Nature Photography at Amico Island - Deer and spectacular Sunset behind Phiadelphia Skyline #WindPhotography

Doe a Deer

Hobbies like nature photography get us out of the house for hours and moving more. Harry and I took our cameras to Amico Island Park located in Delran Township, NJ - part of Burlington County Parks System.

I was hesitant at first thinking how can I ever capture anything like my first visit to Amico Island photo. Do you remember the magnificent blue heron showing off his full wing span? That was on Amico Island.

On this visit, soon after our arrival, an excited photographer came up to us telling us she saw a large number of deer in the woods. I quickly went in that direction to see if I could find them. Harry stayed behind taking pictures of a beautiful landscape of tree reflections on a pond.

When I found the deer, they allowed me to take their pictures. The deer stayed together hiding in the woods as they listened for other walkers and kids riding their bikes. 

As you can see, I got close enough to see their sweet faces. Their color tones blended perfectly with the dried weeds and grasses in the winter landscape. A large buck strolled by too; I was in awe and could not react fast enough to snap his photo. The late day light streamed through the trees outlining the deer's bodies, even their whiskers! 

This was the first time I noticed deer had whiskers and distinct markings on their faces. They are such beautiful animals. 

Besides having white underside their tail, white-tailed deer display white rings around their eyes and nose that remind me of our cat Sammi. Sammi's eyes have beautiful, thick white outlines above and below her eyes.

After my hike thorough the woods and getting lost after wandering off to find deer to photograph; I finally found Harry on my way back to the car at a scenic overlook of the Philadelphia skyline.

Within minutes, just before the park closed, we had a chance to view a most spectacular orange glow across the Delaware River as the sun set behind Philadelphia!

Amico Island Sunset - Philadelphia Skyline by Diana Wind

Blog post and photographs Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Christmas Pavlova dessert : Before and After decorating with fresh sugared cherries, cranberries and pomegranate #GardenCuizine

Christmas Pavlova

On Christmas Eve my first Pavlova cake went into the oven! The big decision was white or gold? The kind of vanilla extract makes a difference. I prefer natural vanilla flavor, so I didn't go with the clear vanilla. As you can see, the whipped egg whites turned a pale gold hue. It looked festive on the table beside the flickering candlelight.

Pavlova is really like a large meringue. It was baked on low heat for 1.5 hours. After baking, the Pavlova stayed in the oven overnight until crisp and light.

On Christmas Day it was time to decorate the Pavlova. For the frosting, in place of the cream cheese, I used freshly whipped cream and pureed, unstrained, cranberries and pomegranate seeds. Sugared cherries and cranberries served as a decorative topping, along with a few handfuls of glistening, juicy pomegranate arils (seeds/juice sacs).

I'm not a big fan of fresh rosemary (or mint) on desserts, so I used fresh bay leaves instead. We happen to have a potted bay laurel tree growing inside during the winter. The leaves were just for decoration. Of course, you don't want to eat a bay leaf!

This holiday Pavlova dessert was pretty straight forward and easy to make. The link to the recipe can be found in my previous blog post.

 Notes: Pavlova is light and delicious and would make a wonderful dessert any time of year. Meringues hold up best in dry versus humid conditions.

• If you do not see my other blog posts below, click on the watering can at the top of the blog to view more posts.

Blog post and photography Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Christmas Holiday Dessert: Pizzelles, Gingerbread Cookies and ...Pavlova?

Christmas Holiday Dessert

During the holidays I make the usual Italian Pizzelles with Anise oil from the Italian Market in Philly. We usually have gingerbread cookies too; but, I haven't made them yet. We are low on all purpose flour; today, I'll buzz to the store to buy more. Besides Christmas cookies, I like to have a plan for a main holiday dessert feature. 

It is hard to think of dessert after eating Mom's traditional Italian lasagna dinner. Something on the lighter side would be most appealing. This year it is going to be something new for us - Christmas Pavlova. Have you ever made a Pavlova? Pavlova isn't exactly an Italian dessert, but I want to try it.

