Posts Tagged ‘Yard’

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My World: Tiptoeing Through the Tulips

April 20, 2010

Tulips in our side flower bed, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 11, 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.

Well, we didn’t tip-toe through the tulips, but rather alongside them.  We’ve had some beautiful tulips this spring, many of them in a flower bed that Betsy and I built along the side of the house.  We also had a few tulips in the front of the house.

The weekend cold front has passed through without any frost in our area, for which we are grateful.  So I was able to return to regular Spring chores in the yard.  The cooler weather didn’t slow down the grass, so I got to mow the grass in addition to the other chores in the yard.

It’s a good thing exercise is healthy because all of the beauty of Spring also means there is always something that needs to be done in the yard.

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Posted in My World | 13 Comments »

April Is An Interesting Month

April 19, 2010

Pink dogwood in our front yard, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 14, 2010.

April is an interesting month, although not always in a good way.  You know how April showers bring May flowers?  Well, we’ve had practically no rain at all this month.  I’m still hoping for May flowers,  however.

We had summer-like temperatures for most of last week.  We didn’t use the air-conditioner, but we did have the house open and fans running.  So you can imagine our shock and surprise when we got home from running some errands on Saturday afternoon to discover that a frost advisory had been issued for the Plateau.  We moved our container roses into the garage just to be on the safe side.  Fortunately we didn’t have any frost and so we moved them back out yesterday.

Don’t get me wrong — I’m not complaining.  We’ve had beautiful weather and beautiful flowers.  Our pink dogwood tree (above) is about as pretty as it has been since we moved here.

I am finding, however, that I must be slowing down with old age as it seems to take me longer and longer to do everything that needs to be done outside.  So If these postings become a little more sporadic than they’ve been in the past, rest assured that it is because the weather has been good and I have been working outside.  I haven’t forgotten about you and will endeavor to keep up as best as I can.

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Posted in Weather | 14 Comments »

Honey Bees at Work

April 15, 2010

Honey bee at work in our redbud tree, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 14, 2010.

Have you heard of CCD?  Honey Bee Colony Collapse Disorder?

In the past few weeks I have read or seen stories about the disappearing honey bees.  It’s a cause for concern because honey bees pollinate a sizable portion of our fruits and vegetables.  The causes of the collapse are not well understood, but bee keepers are having some success in rebuilding colonies.

I was working in the yard yesterday near our redbud tree when I heard buzzing.  Looking around I found a couple of bumble bees flitting about.  I went in to get my camera, but by the time I got back the bumble bees were gone.  I did, however, find a couple of honey bees hard at work.

I haven’t heard of any problems with the bigger bumble bees, so I imagine I can try to capture a picture of them just about any time.  Under the circumstances I’m glad I found these hard-working honey bees.

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Posted in Glade | 16 Comments »

My World: Spring Is Busting Out All Over

April 13, 2010

Our front yard, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 12, 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.

My new camera allows me to capture most of our front yard in a single picture.  I took the picture above was taken yesterday afternoon from the road in front of our house.  Our pink dogwood tree is on the left and one of our redbud trees is on the right.  The containers along the driveway contain roses and you can make out two of our rose beds on either side of the driveway near the house and flagpole.

Our pink dogwood tree, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 12, 2010.

This picture of the dogwood tree branches was taken from the front of the house looking toward the road.

One of our redbud trees, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 12, 2010.

I also took this picture of the redbud tree from the front of the house.  It’s near the road, but it the prettiest of the two redbud trees that we have.

Our side flower bed, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. April 12, 2010.

Betsy and I built this flower bed a couple of years ago to handle an erosion problem on the side of the house.  Now we’re enjoying these tulips.  The house in the background is on the other side of the fairway.

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Posted in My World | 20 Comments »

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.

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Posted in Garden | 11 Comments »

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.

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Posted in My World | 15 Comments »

My World: Sempervivum

March 30, 2010

Sempervivum in our yard, Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. March 28, 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’re still waiting for Spring to come to the Plateau and stay.  We didn’t have any rain on Monday, but it was still cold and dreary.  We almost have a daffodil in bloom — I think it’s just waiting for some sunshine and warmer weather.

I did notice that our hens and chicks (sempervivum) are coming back to life.  We have several different varieties of sempervivum scattered around the yard and they have different shapes and colors.  The semp pictured above is near our small rose bed, and I like the red tips on this particular hen.

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Posted in My World | 17 Comments »

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.

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Posted in Garden | 19 Comments »

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.

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Posted in My World | 20 Comments »

My World: Autumn Colors

October 20, 2009
Red leaves and blue skies. Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. October 19, 2009.

Red leaves and blue skies. Fairfield Glade, Tennessee. October 19, 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.

I’m happy to report that all of our roses survived Sunday night’s low temperatures and I’m hopeful that we’ll get through Monday night just as successfully.

One advantage of the high pressure system over head is that in addition to cold nights we have clear, bright blue skies during the day.  I was working in the yard yesterday when I noticed these red leaves against the sky.  I couldn’t resist taking a picture and sharing it with you.

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Posted in My World | 13 Comments »

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