I've been taking pictures of the blooms in my yard and house. I do have something to share today!
First up is a little oak I started from an acorn. I put the seed in the ground last fall after Halloween. Hey, if the squirrel can do it in all my potted plants, well, I'm just following suit. (I'm really proud of this little one. I hope it stays good for Halloween, and becomes a mighty oak in some one's yard.) You might have to click on the picture to make it large enough to see the little sprout. I was surprised to see it there. Just a few days ago it was nothing more than an acorn with his head in the dirt.
Shown here are the Golden Delicious Apple on the left. A Bing Cherry in the center and my Bartlett Pear on the right. (They do look happy don't they? It's a sunny day, what else do they need to be happy?)
Here is our larger cherry. It is grafted with 3 kinds of cherries, and newly pruned, so I didn't show you the ugly top. Poor thing insists on growing up into our power lines. It's been blooming for weeks now, and some of the blooms have gone brown now. I didn't look to see if the miniature cherries are already forming. I hope we had bees enough. The bees don't like to work on rainy days... and there are a few of those coming up soon, again. I hope the bees have had enough time to make cherries this past week.
Here is a plant given to me by my neighbor. We call it Pig's Ears, but I really don't know what it's called. This is it's first year here in my garden. Transplanted really easily, and it's right against the house which will probably save it from any frosts we will have here. I'm really pleased to see blooms on it. I'll be starting a couple for Halloween just after the blooming stops. Plants that need little care are the first to go to the Trick or Treaters, and if it blooms, so much the better!
These came up all over our yard on the birch side. They need for you not to mow the grass in early spring. That was right up our alley this year. We didn't have a mower... ours bit the dust last fall. Good timing, and we just had to wait til we could afford one this spring. Hubby is well pleased with his new toy, and accommodated our Snow Drops by mowing around them... this year.
We have a few gobs of Wind Flower - I think.
This bush is home to lots of little birds. In the fall they get red berries that by Christmas make a great cutting for decorating the house. The blooms are heavy scented, the leaves are oval and large, and I have no idea what it is, but it grows like a weed, and makes some great little plants for H. I pluck them out of the ground like weeds, and put them into little yogurt containers for the kids. It is an evergreen plant here in CA, and some of the older leaves turn bright red and fall off during the spring. Weird, but we like it.
This is one of my orchids... that bloom. I have been able to get 3 of my orchids to bloom. (There is a white that is similar to this one, and one that has little tiny blue flowers that are very heavily scented - but it hasn't bloomed in a couple of years now.) This one has bloomed for maybe four years now. This time it has 3 blossoms!
Here's another angle.
So that is the end of my plant portrait's for today. Hope you enjoyed my selections. I forgot to get a picture of the China Berry bush... or the Vinca that is blooming now, too, and I thought I saw a rose out front. Those will have to be another time.
Thanks for tuning in.
Terri
