Posts Tagged ‘Flowers’

Spring Color

April 12, 2010

Dad Adams Daffodil, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 4, 2010.

Yesterday (Sunday) afternoon was absolutely gorgeous here on the Plateau and both Betsy and I spent as much time outside as we could.  Fortunately there is always something that needs to be done around the yard, so we have plenty of excuses for being out.

We have alot of color in our yard now and it is not only daffodils.  I think the flower up above is a narcissus, but since my Dad gave them to us when we moved up here, we usually call them Dad Adams Daffodils.

Red Rocket Hyacinth, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 4, 2010.

We have not had a great deal of success with hyacinths.  They never seem to do as well after the first year.  However we did have a few pop up and bloom.  They may not look all that wonderful, but they still have a nice fragrance.

Life's a Cabernet Tulip, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 4, 2010.

We’ve been very fortunate with our tulips so far this year.  The bright tulip above is Life’s a Cabernet, which is new.  It is multi-colored, but red predominates.

Halley's Comet Tulip, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 7, 2010.

I think my favorite new tulip is Halley’s Comet.  I got this picture early one morning before the sun caused them to open completely.

With all this beauty around us I guess you can understand why we enjoy spending so much time out in the yard.

More Daffodils

April 8, 2010

Las Vegas Daffodil, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 5, 2010.

We’ve been blessed with bright sunshine and warm temperatures for several days now.  It’s been great to be able to work out in the yard and to see things blooming again.

Our tulips are starting to bloom, but I haven’t gotten any of those pictures organized.    But we’re still enjoying our daffodils as well.  When I posted some daffodil pictures a few days ago, someone mentioned that they thought daffodils were always yellow.  So I thought I would share a couple more ‘different’ daffodils today.

The daffodil above is Las Vegas.  We’ve had it in our yard for a couple of years now.  Although the trumpet is yellow the petals are a beautiful white.

Pink Charm Daffodil, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 4, 2010.

This second daffodil is new for us this year.  It’s called Pink Charm.  It also has white petals, but the end of the trumpet is supposed to be pink.  I say ‘supposed to be’ because in our soil these daffodils look as orange as they does pink.  But we like them anyway.

My World: Spring Has Arrived

April 6, 2010

Breck's Colossal Daffodil, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. March 31, 2010.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

First of all, I hope you all had as wonderful an Easter weekend as we did.  Easter services are a joyous celebration and family and beautiful weather just made everything special.

I’m happy to report that Spring has arrived on the Plateau.  In a few short days we’ve gone from practically no signs of Spring to green grass, beautiful white Bradford Pears, yellow forsythia, daffodils and even tulips in bloom.

In addition to working in the yard I’ve been experimenting with my new camera with the macro lens.  It’s certainly different from a point-and-shoot, but I’m enjoying learning how to use my new toy.  I hope you’ll enjoy my experiments.

Our first daffodil to bloom was the big yellow daffodil, Breck’s Colossal, shown in the picture above.    We’ve got them in several places in the yard.

Replete Daffodil, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 2, 2010.

This double daffodil, Replete, is another blossom we’ve been enjoying.  I’m sure I’ll have more pictures to share in the future.

My World: Signs of Spring

March 23, 2010

Pickwick Crocus, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. March 19, 2010.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

We had some light snow yesterday (Monday).  It didn’t stick on the ground, but there was a light covering on the roof and deck in the early morning.

In spite of this, we are seeing some signs of Spring here on the Plateau.  The grass is beginning to green up and we have crocus in bloom.  Hyacinths, daffodils and tulips are pushing through the ground, but we’ll have to wait to see any of these in bloom.

In the meantime we’ll just enjoy these cheery blossoms for as long as we can.

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Today I’m very thankful that my Beautiful Bride married me 105 months ago today.

Working in the Garden

March 20, 2010

Tulips in our garden in 2009.

We’ve had two days of sunshine and blue skies!  We were home yesterday (Friday) so I was able to work out in the yard.  It was wonderful to be able to get my hands dirty in the soil again.  The mail woman brought us some roses that needed to be planted and I was able to get four of them planted.  I have one more spot to fill, which hopefully I will do Saturday.

Our  crocus are now blooming very nicely now.  I took some pictures, but haven’t had a chance to do anything with them.  I’ll post some pictures in the next day or so.  In the meantime you can check out Betsy’s new header on her blog.

