The Queen of Seaford: amaryllis

Showing posts with label amaryllis. Show all posts

Sunday, January 19, 2025

Photo-a-Day Week 3

We are now at week 3 of my photo-a-day series. I am trying to get a wider range of photos to share. I had set a current photo parameter for myself. Every photo has been taken within the past 24 hours. Most photos are taken with my cellphone, though not all. Those from my camera will be noted.

Day 13- A large box of dried mealworms. I have had a lot of Eastern Bluebirds visiting recently, counted 7 on the deck at one time. To keep them coming back I bought mealworms.

Day 14- Really cold day. Plants that have hollow stems often will hold water, be it from rain or snow, in the hollow pith. When temperature go below freezing, the ice has nowhere to expand but through the stem, breaking the outer layers and curling as it expands. This is a spent Goldenrod stem.

Day 15- I received an Amaryllis bulb for Christmas and it has been blooming for a few weeks. As the blooms fade and dry, they become a bit translucent. The lamp behind really illuminated the beautiful veining of the bloom.

Day 16- Great Blue Heron, perched on the roof of our deck. This was taken with my Canon Powershot SX 70 HS camera. I was outside, on our deck, which is about 200 feet away from the dock.

Day 17- Bouncing along the regularly traveled road at night, tried to get a blur of headlights as we drove. The bumpy road gave me a different look.

Day 18- Inside our front closet, a box of rings and Frisbees and other puppy dog toys. You open this door and you will have two dogs trying to get to the toys!

Day 19- Book open to a folk tale "The Elves and the Shoemaker" to read to my grandkids. The book is from a 20 volume set called "The Book of Knowledge". This collection has everything from songs to folk tales to geography to science (albeit a bit outdated now!) to politics and crafts. The copyright edition of this set 1953, published by the Grolier Society, calling this a Children's Encyclopedia.

Thanks for stopping by again this week. I posted a Fling post this past week, a couple more to come.

Sunday, July 14, 2019

Another River Running Through My Yard

We all know that gardens are always in flux. Some plants survive, some thrive to the point of taking over and sometimes you just want to change things up. Last year we looked at our front yard and decided that buying sod every year was expensive and labor intensive to install on a regular basis. What's a gardener to do? (we all know---you make a new garden bed!) The wet winters and dogs running over wet grass made the lawn thin and excessively needy.

I had big plans, make a giant mulch bed in the front yard. I haven't measured the size of the area we were looking at making a new garden....let's just say it is a large area. Maybe I will go and measure it one of these days.

We left a mower sized width of grass along the driveway and between the gardens. In the center of this new, massive garden is a Little Gem Magnolia with daylilies around it. Once the plan was hatched, mulch was needed. Lots of mulch. We had ten yards of mulch delivered.

Because we had some grass and a lot of weeds the plan was put cardboard or newspaper under the mulch as a weed block. Before you jump all over me, I have since read information from the Garden Professors about not using anything under mulch. Their recommendation is to just have a good layer of mulch (inches deep) and it will smother/block the weeds. Good information, just after the fact.

Moving forward we used tons of cardboard, mountains of newspaper and still ran out. We had help with the mulch from our kids who came to visit last July. With their help the mountain of mulch was spread. Hallelujah!

Liebling was a great help

Fast forward to this year. I planted three Japanese maples last fall-one Red Dragon, a Butterfly, and Green Viridis. Also added three Hydrangea quercifolia 'Little Honey' and a Cryptomeria globosa 'Nana'. Found a few abelia in the garden that needed moved- think they might be Abelia grandiflora 'Rose Creek'- so what better place to move them than this huge new space?

I brought a birdbath home from my Mom's house. In front of the birdbath I planted some Agastache 'Blue Boa', Coreopsis 'Mercury Rising', Stokesia laevis (Stokes Aster) and other plants for pollinators. The maples were doing well, the flowers were thriving but there was a problem with the garden...........WASHOUT. Some Liriope and an Amaryllis were added to try and slow the water flow. They didn't.

With every rain we had a trail of mulch running downhill through the grass. Not happy. I had scooped/raked up mulch multiple times. Something needed to be done. You see some rocks in the photo above. I didn't grab a before photo but the mulch was still in the grass so it is a good example. The rocks that I have had leftover from other projects are all in the lower part of the yard. Our property is on a good slope. Moving enough rocks was going to be a lot of work just hauling them up the last part of the hill.

