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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 23, 2010 22:06:01 GMT
Thank you, ladies! As you say, Spindrift, looking at a bunch of jacaranda from above or straight on can be more dramatic than the close-up pictures above. Casimira, look at the 2nd jacaranda pic and notice the two on either side in the background. That solid blast of blue is the usual visual effect when they're seen from afar. I don't think they have any aroma at all.
Spindrift, isn't your camellia still very young? It might need another year to get really established and give you a good show next Spring.
There was a white bauhinia planted beneath some quite large trees where I used to live. I think someone kept it pruned, because it was nice and full and the foliage was a rich green. Keeping it fairly low makes for more impact when it's in bloom as well. I don't think they get all that big, but their habit of growth calls out for pruning. The ones in my picture are uncared for specimens in full sun, and you can see how they have a tendency to be rangy.
The only way I would ever have bougainvillea would be after I win the lottery. I'll have it planted on the wall around my estate, fairly far from the house, and the staff can prune it and keep the blossoms swept up.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 23, 2010 23:09:34 GMT
There is a white bauhinia at almost the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Prytania Street that is so big and so beautiful it's scary...I have gathered seeds from over the years,I must have a couple of dozen by now,and always get scared off by how mammoth I've seen them get.
I understand about keeping them smaller by pruning but,I'm not that disciplined in my own garden I'm afraid.It must be in bloom right now,I should go by and get a picture of it.
I will never have a bougainvillea in my garden as long as I live,win the lottery or not...I love to look at them, yes,in someone else's garden. I have turned down about three jobs that involved pruning massive stands of them that all froze this year.
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Post by spindrift on Mar 24, 2010 11:22:33 GMT
This morning I noticed that new shoots are appearing at the base of my Japanese hollyoak ferns. I can now clip off the distressed winter leaves and hope for the best ;D
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 24, 2010 15:02:43 GMT
Hooray! I am sure that as you move into April you will see your garden unfold beautifully into Spring, Spindrift.
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Post by lola on Mar 24, 2010 15:26:36 GMT
Suddenly there are daffodils everywhere, and the saucer magnolias are just beginning to unfurl. In our yard: daffodils of all kinds, grape hyacinths, squill or scylla (love that blue), the end of the early crocuses, spring beauties, bluets. Maple trees blooming out. We go to the botanical garden every week or so and watch it unfold. Witch Hazel everywhere. Just-spring is my favorite time, I think.
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Post by spindrift on Mar 24, 2010 17:47:15 GMT
Bixa - yes my camellias (3 of them) are very young and I transplanted them last autumn so you must be right that they need time to get going again.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 24, 2010 21:23:28 GMT
 I have been looking at a blog called " neglected beauty", and thought of you as soon as I read this: "Wabi Sabi"...
...a term that can be difficult to explain. To put it simply, Wabi Sabi is an aesthetic concept and worldview derived from the Japanese, who believe beauty lies in imperfection, and that we must accept the natural cycle of growth and decay. It is truly a lovely concept, and I find its powerful presence in my own world everyday.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 24, 2010 21:28:42 GMT
And further, on the same theme:
Ring the bells that still can ring. Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack, a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.
--Leonard Cohen
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2010 21:29:13 GMT
Some of the flowerbeds of Paris are beginning to bloom, but it is not yet natural, because what is flowering was definitely more or less planted that way. That doesn't stop it from being a delight.   |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 24, 2010 21:40:32 GMT
So, K2,these are not repeat performers but,recently installed? They definitely have that look of having been just planted. Still lovely.  Speaking of repeat blooms,these guys are everywhere in clumps both front and back...I planted one corm in 1992ish and now have probably close to 75-100 blooms of. |
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Post by onlymark on Mar 25, 2010 7:10:39 GMT
"Wabi Sabi"...
...a term that can be difficult to explain. To put it simply, Wabi Sabi is an aesthetic concept and worldview derived from the Japanese, who believe beauty lies in imperfection, and that we must accept the natural cycle of growth and decay. Gullible. That's what you lot are. Any concept that is vaguely Japanese is taken as true. Whereas the actual truth is that a construction engineer made it up to cover up the reason for the imperfections when his company was building houses and office blocks. It was just an excuse for poor, shoddy workmanship and has developed from there. Feng Shui, though reputably Chinese in origin, is another one. It came from an obscure principle and was jumped upon just so that someone could make money out of fooling naive and gullible people. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2010 8:53:50 GMT
I think you just hit on why your hedgerow is dying OM!! Wrong thread though...  |
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Post by onlymark on Mar 25, 2010 11:44:44 GMT
Aha! maybe so.
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Post by spindrift on Mar 25, 2010 11:50:45 GMT
Bixa - I have read the link.....I am even more determined that you and I will meet one day. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2010 0:35:51 GMT
 Halesia Carolina,(AKA 'Silverbell') |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2010 21:23:59 GMT
 Clivia, She is very late this year to bloom probably because she was inside for a bit being protected from the freeze. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2010 10:59:28 GMT
 Sweet Peas (I just had the most incredible sensation!!. As I was just posting this, I took a whiff of the bouquet of them sitting here on the desk. Wow!)   Arugula(Roquette) getting ready to bolt. |
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Post by Kimby on Mar 30, 2010 16:22:10 GMT
Now I remember why I so rarely visit these garden threads. It's depressing, considering it's still ski season here. We have a few poor wild buttercups in bloom, and alder tree catkins. That's it.
