the garden

February 19th

in some ways
the lilac flowers seem a very long way off
but seeing the big fat buds
is very cheering
(even if the camera doesn't seem to know
how to properly translate the marvelous blue
of that northern sky)

 

February 18th

There are two willow shrubs in this garden
with fat, shiny buds.

the "blue-stem willow"
Salix purpurea 'Nano'

and the colorful stems of last year's growth on
Salix integra 'Hakuro Nishiki'
i think the common name someone finally came up with
for this marvelous plant is "dappled willow"

February 17th

i was wrong.
i thought that with the sudden warm weather
that came through a few days ago
i would see some snowdrops or crocus pushing up
through the leaf litter
but not yet.

In the need for buds
i decided to look a bit closer at the shrubs

these are horse chestnut buds, i believe

and they do look better if you click on the images to view larger versions

 

January 21st

more magnolia buds
this time with limitless blue sky

the garden never sleeps

for in the bleak mid winter
with frigid temperatures tweaking the nose
buds are flourishing on the magnolias at Greenwood

taken before the snows
but even now, the buds are still just as full of fire and life

now for two that i "painted" in photoshop, best viewed large
simply click on either, if you wish

September 19th

Here in the northern edge of the MidAtlantic states
many of the marvelous and very popular tropical and sub-tropical plants
begin flowering in late August, and
if there is not an early, hard frost
keep on flowering for most of September and October
like Abutilon, sometimes called "Flowering Maple"
(which can keep on growing and flowering indoors).
This is one i photographed at Greenwood
called 'Vesuvius'

August 12th

 

 

March 28th

buds everywhere!
i look out my bedroom window
down on the lilacs with sweet green shining
on the tips of silver limbs
so i took up pencils and paper
and found tiny, brown-black buds
just beginning to break on paperbark maple
and cheerful little fireworks on the crabapple

(i wish my scanner did justice to color pencil
sketches...in my original, i felt i "caught" the
glowing cinnamon of the maple, and silver of
lilac limb much better than the digital translation communicates.
oh well.)

May 16th

bearded iris buds in morning light