|
Here and There…Now and Then |
Soap Bubble
Lea was blowing soap bubbles outside church this morning. Have you ever tried using autofocus on bubbles. It doesn’t work so well. Also, they move out of focus pretty quickly. I didn’t do a whole lot better on manual. Still, this one turned out pretty well.
Does anyone else see a face in this?
Maidenhair Fern
My dad had a maidenhair fern growing for years and when we bought our first house I dug up a small bit from the edge. When we moved I took some from that and it’s now well established in our yard here. So, this is “dad’s maidenhair fern.” (Adiantum pedatum)
Buckeye
his is a common buckeye (Junonia coenia), posing for me on a garlic mustard. An uncommonly beautiful butterfly, I think.
Rain
It cleared up later in the day but this symbolizes the day for me.
Spiderwort
This is the first bloom on our Tradescantia (spiderwort) out front in the shade garden. This one is lighter purple than most but still quite pretty. I especially like the deep purple stamen hairs and the yellow anthers. Apparently, when the stamen hairs are exposed to ionizing radiation they turn pink. Looks like were safe, for now.
Lady Beetle
I found a lady beetle today. She was nice and bright and crawling around on garlic mustard and mile-a-minute vine. Cute little thing, isn’t she?
Rose ‘Roseraie De l’Hay’
This is a nice rugosa hybrid that booms all summer long. The flowers have an intense clove scent that I really love. The only downside is that the shrub is so tall and most of the roses are on the top so you usually see them from below. Still, it will have a lot of blooms shortly and will be something to see.
Mother’s Day
We went out to lunch with our mothers (and Dorothy’s grandmothers) today. A nice time with two of the best moms in the world. Thanks for everything, mom.
Harvestman
There are over 6,400 species of harvestmen which together make up the Arachnida order Opiliones. They aren’t spiders (which are in the order Araneae) but are cousins. I’ve always thought they were cool. Their eyes are on either side of a little turret on their heads — the little black blob in this picture.
Tiny Green Damselfly
These little things are quite shy and wouldn’t let me get very close so this is cropped from a larger image. It could be a little sharper but I’m pretty pleased with it.
Baltimore Oriole
As an illustrative photo this isn’t much but seeing an oriole (Icterus galbula) is rare enough that any photo that catches the color is pretty cool, in my book. I got two others of it on a branch but it’s mostly hidden by the branch. I could hear it singing after it flew to a different tree so I have hopes of seeing it again.
Bearded Iris
The irises are starting to bloom all over. This is a purple and yellow variety outside our dining room window. I think yellow and purple are a terrific color combination.
Fireworks
You know when the really big fireworks explosions go off, they produce lines of light radiating out from the center with smaller explosions at the end of each ray? That’s what this reminds me of. It’s one of the large Alliums (gigantium or cristophii, I’d guess) growing in Ralph and Tsai-Hong’s garden.
‘Jaune Desprez’
I wish you could smell this rose. This is a Noisette rose called ‘Jaune Desprez’ (Desprez, France, 1835). The individual blooms are not the most beautifully shaped in all creation but it blooms reliably and grows pretty vigorously.
Ben, Lilias, and Michelle
We had a terrific afternoon with our friends Ben, Michelle, and their beautiful daughter Lilias. She only smiled for me in a couple pictures but I think this one is pretty sweet.
Allium christophii
I planted six of these Allium christophii last fall and they are just starting to bloom, a little late but that’s normal for the first year after planting. It will shortly but a huge ball of these cool, six pointed stars.
Columbine Seedpod
After the flowers are done, columbine gets these crown-shaped seed pods.
What Is It?
Anyone have a guess as to what this is?
Rainbow
Every time it rains and is sunny, Dorothy goes out looking for the rainbow. Usually it’s either not sunny enough or not raining hard enough for a rainbow but this time she came back in saying it was there and it was awesome. It was a pretty nice rainbow, I have to admit.
Rose Trellis
Last summer Kevin helped me build this rose trellis. The roses haven’t had a chance to fill in completely but it’s starting to look pretty good.
