laurel is blooming here.  This one is at Meeks Park, but they are throughout the neighborhood as well.  

 

So pretty!!!  I hope you see some in your travels.

 

HAPPY MAY!!!

I think this picture of the Eastern Bluebird is from Wikipedia.  Cute!!!

 

The bluebirds in Yorktown are building another nest.  Yoo-hoo!!!  Here is the link for that nest box.  Maybe we can watch this one from the beginning.  

 

 

HAPPY BIRDING!!!

 

This is our neighbor’s Korean Dogwood, and it is blooming now. OMG!!!

 

I just love driving by, and seeing it.  They planted two trees 15-20 years ago, and they are truly spectacular when they bloom.

 

I hope there are Korean Dogwoods along your daily path.  They are so bright and pretty.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!! 

 

Don’t you wish you were a cat at our house?

 

No, really.  This is Gizmo.  He sleeps all day in my sewing chair.  I don’t sew too much anymore.  Unless, I can grab my chair when he goes out for a bit.  We also plan our vacuuming around his nap time.  

 

It’s OK.  We love him.

 

HAPPY MAY!!!

 

Here is the Bittersweet in bloom.  Not too striking…YET.  

 

This vine is covering the Sumac bushes on the corner at the top of Clifford’s Hill.  We stop there to rest a minute when we walk the loop.  

 

Bittersweet is deciduous and goes dormant in the winter.  It is just a tangle of vines.  Well, it has leafed out, and you can’t see anything past it.  But I thought you might like to see the blossoms that will produce those fabulous berries in the fall.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

It’s that time of year, when we all want to get outside and work in the garden.  

 

It is also the time of year that the Poison Ivy is leafing out, and threatening tidy gardeners.  

 

I love this picture of it growing up the white oak just below George and Priscilla’s.  Look at that root system:  been around for years, I’d say.  The roots are hairy, and the oil that causes dermatitis is present in every part of the plant:  leaves, stems, roots, even the smoke if it is burned.

 

Here is the reminder:  you can shake hands with 5 fingers, but not with three.  Virginia Creeper looks similar, but has five leaflets and Poison ivy has three leaflets.  It grows small, medium and large.  It creeps along the ground and climbs trees.  It is everywhere.  So learn to identify it, so you don’t fall into the nasty trap of weeding it out by hand.  Best to wear your gloves when weeding.  And for everybody’s safety, never burn garden trash that may have poison ivy in it.  Even the smoke is toxic.  

 

Just a note:  I noticed some growing down near the mailboxes, so be on the lookout.  It won’t jump out and grab you, but if you brush against it, you need to wash as soon as possible with soap and water.

 

HAPPY, SAFE GARDENING!!!

 

The Black Locust trees are blooming.  They are all over the neighborhood; just look up.  This one is just across from the resting rock up on Five Forks Drive.  That’s how I noticed it: resting.
 
The tree is in the Legume family, and the flowers look like sweet pea flowers, except they grow in clusters that hang from the tree.  They remind me of wisteria, only white.  And they smell sweet.
 
Another interesting thing about Black Locust is that they are often planted for fence posts.  The wood is strong, hard and durable in the soil.  
 
We found some dead wood one time when we were camping, and it was too hard to chop, so we had a progressive campfire.  You know, start burning one end, and just keep pushing the huge log into the hot spot.
 
 HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Look at the wild roses in bloom.  These are on Stonebriar, but they are blooming all over right now.  We’ve seen them all over the neighborhood, along Moccasin Church Road, and on 575 going south toward Atlanta.  

 

Wild roses are closely related to blackberries, which are also blooming right now all along the same roads.  The way to tell them apart at 45 mph is the blackberries have sprawling, arching branches, and wild roses climb on branches and trees.  The roses look more compact than sprawly.

 

The roses also smell good from a short distance.  These on Stonebriar announce themselves even before you see them.

 

I hope you get to see some wild roses in your travels.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

We were walking the loop on Sunday, and saw this gorgeous thing.  Funny, though, we didn’t see it when we walked on Saturday.  Could we have missed it?  Or did it come up overnight?  I can’t believe we missed it.

 

I took its picture, and when we got home, we looked it up in our National Audubon Society Field Guide to Mushrooms.  I also checked my SEEK app, and online for POSITIVE identification.  YEP!!!  It is Chicken of the Woods, Laetiporus cincinnatus.

 

Anyway, on Monday we went back and it was still there, so we harvested it.  It took a while to clean it, because it had grown up through all that gravel that you see in the picture.  All those rocks had to be dug out.  But we ended up with 1/2 a lunch bag full of gorgeous mushroom pieces to cook and add to our dinners for the next few days.

 

I am writing this on Thursday to let you know that we are still kicking, with no harmful effects.  

 

I am also here to implore you to POSITIVELY IDENTIFY any and all wild plants you harvest and plan to eat.  Don’t take my word for it.  Just because I don’t have a bad reaction, doesn’t mean that you won’t either.  Be VERY CAUTIOUS.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday we made clam chowder, and as you can see the potatoes were sprouting.  So I just cut off that part, and I will plant them in the garden in the next few days.  I read that you should let the cut edge dry a little before planting.

 

I remember working a crossword puzzle one time, and the clue was ‘the bad part of a potato.’  The answer they wanted was ‘eye.’  Obviously written by a cook, but not a gardener.  The eyes are where the plants grow!!!  Once in the ground, these eyes will sprout leaves, and whole plants will grow from them.  Then in a few months we can dig out the potatoes and make more soup.  

 

I love the kitchen/garden connection.  And it doesn’t just work one way.

 

HAPPY COOKING/GARDENING!!!