The daffodils and tulips are coming up although we don’t have any blooming yet.  For the time being we have to be content remembering our tulips from last year.

To see these pictures and others, click HERE.

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Today I’m grateful for the beauty of growing plants.

Can It Be That Spring Is Coming?

March 13, 2010

Crocus in our side flower bed. March 12, 2010.

Yesterday (Friday) was dreary and rainy up here on the Plateau.  That wasn’t a bad thing since I had much to do after being gone for several days.

But in the late afternoon the rain stopped and the sun came out for a while.  I took the opportunity to quickly walk the yard and was very pleasantly surprised to see a clump of crocuses about ready to open.  It seems as if it has been forever since we had any color in our yard.

I also noticed that hyacinths, daffodils and tulips have broken through the ground.  And what is even more exciting some of our roses are starting to show signs of life.  Can it be that Spring may actually get here?

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Today I’m grateful for the promise contained in spring flowers.

Down Memory Lane: Garvan Gardens

February 8, 2010

Scenes from Garvan Woodland Gardens, Arkansas. March 9, 2009.

When we went to Arkansas in March, 2009, we stopped a couple of places on our way to Mount Nebo.  We checked out a waterfall at Lake Catherine State Park and we also went to Garvan Woodland Gardens near Hot Springs.

We went to Garvan Gardens to check out a couple of waterfalls (aren’t you surprised?).  Garvan Gardens is The University of Arkansas’ Botanical Garden and is located on a 210-acre peninsula.  It started out as a private garden which was later donated to the University.

We found the waterfalls we were looking for — and much more.  The spring flowers were in full bloom and could be seen from many different places within the garden.  We spent a couple of hours walking through the different sections of the garden and enjoying the sights.

To see these pictures and others, click HERE.

My World: Thinking of Spring

January 19, 2010

Daffodils in our yard, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. Spring, 2009.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, Louise and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

Although our bitter cold weather has passed, it is still obviously winter here on the Plateau.  I was able to walk the yard Monday, but there wasn’t much to see except leafless trees and flower beds without a bit of green (or any other color as far as that’s concerned).

I can hardly wait to see some color again.  Last year we had quite a few daffodils and we hope to have even more this Spring.  The collage above shows most of the varieties that bloomed in 2009.

To see these pictures and others, click HERE.

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I’m grateful for the delicate beauty of flowers and the bright cheerfulness of each bloom.

My World: Iris in Bloom

October 13, 2009
Floor Show Iris, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee.  Octoer 12, 2009.

Floor Show Iris, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. Octoer 12, 2009.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, Louise and Fishing Guy.  To learn more about our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

We woke up to rain Monday morning and a nice surprise in our garden — the iris in the picture above, Floor Show, was blooming.  We have several reblooming iris and their colorful blooms are a nice addition to this time of the year.

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Betsy and I are leaving this morning for a couple of days in northern Georgia.  They are releasing water from the dam above Tallulah Gorge on Wednesday and we want to be there to see what the waterfalls looked like before the dam was built.  We’ve had this trip planned for several weeks.

Then on Friday we are going to Jacksonville for Ray’s (Betsy’s brother) memorial service.  We will get back home on Sunday and then on the following Tuesday I will take Betsy to Maggie Valley, North Carolina, for her getaway with her grade school girlfriends.

I can visit you using my iPod Touch, but unless I can pry Betsy’s laptop from her, I don’t think I’ll be able to post for much of that time.  But don’t give up on me — I’ll be back as soon as possible.

Our Lilies (5)

October 10, 2009

LiliesCollage0905

(This picture can be enlarged by clicking on it.)

We made another trip to Hendersonville yesterday to check up on my parents.  I’m happy to report that they had no plumbing problems this time and that they were both in good spirits and good health.  We had some interesting moments explaining the workings of Medicare Schedule D, but we even survived that.

Since I was away from my desktop most of the day, I’m simply sharing the last collage of this year’s lilies in our yard.  As I’ve mentioned before, lilies probably our second favorite garden flower after the roses.

Next year we should have even more lilies.  As both Betsy and I have mentioned we have a new sunny flower bed in the front of our house, and Friday night I got a shipping notice that some new lily bulbs will arrive next week.  So I guess I’ll have some things to keep me busy in the yard.

If you would like to see all the different lilies we had in our yard this year click HERE.