Pavlova originated in New Zealand and Australia and is made using a few simple ingredients that include egg whites, sugar and fresh fruits. A meringue is formed into one large or several small wreath shapes and baked. 

When ready to serve, the dessert is topped with fresh whipped cream and fruit. Pavlova cakes emerged around 1929 in honor of a famous Russian Ballerina named Anna Pavlova.

In looking online for Pavlova recipes, you'll find lots of ideas. One that struck me as Christmassy and gorgeous and interesting was by Lily and Dimitry at Gastrosenses.com. They used sugar-coated, whole cranberries and Pomegranate arils. Both fruits are readily available at this time of year. In fact, I picked up both yesterday at Walmart of all places!!

One thing I'll probably change from Lily's online recipe is the rosemary sprigs garnish. (I also saw rosemary used in a Pavlova featured in Victoria magazine.) I do love rosemary, but rosemary has strong oils and flavor that I don't want seeping into the delicate topping. Instead, I'm considering fresh green mint leaves. 

If I have time to take pictures and post more details of how our Christmas Pavlova turns out, I will. ...Stay tuned.

Happy Holidays and Happy Baking!
Related Links
Pavlova - Sally's Baking Addiction  
Blog post Copyright (C) Wind. All rights reserved.
Photo public domain Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova (1881-1931). Paris, 1st part of 1920s https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AnnaPavlova.jpg 

Nature Photography in the Jersey Pines! @ConserveNJ @PinesAlliance #windphotography

Nature Photography Class

This past Saturday, Robert B. Laucks of Pinelands Adventures took us and a small group, on a wonderful 2-3 mile hike with our cameras and tripods in Franklin Parker Preserve for a nature photography class. This was our first time to this former cranberry farm area. It was beautiful! The perennial grasses and wetland areas were bursting with striking fall color.

Rob reviewed camera basics and functions with us; such as, ISO, shutter speed and aperture. He stressed the importance of light and showed us how to make a natural starburst; something Harry and I had learned on our photography trip in the Adirondacks. 

The weather was chilly as we expected for November. We didn't see any bobcats, Barred owls, pine snakes or deer, but I did see deer tracks in the sandy soil.

Photo by Diana Wind - 68mm ISO400 1/60 sec at f 5.6 NIKON D7100

We had plenty of pine cones to photograph to experiment with aperture settings on our cameras. We walked past charred pines and firewood from a controlled burn not long ago. Some of the pines were black on the bottom with rings of healthy, green growth midway and on up along the tree trunks.

One of the trails we walked along had a historic South Jersey train track from the 1920's that I had not heard of before. It was called the Blue Comet train. How do you like my first monochrome photograph of the track to show leading lines?

Historic Blue Comet train tracks (1929-1941, NY to Atlantic City) - photo by Diana Wind

After years of using my camera on auto setting and wondering why my photos were horrible, I'm finally comfortable using manual at all times. We were all using manual settings on our DSLR cameras. I used a Nikon D7100 with an 18-300 mm lens. 

Franklin Parker Preserve has about 5,000 acres of wetlands and over 4,000 acres of pine oak forest - a bounty of natural wildlife and habitats. We look forward to going back again soon. Obviously, cameras can only capture a small fraction of all that is there. 

Thanks Rob! 

And thanks to the person who shared homemade pistachio cranberry and chocolate chip cookies with all of us on the bus ride home.Yum!

Related Links
More About Franklin Parker Preserve
Discover Nature Near You in NJ

Blog post and photos Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

@BurlCoNJ Wildlife Photography pic of today #windphotography

Great Blue Heron - wingspan: 5.5 to 6.6 feet

Amico Island Wildlife

Captured this photo of a beautiful, large bird on our fall nature walk this morning at Amico Island in Burlington County NJ. It looks like a Great Blue Heron - .Ardea herodias. We also saw some white herons, ducks, spiders, a snake and smaller migrating birds. 

