Fort Worth Botanic Gardens

Beautiful place, well worth the visit!

 

Things Are Heating Up

November up here is looking more like September with the current temps.......causing some plants to hang onto their lives-and blooms! (Like this borage, too bad my tomatoes couldn't survive this well!)They're mixing with the fall foliage that's already been established....this is spirea 'Mellow Yellow'.Of course the grasses are swaying in the breeze, showing off their flashy seed heads (this is 'Big Bluestem'). Indoors the Christmas cacti have been blooming rather early, like this red and white that my friend in Texas was kind enough to send (it's grown to 5X the original size! :)

And check out my cute little witch hazel! This tree is barely 4 feet tall, yet blooming more vigorously every year like a champ! (Always in fall, though many varieties bloom much later).And finally, my own situation is "heating up" as well...the career choice is up for re-evaluation and I'm hoping to make big changes, my garden pics are scattered half on the web and half on my laptop causing continual frustrating confusion, and until I get a better connection than dialup, my blog posts will be fairly short (but not my sentence "structure" as usual :) But for what it's worth, I'm still here and looking forward to posting more frequently and with more substantive content. What's that, Gizmo? Bentley? Alright then...let's get on with it already!

The Spring-to-Summer Interface....

...has been rather atypical for me this year, with continued temps like this (even though they said it would warm up more this week).

However some things are very much "business as usual", like all the pollen floating on the river...

....and the dynamic weather patterns...

....continuing to bring welcome precipitation. My yellow ladyslipper blooms are emerging...
...and the mason bees are filling their nest tubes. They're filling up so fast, I think next year it will be time to buy another nest block (or two).
This moth is a newcomer for me, and after much searching I've decided it's likely a Red-Bordered Emerald Moth . More spring insect action-aphids! Yikes! I'm not worried though........cuz' there's a ladybug to the rescue! This is my favorite part of organic gardening-free pest control courtesy of hungry beneficial insects. I didn't have to spend a dime, either!
White lilac blooming and smelling nice...

....so is this buffalo currant.

The mountain ash looks like it will be loaded with berries this year, stellar performance from such a small tree (like 3 feet tall).

This beauty is Polygala paucifolia, or Fringed polygala...

...I have tons of these at the woodland edges of my gardens.

Uh-oh, looks like a bird dropped its' egg a little too hard!

Some nice white scilla, I have this in pink as well...

....and check this out! After coveting this yellow violet on another blog, I see that I have one already! Yay!
Just look at that cute face! I got this while it wasn't in bloom last year, what a pleasant surprise.

This is also the time of year to get together with friends to celebrate the end of winter. This was a "Circle the Wagons" party according to the host...I just called it fun!

Trillium are winding down but still blooming...

...as are many of the tulips.

I like these two together...

...and this one looks cute with my old wagon as a backdrop.

These are some of the "cast mates" in my "Purple Haze" bulb show...

...I love the bicolors...

....stripes are nice, too...

...an overhead look...

...though all together they don't look like much... ...compared to last year. I think the cool temps threw them off, plus the grass got a head start this year. Ah well, any blooms are a welcome sight to me!

Like this "Rosy Lights" Azalea. The bush is tiny, but manages at least one bloom every year. I'll try and amend more around it this year and help it out.

Peony "Little Song"...this is a miniature at only 12" tall, I got it from Klehm's Song Sparrow Nursery here in Wisconsin...

...white bleeding heart purchased just this spring and blooming its' hearts out! :)

Honeysuckle are blooming everywhere...they are becoming more and more plentiful around my yard. Almost invasive, actually...although I don't really like that designation. I mean, unless you're talking about poison ivy it almost seems a tad unfair. At what point does success become invasive? When a plant is the botanical equivalent of Walmart? (I know there are lots of smart people out there working very hard to eradicate "invasive" non-native plants...I'm just pondering and playing devil's advocate here. Please don't anybody get lathered up over it, ok? :)

Lilacs can often enjoy "over-abundant success" too, suckering all over the place. This one is well-behaved, but it used to be "Josee", a picotee lilac. The first few years it did have dark purple blooms with white edges, but now this! WTF?! Oh well, it smells good anyhow. I got two images: this first one that's in focus...

...and this one with the birch in focus. I kinda like it too...for the perspective or something. (Heh, or I need more coffee :)

Flowering almond blooming like a rock star...

.....and my nanking cherry bushes are working on some cherries-yum! I hope I get to taste them...
...but these Cedar Waxwings may just beat me to them!

More nice tulips...

...and the daffs are fading but a couple are still at it...

...very pretty!

My spring flowering clematis is blooming like crazy!

And the bugs are swarming like crazy, too. Too fast for the camera, even!

More great smelling bouquets for the house...

....man, I love flowers!

Looks like a lightning bug is here already! Seems kinda early to me...

...as do these iris blooms. These are the minis though, which apparently bloom in spring (I got the rhizomes last fall without foliage, so I had no idea what kind of irises I had.)

All of my epimediums are doing great this year, except my yellow that never came back at all, and it's the listed as the hardiest one! :( Ah well, this is pretty...

...and this...

...and this orange is different. I like how they all look like spiders...

...too bad this little creep isn't a flower! Ticks are very thick this year.

But so are the blooms! "Candy Stripe" creeping phlox...

...small species tulips...

...lupines opening up...


...nice geranium too, aside from the fact it is supposed to be 'Birch's Double'! Oh well, so much for that!

Oranges are very popular this year, as Mrs. Oriole can attest...

...her "husband" seems to agree...

...even this Downy Woodpecker enjoys them! And when the oranges are too spent for the feeder, I toss them in the yard..

......where the Red Squirrels snack on the leftovers!
The geese are sporting new babies everywhere...

...while the hostas and ferns are coming up, trillium still hang on.....

...even my "contraban" cactus from last year is happily growing a new pad!
This is "just Jack", looking dapper as always...

...and my bereberis blooms are small but lovely.

So that's all for now...as you may have guessed these images are a couple weeks ago, and this will have to suffice for my June Bloom Day, too. My health has been lousey lately, and I have no time to blog or even visit blogs lately. But hey, that's life...hope everyone else is having a great season!