My great plan was that my lovely assistant (daughter Rachel) and I would load up the rocks into the cart that attaches to the lawn tractor. My husband just needed to drive the tractor to the bottom of the yard, wait for us to fill the cart, then drive the tractor back up to the front yard.

Me mud splattered

Rachel muddy from rock hauling

Well, the yard was wet, the lower the yard, the wetter the yard. We pushed and pushed the tractor to get it moving and got sprayed with lots and lots of mud. Yay. Plan B was to take the tractor through the woods in our wooded lot where we had a path cut. Well, that only worked part way. We got my garden wagon and the wheelbarrow and moved three or four loads each out of the cart until the lawn tractor could make it up the rest of the way. Spreading the rocks went pretty well. Making the new dry creek bed curve gently through the garden, following the washout area, was not as hard as bringing the rocks uphill!

View from the top of the hill

We are due to get more rain sometime in the next few days. Cross your fingers! I want the "river" to be slowed and the water diverted as to not move the mulch.

View from the bottom of the hill

Speaking of mulch, that's the next project...more mulch. We are battling nut sedge and Bermuda grass popping up in the garden, especially where the mulch had gotten washed out or thinned. Weed control is an ongoing challenge.

Sunday, March 10, 2013

A Second Flush And Other Tidbits

My Amaryllis 'Blossom Peacock' bulb that bloomed back in January is blooming again. It is not in good shape. I put the bulb in a tall glass vase, suspending it above the water by virtue of the curves of the glass and the size of the bulb. I guess the energy used to put out the first flower stalk depleted the size of the bulb just enough to let it slip into the water. I didn't see that is slipped at first so the bulb sat in the water, rotting.

Once I saw it, I dumped the water to well below the bulb. I was about to give it the old 'heave ho' after the first bloom was finished as the bulb didn't look very healthy. When I was about to get rid of it I saw new leaves emerging from the soggy looking bulb. I decided to wait and see what happened. Perhaps in survival mode it put up two flower stalks!
I like the picture above as the sunlight shines through the window and illuminates the blooms. Photographing this beauty is and was a challenge. The first round of bloom I used a black apron as a backdrop to give a very plain background. Great effect isn't it?

This round of blooms I tried the black apron again, but with two flower stalks it was too large of a space. Well, if you can't use dark, use light. I put the vase on the floor in the laundry room where there is a blank wall. It was a great 'photo shoot'!! Front --

A little off set --

Side by side-

Which is your favorite background, light or dark? Amazing how differently it sets off the flower.

Around here spring is in the air, teasing us with one tiny bloom at a time. The Loropetalum 'Ever Red' is just starting to bloom, its blooms are such a rich red color, I really enjoy this plant.

The crocuses I planted all over the yard are finally starting to bloom. C. 'Advance' had bloomed starting weeks ago, the others were in suspended animation. Here is Crocus chrysanthus 'Ladykiller' finally opened yesterday. Hooray!!!

Another second flush is my Clivia miniata, who has been banished to the garage. Why? Apparently a nest of ants had taken up residence in the soil during the summer. I thought I had gotten rid of the ants, but found a trail from the container to the dog's dish....ick. The garage seems to be a good place for it.

The Edgeworthia chrysantha is at its peak now, the blooms look like huge pompoms hanging on each branch.

Also in the backyard is/was a Farfugium japonica, old name Ligularia. I bought it in October and it was quite happy in a semi-dry shady area... love the large green leaves.

This is what I found last week-- makes you want to cry doesn't it? This hole is larger than an inch, so something other than a vole has eaten the majority of my plant. Think a rat trap is in my future.

Before I end this I wanted to share a few more birds....

Dark-eyed Junco

Goldfinch and Downy Woodpecker

Full house on the feeder

How is your garden shaping up for the beginning of spring?

©Copyright 2012 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford.

words and photos by Janet,The Queen of Seaford.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

On Again, Off Again, On Again....

Sunrise from the airplane

How did this spring get to be so busy? Will the early summer be just as busy? Probably. For those who are still around, reading my words, thanks! With hope I will have you coming back again and again.
Just what has been going on over the last three (!) weeks? Covering a lot of ground! Or should I say, air?
Very early in the morning, a few Fridays ago, we made our way to the airport in Greenville to fly to Oklahoma City for a family wedding celebration and baptism. Would you believe on the way to the airport we saw an Armadillo??? Here, in South Carolina! Right outside our back gate!! I had heard that they were here, but this was my first sighting since we lived in Texas.