Although I have lived nearby for all these years, this was the first time we ever went to Amico Island. We went with a group lead by Jennifer Bulava, the head Burlington County Parks System park naturalist. We will surely be back with our cameras! 

Thanks for the guided tour, Jenn!

Related Links
Great Blue Heron
Amico Island
Fall Migration Story of Harper, a Great Blue Heron

Photo Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Monarch Butterfly sighting in Mt. Laurel NJ in our backyard on Mexican Sunflowers!

photo by Diana Wind

Fall Monarch Butterfly 

Sighting 

in Mt. Laurel, NJ

Another adult Monarch Butterfly was seen on our Mexican Sunflowers this afternoon. I reported the sighting on JourneyNorth's statistics data collection. Report your sightings; citizen scientists make an important contribution to the understanding of monarchs and their incredible life cycle and migration.

We also refilled our hummingbird feeders today with fresh nectar. I wasn't sure if any hummingbirds were still around,,, they are! We had a female visiting at the red cannas that border our veggie garden just after refilling the feeders. So glad that I did.

Happy Gardening and Hummingbird and Monarch watching!
Grow a patch of Milkweed and Monarch butterflies will come.

Related Links
Amazing Year for Eastern Monarch Population

Blog post and photo Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Nature photography on my Birthday! #gardencuizine where oyster harvesting made history

photo by Diana Wind

Discover Port Norris New Jersey

After the oyster industry crashed and most of the rich moved away, Port Norris, NJ became one of the the poorest areas in the state. But in terms of nature's riches, Port Norris wins the gold for the best sunsets, the best grasses and the best salt marshes.

The more times I visit Port Norris, the more I love it. We went last night to walk along the wetlands and photograph the sunset. We parked the car in the lot at Bayshore Center at Bivalve and walked over to the trails.

There are miles of walkways along parts of the 4,000 acres of restored wetlands. It's peaceful there. Only one other person passed us on our walk; he was riding a bike. 

The grasses were taller than we remembered from our last visit with the Monarch Family Success Center group. We could hardly see the old oyster shack that Harry took a photo of the last time.

We walked along the path to the Maurice River and stopped to watch the birds catching fish. We decided the best area to photograph the sunset was closer to the largest observation platform. We walked back along the crushed shells.

The sky was blue and clear. Almost too clear for interesting photographs. Not a cloud in the sky - just birds, lots of birds. I can see why the area attracts bird enthusiasts. As the sun began to set, a warm glow spread across the entire salt marsh. As you can see, the sunset was breath taking.

Related Links
When Oyster Boats Ruled
Bayshore Center at Bivalve 
Treasures of the Marshland 
Oystering

Blog post and photograph Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

More Monarch Butterflies emerged in our NJ garden! #monarchmigration #gardenchat

photo by Harry Wind - edited by Diana Wind

Dorian was born! 

Dorian's chrysalis bobbed back and forth beneath a protective milkweed leaf as winds from Hurricane Dorian passed us along the Jersey coast after battering the Bahamas. As days passed by and the winds passed, Mother nature's course continued. The leaf started curling and browning. It probably wasn't the best idea to form a chrysalis under a milkweed leaf.  Amazingly, no other caterpillars ate that leaf and this story has a happy ending.

Dorian was born! As the sun warmed the morning air, this beautiful Monarch butterfly crawled out of the chrysalis. Nearby, another beauty did too. Yes, two more adult Monarchs to join the 2019 Monarch migration.

Harry noticed that they literally hung out around their chrysalis' mid-morning for a few hours while their wings dried. Learning about the amazing life cycle of Monarch butterflies has been the highlight of our summer. Dorian took 15 days to eclose (emerge). All I can say is, plant Milkweed and they will come. 

