Monthly Archives: May 2016

Chive Flowers

The chives are in bloom. Chives themselves are nice to use as a garnish and seasoning in food but I particularly like using chive blossoms. They have basically the same flavor as the leaves but add a bit of color in addition to the taste. They are only available from my garden during a short period in the spring, though, so I have to use them when I can. For a few years I’ve had a container full of chives but last year I moved some of them to a small herb garden in our yard and that’s where these are growing.

Hello, Dahlia!

We took our annual Mother’s Day trip to the garden center this afternoon, a day before Mother’s Day, and Cathy bought a pretty good load of plants for the garden and her containers. These will be in addition to the hanging baskets she got yesterday, so it’s going to be a banner year for us. While she shopped, I wandered around taking pictures of flowers and especially enjoyed the dahlia plants, many of which were in full bloom. This one was especially nice and I like the symmetry of the petals, as well as the lovely color.

Amur Honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii)

Not everyone’s favorite plant, the Amur honeysuckle is a seriously invasive plant. It’s a pretty enough plant in its own right, but you should never have any qualms about pulling it up or cutting it down if it should appear in your yard. These one is growing in the woods next to my office building, where it is quite happy. In addition to the sweet smelling flowers, it will have pretty red berries (which are mildly poisonous) before too long. Still, cut it down.

Columbine (Aquilegia)

We brought some columbine plants with us when we moved here from Gaithersburg, growing them in pots for the year we were in the rental house. They have done pretty well and they are scattered around our yard now. We had some that were bright red with bits of yellow on them that we dug up in what we called “plant rescue.” Most of what’s left, though, is a dusky purple color. This one, a self-seeded plant next to our front walkway, is lighter than most and I took some pictures of it this evening as we were preparing to go out. This is only a bud, of course, but I think even the buds are pretty cool, with their curled spurs.

Forget-Me-Not

The forget-me-nots (Myosotis sp.)are in full bloom in our back and side yards and they are, as always, lovely. I went out to photograph them this afternoon and this picture turned out well, I think. They are very interesting little flowers with their little yellow circle at the center. I love the blue in the open flowers and the shades of violet in the buds. They are so delicate and fine.

Dandelion Flower, Minus Seeds

I took some pictures of flowers in the yard this evening, including more of the Exbury Azalea that I posted a picture of last week. The buds have opened and it’s quite beautiful (if a little smaller than it was because of the deer). I also happened to notice this dandelion flower in the back yard. It caught my eye because it was so stark and white and to me, it doesn’t look like a dandelion. It does, of course, because that’s what it is, but if asked we generally would describe a dandelion flower as yellow or, when gone to seed, as a fluff ball. Once the seeds are gone but before what’s left has a chance to dry up, this is what they look like.