It was wonderful to see all the family members present in OKC. There is a ten month old great-nephew, four year old great-nephew and a 5 month old great-niece (the one getting baptized). They grow so fast. Since we had some time to kill Saturday afternoon, we went downtown to the Myriad Botanical Gardens. What a beautiful place. OKC has really done a lot of work in its downtown area. This is the Crystal Bridge, spanning the water. All around the grounds are beautiful garden areas.

As we walked around the grounds I had to keep reminding myself we were in downtown! Just beautiful!

The banks are richly planted with grasses, Oakleaf hydrangeas, Itea virginica Virginia Sweetspire, and azaleas. Love how the grasses swayed in the breeze.

The upper levels have walking paths lined with lots of blooms. The pollinators were busy at every spot.

From a distance you see the banks of the gardens, so inviting!

What about this Crystal Bridge you might ask? It houses a large conservatory. One end had very tropical plantings and at the other end, it was more arid. There is a catwalk across the top, giving you a wonderful overview of this magical garden.

At the floor level there are so many beautiful plants to see, many colorful foliage plants.

At this point I had to stop taking plant pictures, forgot my battery charger and still had family events to photograph.

Our trip home was longer than expected, flight got cancelled and lines were long to get re-booked. So very glad to be home!!
It was good to walk through my own garden as many blooms had opened in my absence.

Amaryllis, first time blooming outside

Amaryllis, from one of my York County Master
Gardener friends. Thanks John!

Kalmia latifolia 'Carol', moved from the front last fall as it
was almost dead. She lives!!

Kalmia latifolia 'Sarah', had two tags on it, 'Sarah' and 'Carousel'. Had
to wait until this year's bloom to know which it was.

Off in the woods the Blue-Eyed Grass is blooming.

Sisyrunchium sp.

Spring is the time that Spirea 'Goldmound' shines. The yellow foliage accented with the bright pink blooms.

Home on Monday from OKC and then off again to Seaford and parts north on Friday. Was able to make a quick stop at Freda's house for a wonderful visit and a nice lunch. Her driveway curves around to the far side of her yard, so the mailbox with the house number wasn't seen yet, but as I drove by her house, I saw a very familiar garden....just like in the pictures on her blog. Beautiful.
I was up in Virginia for my daughter's bridal shower in Manassas. Drove my mom and Charlie's mom to the shower. Great day!

A few shots from the shower, was too busy having a good
time to take a lot of pictures.

Came home with a few plants, courtesy of my mom and my friend Linda. From my mom's yard I collected a few ferns, Woodwordia virginica 'Virginia Chain Fern' and some hostas that my mom had collected years ago from her mother's garden in Pittsburgh. A few Lily of the Valley, Convallaria majalis, were tossed in.

Once the shed is painted (primer coat on now) I will plant most of these babies in the shed garden.

My dear friend Linda gave me a couple of her Yorktown Onions from her yard. Mine are missing after a hard rain, tiny foliage was covered with silt.

How lucky am I??
Allium amperloprasum

I brought my mother in law home with me for a visit. Since the weather has been so nice we went over to Park Seed for a look around. Well, yes, I did buy a couple plants. We looked at the gardens in the front area. Love the purples all together.

Pretty Clematis in the Rose garden area, no label.

I love the blooms on Borage, had some last year, but the bunnies ate it. So I bought this one! Will sow some more seeds around the plant I bought.....hoping to have lots next year! Doesn't the bloom look like a tomato bloom or a Shooting Star bloom? Same shape. .....except BLUE!!

In addition to the Borage I bought a couple Foxgloves. Last year I bought a purple one, so this year, a couple 'Camelot Cream'.

Digitalis purpurea 'Camelot Cream'

Charlie took his mom home this week and I took another stroll through my garden, the Mountain Laurel blooms are pretty even when they are on the ground with a bed of lichen.

Finally, in the family garden Clematis 'Prince Charles' is in full bloom. He has grown past the trellis and is nestled in the Gardenia shrubs.

I will be around your blogs to get caught up with what you have been doing. Sorry for the absence....life, it has a way of getting in the way of things.

©Copyright 2012 Janet. All rights reserved. Content created by Janet for The Queen of Seaford.