Happy Monarch Watching!
Photo and blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

@monarchwatch @SaveOurMonarchs @journeynorthorg Our milkweed meadow monarch watch update #monarchbutterfly

Our Milkweed Meadow

Monarch Report

My last post talked about the many monarch caterpillars we have this summer thanks to allowing milkweed to grow in our front yard. In the USA, monarch butterfly populations have been declining rapidly due to habitat loss of mainly milkweed. Monarch butterflies need milkweed to survive. We grow it just for the monarchs.

We love milkweed's pleasant fragrance; it's a native plant. And, you do not need a green thumb to grow it. Any homeowner can grow it. Ours grows in a small area that we don't mow or water - basically, a mini (pocket) meadow.

This morning I went out to look for a monarch caterpillar that I noticed Sept. 2nd, hanging under a milkweed leaf in the classic "J" shape - shown in the top photo. And, sure enough, the caterpillar must have shed it's skin soon after I saw it and produced an outer green protective, thimble-sized, pupa (chrysalis) in perfect form. 

Wow! Super exciting to see; and, beautiful too. I never realized chrysalis have a sparkly gold band at the top. I also discovered another chrysalis hanging from a branch in a nearby shrub. 

When metamorphosis is complete, a spectacular monarch butterfly will emerge and join the others in a captivating fall migration. These special, fourth generation, monarch butterflies live the longest. This generation of south-bound butterflies travel over 2,000 miles to their over-wintering destination high up in the mountains of Central Mexico. And, when winter is over, they turn around and fly back to the USA - absolutely an amazing journey.

Updates: 9/15/19- The good news is the chrysalis under the milkweed leaf is still hanging. The bad news is that the leaf is shriveling up and dying now and won't last much longer. ...Come on butterfly... come on!! I just saw a monarch butterfly, but it wasn't this one. I have been watching 2 other chrysalis too; 3 in all. The one in the sun on a shrub branch has beads of sweat on it and you can see the darker butterfly wings inside! 

9/16/19- Guess What? Harry said the chrysalis on the shrub was dark in color this morning. By the time I got home from work, later in the day, the monarch was gone! The other 2, including the chrysalis on the dying milkweed leaf, have turned darker in color and look ready now too. My bet is sometime in the morning. I also saw another caterpillar! The Monarch life cycle is fascinating.

Related Links
Journey South
Monarch Butterflies Migrate 3,000 miles  
Blog post and photos Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

@monarchwatch Success! Monarch caterpillars all over our milkweed meadow. Yay! #savethemonarchs

Grow a Milkweed Meadow 
for Monarch Success!

Our pocket meadow is proving to be a huge success! Harry's Meadow covers a small piece of our front lawn that we decided not to mow. With a little encouragement and select weeding, common milkweed is flourishing. Milkweed leaves are where monarch butterflies lay their eggs. When monarch caterpillars emerge, they are at the table of their only food source - milkweed. 

A few weeks ago we enjoyed watching and photographing monarch butterflies. We have had a banner year for butterflies - more than ever! Some of the attraction may be that our yard now has many plants that are good nectar sources, including: Milkweed, Joe Pye weed, Echinacea, Liatris and Mexican Sunflowers. 

A few weeks ago, monarch butterflies mated and laid their eggs. Now, we are seeing lots of monarch caterpillars (larvae stage) on the milkweed plants eating the leaves. 

These feeding monarch caterpillars take 10-14 days to molt (5-stages) and grow before leaving the caterpillar larva stage. 

After the larva stage comes the pupa stage, when their chrysalis hangs camouflaged somewhere. It takes another 10-14 days to develop into beautiful monarch butterflies. These late summer monarchs are the 4th generation that join the monarch migration to over-winter in Central Mexico!

Our meadow didn't start out as all milkweed. The area has been invaded by Mugwort (Artemisia vulgaris), an undesirable, invasive weed. We continue to pull it out to make room for milkweed to spread.  