Maybe I'll be back with some pictures in late May.... sigh.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2010 0:12:24 GMT
Kimby, I love wild Buttercups,they are one of the flowers of my childhood. We don't have them here...Please post some for us.  This is an Antique Heirloom Rose whose name I've been researching for years. It's in a garden very close to our home. Every year I say I'm going to propagate it. Maybe this year. It's a huge shrub,I don't know where I would put it. I'll find room somewhere. It's intensely fragrant. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2010 5:27:09 GMT
What is this? Another variety of 'Japanese magnolia'?   |
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 31, 2010 6:41:05 GMT
That is exactly what it is. I love Halesia -- so delicate. It's odd to see roquette going to seed. Mine won't even get going until the rains start. That will be this coming month, with luck. Try this site for possible identification of the rose. That Gaspard Monge looks like a contender. Click on the thumbnails for close-ups, then google the possibilities. (here's a nice site, too: www.marthastewart.com/article/the-rose-garden) |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2010 9:27:13 GMT
I knew you would enjoy seeing the Halesia, Bixa. This one is in the Community garden on Dante Street,I've always admired it. I think I want more white flowering trees. ( I still need to shoot that white Bauhinia for you to see!!)
Thanks for the antique rose sites,I have spent countless hours trying to ID and then just when I think I have it nailed,there's some attribute that is not the rose.I also end up wanting half the roses I see on those sites! I will persevere.
Kerouac,we had the Japanese Magnolias here in NOLA all in bloom just a few weeks ago. They really do somehow herald the start of spring.
I need to find a full blown Wisteria to post,haven't seen one yet.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 31, 2010 14:51:19 GMT
It's been over a month since the last bloom on this little guy. There are more buds slowly developing on this and a younger one of the same plant. I am struck by how much deeper the color is this time.   |
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Post by lola on Mar 31, 2010 14:58:08 GMT
Beautiful photos, bixa, casimira, k. Thanks for spreading the springtime.
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Post by Kimby on Mar 31, 2010 15:00:05 GMT
Kimby, I love wild Buttercups,they are one of the flowers of my childhood. We don't have them here...Please post some for us. I will go out looking in the snow for them this morning. But I warn you, they are small, not showy, and not in big bunches. Rather a let-down after the spectabular shots you-all southerners have been posting. |
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 31, 2010 16:38:32 GMT
Aw, thanks Lola. Spring must really be busting out there in St. Louis about now. I imagine the bulbs are gorgeous. Do you all have dogwoods?
Lola, please get one of your darling girls to do a tutorial with you on the camera. Everyone would love to see what your artist's eye would capture.
But Kimby ~~ the strength and delicacy of flowers emerging through the snow is pretty spectacular in itself. If you look at the dust on some of the things I posted in the previous page, you can see how refreshing and interesting your very early Spring pictures would be.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2010 16:50:58 GMT
I remember wonderful Springtime flowers from when I lived in Saint Louis...dogwoods among them,and fabulous wisteria all around the section where you live Lola. There is something to be said for areas such as yours Lola,and Kimby,where you have a true winter,and a true spring,summer and fall. Our seasons are so,so brief here,one cannot truly appreciate as much the emergence of Springtime as you good people can. I want a glimpse!!!  |
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Post by lola on Apr 1, 2010 1:45:05 GMT
Yes, those first hints of spring are so precious at the end of winter.
Redbuds are just starting now, and then will come dogwoods; soon the woods will be full of them. Saucer magnolias at the botanical garden weren't quite fully open on Monday, but will be by today. Streets are lined with plum trees in full bloom, and bright yellow forsythia hedges.
Violets are just starting to bloom now. I combat them in parts of my garden, transplanting to areas where they can dominate. I know a place in southern MO with white, yellow, dogtooth, and purple violets growing wild in the woods.
This evening I am proud owner of an English digging fork, tax refund splurge. I gloat!
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Post by Kimby on Apr 1, 2010 22:39:17 GMT
Kimby, I love wild Buttercups,they are one of the flowers of my childhood. We don't have them here...Please post some for us. Your wish is my command:  Sagebrush Buttercups I took a walk today up Mount Sentinel which towers over downtown Missoula, and found two more flowers in bloom:  Fritillaria or Nodding Yellow Bells  Lomatium or Biscuit Root Note that early bloomers in Montana seem to be yellow. I think I heard it explained that they are insect pollinated so are colorful. Later in the season, more white flowers emerge and they may be wind-pollinated or self-pollinating. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2010 23:11:57 GMT
I love them Kimby! To me,often,I prefer to see a simplistic composition of a flower,particularly a native flower,in it's native habitat.In this case, one that I grew up surrounded by.
I do get sick of all the showy tropical stuff at a certain point.
Thank you for this.
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