Thursday, April 21, 2011

Spring is back. And so is the pollen!

Clematis has returned. Blooms are a little bigger than last year. Wonder if it has anything to do with the past two frigid winters.

Another great hay rack at Hyams Garden Center. This time they've incorporated a small crimson queen Japanese maple. My daughter loves the little bridge and tiny yard furniture.

We went to Nashville last month and stayed at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. The atriums were spectacular. They literally had an army of gardeners. Not one piece of dirt crossed into the paths, and not one weed was seen anywhere. Some of the palms were more than three stories high.




And I love this photo of my daughter and her friend looking at a gorgeous window box in downtown Charleston. I mean they were truly mesmerized by it and really appreciated its beauty. (million bells, dianthus)

We have 16 oaks in our yard. A small hand full are gorgeous live oaks, which I'm pretty sure were named based on the fact that they're never dormant! They are beautiful how they reach out over the yard like long arms. But they are constantly dropping twigs, small branches, acorns, pollen tassels, and leaves. LOTS of leaves....covered in LOTS of pollen. My poor husband was hit with bad allergies this season, which then turned into a really bad sinus infection. So we decided better to leave them for now and worry about them later. Finally yesterday he got the mower going with the leaf catcher attached and conquered the yard! He's awesome!

And here's a great way to start off the growing season. Some of my previous liriope was hit hard by the cold and looked a bit tragic. So I simply had my husband mow over all of them along with the spent daffodil stalks. A clean slate! Within a week fresh green sprouts started jutting up through the ground.