Along with monarch caterpillars we also have lots of orange milkweed bugs. We decided to leave the bugs alone and let them do their thing. They seem to be coexisting on the milkweed plants along with the feasting caterpillars. Yesterday, I stopped counting at 11 caterpillars and one monarch butterfly!

I have been looking around the meadow for where the caterpillars may go to form their monarch chrysalis for metamorphosis. I noticed a caterpillar hanging straight down from a dying Queen Anne's lace plant. Could this be the chrysalis spot for that caterpillar?

In searching for more information I came across the links below that I found helpful. And, I joined and reported our sightings on Journey North.

Happy Gardening and Monarch Watching!

Related Links
Monarch Life Cycle
Monarch Biology
Advocate to your elected officials

update 9/2/19: the hanging caterpillar from the Queen Anne's lace plant was dead. Not sure what killed it. The good news is that today I did spot a live monarch caterpillar going into the pupa stage underneath a milkweed leaf.

Blog post and photos Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.Top photo of monarch caterpillar on leaf edge was also posted on Journey North who was given permission for use.

Discover new flavors and tastes of fruits and veggies at your local Farmers' Market #GardenCuizine #GroundCherries

Ground Cherries 

Strawberry Husk Tomatoes

Have you ever tasted Ground Cherries, Physalis pruinosa (Strawberry Husk Tomatoes)? I came across them yesterday in our local NJ Farmers' Market in the Burlington County Agriculture Center. I remember hearing about them when I was a writer for Dave's Garden.

The vendor described them as yellow tomatoes. I noticed that they had a papery looking husk, similar to a tomatillo, and asked her, "How could they be tomatoes?" She picked out one from the container and pinched the paper covering at the bottom. A small yellow tomato emerged; she let me taste it. 

Wow! The sweet, pleasant flavor surprised me. I can't really describe it other than it was good! Some describe the taste as a tropical blend of mango and pineapple. The yellow-looking tomato was small, about the same size as a Petit Moineau currant tomato.

Harry thought the skins were thick and chewy. I ate the whole fruit, and so did Mom, who is a picky eater. I guess you would just have to taste them for yourself and see what you think. I would buy them again. 

I may save some seeds to try and grow them next season. If you want to buy seeds, they are readily available from heirloom seed companies.
 
Ground Cherries get a thumbs up from me and Mom! I'm sure they would taste great in baked goods, jams, jellies and sauces.

Enjoy Discovering New Fruits and Vegetables!

GardenCuizine Nutrition Data Ground Cherries: 1 ounce (28g, about 14 or 1 handful): 15 calories, 3 mg Vitamin C (5% DV), 202 IU Vitamin A (4%DV), Niacin 3.8 mg (4% DV), only 3g total carbohydrates

Related Links
Grandma Ott's Ground Cherry Jam
Freezing Ground Cherries

Blog post and photo Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

More birds and blooms! #gardening #naturephotography

Backyard Birds and Blooms!

Shown above sits a magnificent Ruby-throated hummingbird; she let me take her portrait yesterday. Female hummingbirds feature a beautiful iridescent back; they don't have a ruby red-colored throat like males do. 

Birds love perching on tomato stakes! We have red cannas planted along our garden border that attracts hummingbirds.

swallowtails galore on our peanut butter shrub blooms

We've been having a daily parade of butterflies in our gardens lately. And, we're seeing a high showing of monarchs too! Yay! I'm thinking that Harry's native garden meadow has been a major attraction since it features common milkweed - a monarch favorite.

All pollinators especially love Joe Pye Weed!

Bee Happy!

Bluejays love peanuts!

To make a garden for wildlife in your yard, simply add bird feeders, fresh water sources, nesting areas and native plants. If you're like us, you will really enjoy watching the many kinds of songbirds and wildlife that your gardens will attract.

Happy Gardening!

