The days continue to lengthen and the pace of change in the garden is picking up steam. Every day brings new evidence that the damage done by the Christmas freeze experienced here in the South has not been permanent. Leaves are appearing on the tea olives and azaleas. The dianthus has begun to bloom. More and more daffodils are appearing and the grass is greening up.
Flocks of robins have appeared and the songbirds are in full throat. It is a time of high expectation. I have many plants ready to go into the ground but I have to control myself since we are likely to have one or two more frosty mornings before spring arrives.
First photo to show you is the blueberry Vaccinia ashei which is about to bloom. Hope I can do a better job of keeping the birds and deer away from them.
The second photo is a trumpet daffodil. I am unsure of this cultivar.
The third photo is of the flower of the wild garlic (Allium vineale). It is a winter perennial and is considered a nuisance in the lawn but if you look up close the bloom is beautiful. Sorry for the out of focus shot here but it was quite a windy day.
The fourth photo is of a very interesting fungus growing on a fallen log at the edge of my yard. I think it is commonly called turkey tail (Trametes versicolor).
The fifth photo is of a shrimp plant beginning to bloom. I keep this in my little green house. I do not climate control it but in freezing weather I turn on heat lamps which are ample enough to keep the temp inside it above freezing. This plant is also called false hop (Justice brandegeeana)
The sixth photo is of the spring ephemeral called Carolina beauty. It is a delicate plant which blooms and soon disappears until next year. It is in small clumps which you have to look carefully to pick out.
I hope you able to get out into your garden in order to enjoy the therapeutic effect of gardening. If you cannot now, I hope it will be something you will soon be able to enjoy.
Join the Six on Saturday blog hosted by Jim Stephens. Gardeners around the world join in and post their 6 or so photos of the week. You can find it here https://gardenruminations.co.uk/
Happy gardening until next week!!
Discover more from Fine for Friday
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
The fungus ‘Turkey Tail’ is well named. It looks just like layered feathers, thanks for sharing this.
I am dithering about when to plant out my blueberry seedlings that I have overwintered in the cold frame. I don’t want to go too early or too late – tricky decision.
Are these from your cuttings?
No they were given to me last August, not a good time to plant them out so I over-wintered in larger pots.
The markings on Carolina are so interesting! Thanks for posting.
I love turkey tails! I have quite a few owing to the fact that I built my garden atop logs from some ash trees that needed to come down. The logs are slowly decaying and I am pleased to watch the various fungi go to work on the dead wood. I also have crab apple branches in the mix from a large branch that came down in 2020. It is colonized by a completely different fungus. I like to believe that the logs absorb much water during winter and release it back to my plants. Won’t be long now, even my daffodils are poking green shoots through the snow now in anticipation of Spring! Cardinals proclaiming their territories from the tops of the tallest trees and even a few sand hill cranes were strolling about on campus last week.
Sandhills cranes and some whooping cranes can be seen near the Tennessee River close to Decatur, Alabama about 50 miles north of me. Awesome.
They are lovely birds!