Posts Tagged ‘Tennessee’

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What a Way to Go

July 23, 2009
Sempervivum in bloom, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. July 2, 2009.

Sempervivum in bloom, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. July 2, 2009.

I’ve mentioned before that Betsy and I have planted sempervivum (hens and chicks) around the house.  Sempervivum are succulent evergreen perennials that produce low, compact, evergreen, flower-like rosettes of succulent leaves.  The plants send out numerous offsets, and spread in this manner to form a dense colony.  The parent rosettes are the hens, and the smaller rosettes that spring from them are the chicks.

The name Sempervivum has its origin in the Latin Semper — which means forever — and vivo — which means live.  Sempervivum are called ‘live forever‘ because this perennial plant keeps its leaves in winter even when the temperatures drop below freezing.

Although grown for its foilage, usually in rock gardens or containers, hens and chicks do flower.  Flower stems up to 18 inches develop from the hen and produce blossoms with color varying from rose to pink.

The hens will die after flowering, but by that time they will have produced numerous chicks to take their  place.

The picture above is of hens in bloom in one of our flower beds.  The stem will last for a couple of weeks before wilting away.  It’s a shame that the hens have to die, but what a way to go!!!

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Posted in Garden | 17 Comments »

My World # 51: Roses

July 21, 2009
Roses in front of our house. June 12, 2009.

Roses in front of our house. June 12, 2009.

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

My world often contains roses.  The last of our roses bloomed this week, so I thought I would post this picture of the front of our house, showing almost all of our roses (two in containers on the extreme right didn’t get into the picture.  We have 48 roses — 22 in the bed on the left of the driveway, 16 in containers, and 10 in the bed on the right.

Needless to say, these flowers are a big part of my world in the Spring and Summer.

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Posted in My World | 11 Comments »

A Hard-Luck Rose

July 20, 2009
Frederic Mistral Rose, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. July 17, 2009.

Frederic Mistral Rose, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. July 17, 2009.

The rose above is the newest rose in our garden, Frederic Mistral.  It is also the last of our roses to bloom.

Actually, this rose has had a hard life.  We ordered it this spring as a replacement for a rose that didn’t make it through the winter.  So it got a fairly late start in the garden.  About the time that it started to form buds, the deer decided to use it for a snack.

It recovered from that experience and again formed buds.  This time the Japanese beetles used it for a snack.  The beetles discovered the buds on a day we went to Hendersonville.  The amount of damage Japanese beetles can do in a few hours is amazing.

But the bush finally produced a bud that was able to open!  The color is a light pink, and the petals look like porcelain.  As if that is not enough, Frederic Mistral is one of the most fragrant roses there is.

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Posted in Garden | 15 Comments »

Our Daylilies 3

July 16, 2009

DayliliesCollage0903

This is my third and final collage of our daylilies.  The first two collages are HERE and HERE.  We still have a few blossoms, which we continue to enjoy.  We’ve already made plans to add more daylilies next year.

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Posted in Garden | 8 Comments »

My World # 39: Daylilies

July 7, 2009
The picture may be enlarged by clicking on it.

The picture may be enlarged by clicking on it.

This is my post for the My World meme.  It is hosted by Klaus, Ivar, Sandy, Wren, Louise and Fishing Guy.  Last week there were many people sharing their worlds.  To see more of our world or to join and share your part of the world, click HERE.

My world contains daylilies at present, but they are past their prime and going fast.  The collage above shows six of our daylilies.

Daylilies are wonderful plants for our garden or just about any garden.  They are easy to care for; you can almost plant them and forget them.  They will also grow where other things won’t and they spread very nicely.

We like our roses, but we’re glad we have daylilies in our garden as well.

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Posted in My World | 21 Comments »

My World # 36: Lilies

June 16, 2009
Lilies in our garden, Fairfield Glade. June 13, 2009.

Lilies in our garden, Fairfield Glade. June 13, 2009.

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

Most of you know that Betsy and I grow roses.  But we have other flowers as well.  This week most of our lilies are in full bloom.  These lilies are opposite a sliding door to the deck and when the house is open the fragrance inside is heavenly.

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Posted in Garden | 19 Comments »

Who Says Lilies Are Short Plants?

June 15, 2009
Betsy and the lilies. Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. June 14, 2009.

Betsy and the lilies. Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. June 14, 2009.

As most of you know, Betsy and I grow roses, but we also have lilies as well.  As you can see in the picture above, the lilies are now in bloom.  I couldn’t resist getting this picture of Betsy looking up at one of them.

I must admit that I cheated just a little with this picture.  The lily is in a raised flower bed and Betsy is on a walkway beside the flower bed.  The lily plant is really only about five feet tall.  But if you look in the upper right-hand corner you’ll see part of a lily that is even taller.  The white lily is just under six feet tall.

But regardless of the height of the lilies we think they both look good and have a wonderful fragrance.

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Posted in Garden | 15 Comments »

Be Careful What You Wish For

June 6, 2009
Roses on our dining room table. June 5, 2009.

Roses on our dining room table. June 5, 2009.

As many of you know, we had two years of drought up here on the Plateau.  That meant carrying a lot of water to water the roses and other plants.  During that time we kept hoping for rain.

This year we have had slightly more rain than average, so everything is lush and green.  As a matter of fact, we’ve discovered a downside to all this rain.  It rained here on Thursday when we went to Hendersonville to check on my parents.  When we got home Thursday evening we noticed many rose stems beaten down by the rain.  Yesterday I spent an hour or so cleaning up the rose beds.

But I couldn’t just throw out all of those blossoms.  I try to bring Betsy a rose bud each day so we have several bud vases.  But yesterday I brought in enough blossoms to fill them all.  Our dining room table is a little crowded, but it sure does smell good in the house!

And speaking of the drawbacks to all of this rain, the grass is so lush and green that I’m spending more time mowing than I did last year.  And don’t even get me started on the weeds!

Don’t get me wrong — I’m delighted with the rain.  It’s just that between the trips to Hendersonville and the yard I’ve got way behind on visiting my blogging friends.  Please don’t give up on me —  I haven’t forgotten about you.

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Posted in Weather | 15 Comments »

The View In Our Front Yard

June 4, 2009
Our Big Rose Bed, Fairfield Glade. June 2, 2009.

Our Big Rose Bed, Fairfield Glade. June 2, 2009.

If you have visited here on a regular basis you may be tired of hearing about and seeing roses.  But Betsy and I enjoy them and enjoy growing them and we can’t help ourselves in wanting to share them.  The picture above was taken Tuesday from the edge of our driveway.  We rather like the view.

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Posted in Garden | 13 Comments »

Watery Wednesday # 37

May 27, 2009
Betsy on a bridge over the Little Pigeon River. March 28, 2009.

Betsy on a bridge over the Little Pigeon River. March 28, 2009.

This is my post for Watery Wednesday, a weekly meme created and hosted by 2sweeetnsaxy of Eyes, Mind, Heart.  To see more of our beautiful watery world, or to join and post your own pictures to share, click HERE.

The picture above is of my favorite hiking partner on a bridge over the Little Pigeon River in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.  The picture was taken in March, while we were staying in a cabin at Serenity Falls.  We had gone to the area of Greenbrier Campground to drive and hike along the river.  There had been several days of rain prior to our visit, so the water was rushing over the rocks and boulders.  The sight and sound of that rushing river in the forest/mountain setting is an experience that everyone should have at least once.

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Posted in Watery Wednesday | 12 Comments »

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