Related links
Garden for Wildlife

photographs and blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Echineacea blooms attract butterflies! #naturephotography

 

To attract birds and butterflies we added six more pink native Echinacea to our front yard garden. The bunnies trimmed a few for us; but, left us a few with buds. One just started blooming! We've been enjoying the butterflies that Echinacea attracts.

Shown above was a female Monarch visitor yesterday. This morning we spotted an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail on that particular bloom. Before the season is over we will surely see bright yellow goldfinches too; they also love Echineacea pupurea coneflowers.

Happy Gardening!

Related Links
How to identify a Monarch butterfly

Photos and blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Kayaking lesson in NJ Pinelands with Harry! @PinesAdventures @PinesAlliance #fun #physicalactivity

Smile Harry!

Harry and I learned basic kayaking skills in an introductory 3-hour class yesterday hosted by Pinelands Adventures in Shamong, NJ. No one in our group tipped over. If we can do it, you can do it! The weather was perfect too, as you can see in the photos. For us, this great outdoor activity was even a better workout than canoeing.

We decided to try kayaking since our canoe is too big for some of the twisting and turning rivers here in NJ. A smaller, 8-13 foot kayak can better maneuver than a 16.5 foot canoe.

Before we began, as with any outdoor sport in the summer, we made sure to start with eating a hearty breakfast. We took our hiking water bottles filled with plenty of fresh water to stay hydrated in the hot afternoon sun. We also packed bananas for a healthy snack along with good 'ol PB and J for lunch. 

Here is a really short video clip that I took during a break while floating on the water. There were songbirds, turtles and lots of yellow blooming water lilies.

We practiced our newly learned paddle strokes on Paradise lake, a calm, quiet and peaceful, private lake that was once a cranberry bog. Special thanks to John Volpa for teaching us.
 
This was our third event at Pinelands Adventures. We look forward to going back for more fun and adventures. Maybe our next trip will be a self-guided kayak paddling trip.

Photos, video and blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Our tallest flowering plant; blooming now through fall! Cup plant #gardening #nativeplants

Cup plant Blooms

Daisy-like, yellow, native garden Cup plants (Silphium perfoliatum) are blooming now through fall in our NJ garden. Cup plants grow even taller than Jerusalem Artichokes, which are tall too. We have them both growing together on the edge of our veggie garden.

Cup plants prefer wet soil, but can grow in average soil. With all the rain we've been having, our Cup plants are thriving; they grow as tall as 9 feet!

The name comes from the way the leaves wrap around the thick stems making a "cup" that water collects in. A little watering hole for birds and insects.

Photograph and blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Today in Our Garden #GardenCuizine #gardening CANCER WARNING on my gardening gloves... say what?

Today in Our Garden

July 14, 2019

We've had a great gardening weekend, as always! I was hoping to attend Pat Sutton's garden tour yesterday, but we didn't get our reply registered in time. Maybe we will make it next year. As it turned out we got a lot done in our own wildlife friendly, native garden.

We added a few new stepping stones in Harry's Native Pocket Meadow. Recently, we have been diligently weeding out invasive mugwort. 

Check out the video I posted on Twitter this morning. Click here. Native plants in the video include: Hairy Mountain Mint, Woodland Sunflower, Blazing Star Liatris, Echinacea and Big Blue Stem grass.

Our lizards weren't out yet at the time of my video. We have lizards everywhere in the front and back yard. They are friendly and like the sound of human voices. They wait until the concrete stones are nice and hot from the sun before they emerge from their hiding places. I did get another video clip with a Lizzy. Stay tuned. I'll post it asap.

Yesterday, we got the supplies we were looking for; Harry replaced another rotted out raised bed. Raised beds made w/wood don't last forever. Wood rots and gets termites. We had some cedar planks that rotted and needed to be replaced. We bought concrete corner pieces and wood at Home Depot for the new bed (shown in photo above).