On the right is ‘Champneys’ Pink Cluster’ (Champneys, U.S., 1811). Although it isn’t really a climbing rose the support is helpful, anyway. On the left is ‘Crépuscule’ (Francis Dubreuil, France, 1904). Both of them are Noisette roses and bloom pretty well off and on all summer. ‘Crépuscule’ has the stronger scent but both are nice in that regard.
‘Rose de Rescht’
This is the rose that I was taking pictures of when I found the little frog Thursday evening. There are more flowers open now so it’s a better picture today than it was then, anyway. This is a little Portland rose called ‘Rose de Rescht’ which was brought to England by Miss Nancy Lindsay from Iran or France (it’s so easy to get those confused), before 1900. It’s a small shrub (two to three feet at most). I’ve been growing it in a large pot but I really should find a permanent place for it in the ground.
A Pink Multiflora Rose
Normally I’d be the last person to suggest that anyone grow a multiflora rose. About them the great plantsman Michael Dirr says, “use this species with the knowledge that none of your gardening friends in the immediate vicinity will ever speak to you again.”
Still, when I came across a bright pink multiflora — it is almost certainly a natural hybrid but it is a multiflora in every way except petal color — I decided I had to have it. I dug up a small piece and it’s thriving on my back fence. The parent plant was destroyed, so I got it just in time.
It’s really a lovely shrub and it is absolutely covered with hundreds of flowers and thousands of buds. Just don’t tell Spencer.
Male Ebony Jewelwing
Without the white spot on the wing, this is the male Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly (Calopteryx maculata). Handsome fellow, too, but fairly shy.
Love-In-a-Mist
Nigella damascena, otherwise known as love-in-a-mist, is a very pretty annual. It grows easily from seed and is a good choice for a sunny spot in the garden.
Green
The world (at least this part of it) has turned green. It’s been a lovely spring. It’s getting quite hot today and summer is basically upon us.
Tiny Fly
This little fellow is only about 3/8 inch long but he’s as busy as any bee you’ll find. I originally labeled this as a bee but noticing that it only has two wings, I’ve changed the title to Tiny Fly. I’m guessing that it’s a diptera (di = two, and ptera = wings) — a true fly.
‘Blush Noisette’
This rose has taken a bit longer to get established than the others but it’s starting to look pretty good. ‘Blush Noisette’ (Noisette, France, before 1817) is a pretty little rose with a terrific fragrance. If you’re counting, this is the fourth and final Noisette rose in my garden. It’s not actually in full bloom yet, having a half dozen buds for every open flower.
Nick Weber’s Heritage Rosarium
I spent the better part of the day at Nick Weber’s Heritage Rosarium today, taking over 350 photographs of roses. What a wonderful place to be. Just before 1:00 PM a very heavy rain shower came through and we all watched it from the shelter of the gazebo.
I decided to take a panorama of the garden in the rain, and took nine shots that have been stitched together to form this image. As you can see, the tripod head wasn’t completely level so the image slopes a bit but this gives you a bit of an idea what Nick’s main garden looks like.
Thank you Nick and Rosanne.
‘Perle d’Or’
Next to our front door is this sweet little China rose, ‘Perle d’Or’ (Joseph Rambaux/Rambaud, France, 1884). It’s just about through with it’s first main flush but it will have at least a few flowers on it from now until the first frost. A wonderful scent, as well.
‘New Dawn’
On August 31, 1931, the U. S. Patent Office granted plant patent number 1 to Henry Bosenberg for the rose ‘New Dawn’. There’s a lot to like about this rose but not least is that it so reliably reblooms and it has such beautiful, shiny green foliage that doesn’t have problems with black spot, even here in Maryland. I got my plant from my coworker, Kamala and it’s growing up and over the back fence. This brings “rose week” to a close as this is the last of the nine roses in our garden.
Allium caeruleum
This is a sweet little blue allium. I think I’ll get a few more of these this fall.