From daffodils to Oconee bells, flowering has commenced. Hooray!The Asian cherries in the median of our small city's entrance are in flower (after being coaxed into early flowering last fall); daffodils are up everywhere in our "yard" --not planted by us, but echoing past gardeners, as do the crocuses.In the Garden, the first Oconee bells are in flower, too. At the end of February, it's...
Tuesday, 25 February 2014
Monday, 24 February 2014
A lovely witch hazel
I'd thought that the glorious winter flowering witch hazel in front of our mountain house was a Chinese witch hazel, until reading my garden blogging friend Janet's post about Hamamelis vernalis (hmm, maybe it was on FB?). I couldn't find the reference for a link -- but thanks, Janet, for pointing...
Sunday, 23 February 2014
Spring is definitely on the way
Not only daffodils are flowering in the Piedmont, Asian cherries are back in flower in our city's median plantings. Lovely. They were "tricked" in late fall to bloom early, but happily, are now looking quite nice -- welcome after coming back "down the hill" today.All sorts of things are...
Saturday, 22 February 2014
From compost to dinners...
After removing the last of the compost from the location in the foreground of this photo, I added a 6" layer of leaves and pine needles, and then addedthe old lime basil twigs and sugar snap pea vines.Spring compost! It was time to clear out the last of the compost from last year's pile. I needed to...
Friday, 21 February 2014
Snowdrops and daffodils
I haven't seen any daffodils up in the mountains yet, but I'm sure they're open in the Piedmont (my garden blogger friends are reporting them, and they looked ready to pop in our garden). Hooray! Spring is coming.Here in the mountains, snowdrops (Galanthus spp) are brightening the landscape.One...
Wednesday, 12 February 2014
Snow and more snow
Happily, we've just had so far - lovely snow. The sleet is currently falling this evening, but the temperatures (for Clemson, SC) are predicted to gradually rise around freezing overnight, so accumulations of the 2-4 inches won't (hopefully) be issues in terms of power outages. (The snow hasn't accumulated on trees and power lines, thankfully).This isn't the case for lots of folks across a wide...
Tuesday, 11 February 2014
Now, potentially much more (snow and ice)
Hmm, this is definitely the odd winter! We're experiencing the potential advent of another snowstorm (with ice) blanketing the Southeast for several days, after an exceptionally cold January. This, after a lovely and benign snowfall overnight that had melted by late afternoon.Campus (and most everything else that can close due to winter weather) will be closed tomorrow. I'm grateful...
Monday, 10 February 2014
Hmm, more snow and (potential) ice coming?
Yikes, this winter has been really strange. The Prunus mume (that I saw starting to flower again last weekend) may be totally blasted. At least the predicted temperatures are quite moderate. The forecast is all about snow (and potential ice) and full of hyperbole about snowfall (I think because of all of the previous storms and severe temperatures this winter).We could be inundated...
Saturday, 8 February 2014
Finally, signs of spring!
A mild winter day was welcome after the deep freeze of January (and the natural gas bill that accompanied it -- yikes, it was at least a third to a half more than we'd ever paid before!)More importantly, signs of spring are popping --dandelions are in flower and the early yellow jasmine (the Asian shrub,...
Tuesday, 4 February 2014
Spring is in the air!
Some trees and shrubs are already producing their spring growth.Spring is beginning to show itself with new growth on some of the plants and the extreme busyness of the little birds. It's too early to plant the tender crops because we are still likely to experience more frosty weather, but the rest...