I also bought a much needed pair of new garden gloves. I was shocked that they came with a cancer warning!! Say what? ...Go figure, a cancer warning on gardening gloves! I found that really strange. I got the gloves at Home Depot and they said: WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm - www.P65Warnings.ca.gov on the label. Had I read the label before I got them I would not have gotten them. I still have no idea what in the world is in my gardening gloves that could lead to cancer. Why would Home Depot even carry them? "Made in China"...

I took Mom out for a garden tour today! She hasn't been out back in a while. Here are a few photos of our outing. Lots of butterflies and blooms; we had fun!

 Blog post and photos Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

@JerseyFreshNJDA Blueberry season is here! #GardenCuizine @blueberry411 #FindJerseyFresh #JerseyFresh

My Handful of Blues

Good Source Vitamin C

How do you like my handful of blueberries? Harry took this pic last weekend just before we washed the blueberries and froze them. We always get a case or two from Trinity Church's annual Blueberry Festival in Moorestown, NJ. 

Now is the best time to stock up on blueberries. Fresh blueberries taste great in fruit smoothies and add nutrients to so many recipes. This morning we enjoyed Harry's homemade, gluten-free blueberry pancakes for breakfast!

Blueberry season began June 15th and continues through August 15th. Be sure to pick up your Jersey Blues and enjoy. Blueberries provide a good source of Vitamin C and many other healthful nutrients.

Blueberry Nutrition: 2 ounces: 32 calories, 1.4g dietary fiber (6% DV), 5.4 mg Vitamin C (10% DV), 8.2g carbohydrates, 43 mg potassium (2% DV), plus other nutrients!

Related Links
Blueberries Health Research

Photograph and blog post Copyright (C)Wind. All rights reserved.

Why does it always rain when the Irises bloom? #gardenchat #gardencuizine

It Always Rains 

when the Irises Bloom!

Today is another chilly, rainy day in our Jersey garden. It's so cool, we even had a fire last night! I'll never complain about rain; but, why does it always rain when the irises bloom? Have you ever noticed that? 

For those of you who don't grow Iris, the blooms can get so heavy from the rain drops, they often tip over! This year is a stellar season for our Iris.

Carpet of Petals!

Our Kwanzan cherry tree blooms were amazing too. The flowers never last long enough though. The delicate petals fall off in mass like a pink snowfall and cover everything! It was a beautiful sight. Even the bird bath under that tree was full of pink! 

And, speaking of pink, Harry and I missed the Komen More than Pink walk yesterday in Philly. The weather was awful. All donations still counted. If you want to donate, Google "Senior Stars Komen walk Philly" and you will get my fund raising page. Our goal was $500.00. We still have a long way to go.

After several failed attempts, one black pussy willow shrub is finally well established. We have it planted near a bird bath so it gets water when the BB is refreshed. We got the plant from a Dave's Garden swap long ago. I miss those special events. The catkins are interesting when you look closely at them. Salix is an early bloomer and one of our first shrubs to bloom.

Wygelias, Tulip tree, Azaleas and Viburnums are blooming now.

Perennial Helebores and Baptisia are still blooming. The plant shown was from a DG swap too! Money plants and Easter plants like hyacinths, daffodils and tulips are all finished blooming now. 

Pink and white wave petunias and pink cascading geraniums will be planted in coconut fiber lined hanging baskets. Annuals will bring you joy all summer long!

As for our veggies, I didn't grow as many plants from seeds this year. I did plant our usual heirlooms that are hard to find at garden centers. They are now on my "to do list" to get them in the ground. 

In the next few weeks we will lug the bags of canna tubers up from the basement. They need to get in the ground asap too. 

We most likely will have extra heirloom tomatoes and cannas that will be offered for a good will donation at the Trinity Church, Moorestown, NJ, Blueberry Festival - June 21 at 5:00 pm. Come visit us!

What's growing in your garden?

Happy Gardening!

Blog post and photos Copyright (C)Wnd. All rights reserved.