This Bud's For You

It's a week after Halloween, and this is still sitting on my front step.



I'm such a procrastinator. One year when I lived in Edmonton, I actually left the Christmas tree up until March because I couldn't be arsed to take it down.

I've been procrastinating when it comes to garden tasks. Things that should be cut back, deadheaded, or whatever. I know you're all shocked and surprised.

A frost threatens, and I peer out through the window at my potted plants. I don't feel like hauling them all into the garage. I'll just buy new ones next year, I think.

I've been surrounding myself with pansies, because they last through the winter here with little care. I rescued these ones from the Clearance rack yesterday.



The one thing I am pretty pleased about it is my 'Governor Mouton' camellia. This is the third winter it'll have been in the ground, and both of the previous winters it has only had 3 blooms on it.

3.

I've seen the camellia 'twigs' that they sell at Lowe's with more blooms than that on them.

I almost didn't even bother looking at it yesterday. I didn't want to be disappointed again.

But it looks as though it's full of buds! Even though I could only get 3 big ones in a single picture.



Hey, does anyone else on here have a camellia with Yellow Mottle Virus?



I've read that this won't really affect the tree much except in terms of aesthetics, but I was just wondering. I thought maybe this had something to do with lack of blooms. I really wish I would have known to look for YMV when I was buying this thing. Same thing with rose black spot. I learned about that one AFTER I planted my hybrid tea. And that one's been a thorn in my side (heh) ever since.

Speaking of thorns in my side...





The fire ants have built a luxury hotel under my magnolia. They're putting in a pool as we speak. If you're walking through the yard and listen reeeeeally closely, you can hear the sound of hundreds of tiny slot machines...

Fire ants. Yellow Mottle Virus. Deadheading.


Balls!! I say balls to all of it!!




Cribbage and chardonnay on the rear verandah. Much more civilized. Best way to procrastinate, hands down.

Ramble On

I love trees. This area is great if you love trees.

In fact, I have 'favourite' trees all around the area.

There's an old magnolia in a tiny roadside cemetery in Jacksonville...that's probably my favourite favourite tree.

There's a maple in Swansboro that turns a BEAUTIFUL shade of yellow orange in the fall, gorgeous shape to it as well.

And then, right down the road from my house, is a very old oak. It's been on the verge of dying the last few years. Been struck by lightning many times.

I took a picture of it the day we had all that snow last February. I had one with the tree all leafed out, but I can't find it...




Yesterday I went for a walk back where this house is situated for the first time in a couple of weeks. I discovered that the oak has finally kicked the bucket.



Looks like it just toppled over finally. Chuck said all of the flooding we got was probably the culprit.




As you can see in the snow picture, the tree was pruned so that no branches would overhang the road to the left. Also so that no heavy branches were over the house either. With the ground so soft, it just finally gave out in the direction the heaviest branches were pointing.



Chuck always said it looked like hobbits were living in it. As you can see from this poorly taken photo (sun is really bright the last couple of days) of the underside of the root system, it was pretty rotted out.



I was kind of sad when I saw it. That tree has seen a lot of decades pass by.

The Magical Mystery Tour Is Coming To Take You Away...

Ok. It's not really mysterious.

But to me it's magical! My early March tour of the garden stirrings. It's the time of year I scrutinize every inch of the soil and plants for new growth.

I look like a crazy person squatting every two seconds with my camera. If the camera weighed 50 pounds, I'd be really fit!



I was very excited to see all of the budding, and in some cases blooming, activity going on.

I know that violas can be ho-hum to some people, but I can't help but love their little faces. These ones have been growing since the fall, and they're starting to look bushy again.


The 'Stairway to Heaven' rose is starting to shoot some new leaves out. As you can probably guess, I bought this rose for the name lol. It's a climber/rambler, and it has the most beautiful clusters of red blooms. They smell delicious. It was doing very well until it got the inevitable black spot disease. Damn you black spot!

I also had it growing through that wire garden fence, which is now no longer there. I'm going to either move it while I still can, or try and rig it up anew. Or scrap it. I don't know if I can bear to do that though! I've only had it since last spring. :(



My 'Ann' magnolia is setting it's flower buds right now. They'll probably pop out in a couple of weeks. I planted this for my mum. Her middle name is 'Ann'. :) It's more of a pretty shrub, than a tree. I wish I had planted it in a different spot though. Oh well :)



My daffodils take after me. They're a bit flamboyant...:D



My reblooming azalea. I can't remember what the name is...'Autumn' something. It's one of the Monrovia repeat bloomers. It looks even better blooming in the fall than it does in the spring. I love it!



And I noticed it has squeezed out an early bloom. Let's see how long that lasts before we have another frost lol.



'D.D. Blanchard' Southern Magnolia. I'm waiting for it to take off growing! It won't flower till May, but I love the leaves on it so that doesn't bother me. Each branch grows a 1-2 feet per year (so far).



I'm calling these 'Zombie Mums'. Because even after spending this very cold NC winter in flimsy pots, they've risen from the dead. To eat your face.

Hey, better your face than your children!



'Endless Summer' hydrangea. If you can grow hydrangea, grow this one. it's awesome. I've never had trouble with it, it's probably one of the healthiest plants I have. My little lizard buddies love living in it lol :)




As I said before, frost season isn't over. So we'll probably get another one or two that will kill off this growth. Sorry to get all Debbie Downer on ya ;)



Even ol' Rosemary decided to put on a nice dress for the dance! ;)



I had the whole weekend off (rare occurence when you work at Barnes & Noble), and it was beautiful! I stopped at a couple of garden centers to pass some time. I mostly am doing this for planning/dreaming purposes, since most of the trees and shrubs are bare. I found something that caught my eye, a tree I've wanted since I moved here and started gardening. Mr. A said he'd buy it for me! I love that man.

Don't like to eat, er, count my chickens before they've hatched though. So I'll leave the reveal for another day! :)