Irises and other Yard News – April 2024

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The irises, that were already growing in flower beds when we bought our house, are blooming profusely; the ones I transplanted last fall/winter will take another year to build up the energy to bloom. I was surprised that the most prolific bed this year grew very elongated stems that fell over as soon as they started to bloom; I didn’t remember them being so tall last year. The irised in another bed looks the same, but the stems are very short!

I ended up cutting the long stems to bring indoors and enjoyed photographing them: macro shots with my iPhone 15 Pro Max and

And Canon Powershot SX70 HX high key shots (almost white background) and

Some warm glow shots of a group.

Of course, there other plants active in the yard. Hostas are growing well – both the original clumps and the ones I started this year by dividing some older clumps.

There are lots of dandelions in various stages of development. I tend to let them alone since the bees like the flowers and the roots are deeper than the grass root which helps hold the soil – particularly on slopes.

There are more violets that ever spilling out of flower beds and into the yard. There are some places that I have stopped mowing because the violets are so thick!

The irises I transplanted into the area where the pine tree was cut down last summer are growing vigorously. Maybe one or two will bloom this year although it won’t be great until next year. The lambs ear is growing well and should fill in more around the irises over time. The beautyberry does not have leaves yet but we’re still having some cool days/nights; hopefully it will leaf out in May.

I took some ‘art’ pictures of an iris bud and new rose leaves early in the month.

A lot is growing in the wildflower garden from last year. Some might be weeds…hard to tell until the plants start blooming.

Pokeweed is coming up everywhere. I am going to cut down plants that get above a certain size. I also plan to rake pine cones that are around one of pines toward the fence so that I won’t mow over them (they are a little tough for the lawn mower to cut!).

Overall – a great month in our yard. The rhododendron is full of buds…but not blooming yet…a lot more beauty coming in May.

Zooming – January 2024

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January was a very light month for photography; I was recovering from the stress of being away from home and made 2 short trips to Carrollton very focused on helping my parents adjust to their new home and preparing to sell the house they had lived in for over 30 years. Even with fewer images to select from – I savor the 9 selected as the best for the month: birds and snow and sunrises….and a surprised flower (taken near the end of December just as the first hard freeze was sending the Carrollton TX area into winter). Enjoy the January 2024 slideshow!

Yard Work – January 2024

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Normally I don’t do much yard work in January but I was away from home for the last mowing of leaves in November so that was my project for the first warmish day after I was back in Missouri; I mowed the areas with thick leaves when the high temperature for the day was less than 50 degrees Fahrenheit. After that I began to worry that there wasn’t going to be a day warm enough to plant some of the bulbs my sister dug up for me from my parents’ yard.

Then it happened. It was in the forties again, but the sun was bright. Before I started my project, I walked around my yard to assess the plants in the flowerbeds. There must have been an early hard freeze because all the crape myrtles have leaves on the stems – no time for them to turn and fall. The same thing might have happened to the rose bushes too. Next spring there might be a lot of dead twigs to cut out of those plants. On the bright side, there were several plants – including the hens and chicks – that appear to be handling the temperatures very well.

I used the wagon to carry the pots of spider lily bulbs around to the front of the house. They were going to become a ‘ruff’ around the base of our two red maples. I had put mulch around the base last spring, so it was relatively easy to dig a rig near the outer edge of the mulch and then plant the bulbs. It only took one pot for each tree; I still have one pot of those bulbs to plant at my daughters.

I hope I get another warmish day to plant the iris rhizomes and a rock rose….but first I need to decide where I am going to plant them!

First Frost in Carrollton

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December was warmer than usual in Carrollton. There wasn’t a frost until the next to the last day of the month! I went out early to capture the sunrise…not particularly interesting but worth the effort since I realized there would be frost to photograph when there was enough light.

I went out about an hour and half later and found frost coating the ground cover in the garden. Some of the plants seem more frosted than others – the differences in textures and microclimates probably.

The 30+ year old rose bush had a bud that was not yet open. I realized that I should have cut it before the frost to bring inside. I cut it with the frost on it and took it to the assisted living group home for my parents later in the day….perhaps the last flower from the rose bush a cousin purchased for my grandmother’s 80th birthday so many years ago.

The sweet gum in a side yard (a hybrid that does not produce spiky seeds) is finally red. My parents planted the tree several years ago when it became apparent that the mulberry trees that were almost the vintage of the house were not going to survive much longer. I’m glad they enjoyed the young tree for several years before they moved.

Zooming (and Macro) – December 2023

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There was not as much time for photography this past month; I am combining macro (getting close) and zoomed (optical magnification) images in this post.

The macro images go first. The yellow cosmos were part of a small bouquet I cut and put in mini-vase for the middle of my parents’ breakfast table. They enjoyed the enlarged view that I showed them just after I photographed them. The leaves are probably the last new ones of the season on a rose bush that has been blooming next to their garage for over 30 years!

The leaves on a millet plant (came up under the bird feeder!) are interesting as they begin their end-of-season decline.

The zoomed images for December included some birds and plants at Josey Ranch, fall foliage, and zoomed images of glass orbs in yard art…the last flowers in the garden.

In the coming months – the stainless steel iris will be the highlight of the garden!

In the coming months – the stainless steel iris will be the highlight of the garden!

2023 in a Carrollton Yard

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My parents’ yard in Carrollton is almost overflowing with plants. They have accumulated over the years. Many of them are from seeds/cuttings/gifts from extended family…my paternal grandmother’s sisters (pink maiden sage), my father’s cousin (a 30+ year old rose bush), my maternal grandparents gardens (cannas), sunflowers that started from a granddaughter’s kindergarten ‘flower in a cup’ project more than 20 years ago, and orange spider lilies that came up in one of my sisters yards when she bought her house more than 30 years ago. One of my sisters does most of the maintenance these days…to the joy of my parents. My dad helps with mowing the yard (this month is more ‘mowing the leaves’ rather than grass)!

The year started out very cold with heavy frost on the first mornings of the year.

The quince blooms early…a splash of color near the fence. The bird feeder attracts birds that can easily be viewed from the garden room. Bulbs and dandelions mark the warming temperatures of spring. The cosmos and red yucca bloom all through the season. The 2023 summer was challenging with a longer than usual period of very hot days with no rain. Some plants survived with the water from sprinklers, but others died back (hopefully will return next spring). The naked lady lilies put up their fonds early then bloom in midsummer. The spider lilies are late bloomers too. The cosmos lasted through most of November. And now in December – the seedpods of red yucca and chives provide texture as the winter begins. We are beginning to see some of the garden ornaments that were buried in foliage previously!

My parents have lived in their house for 33 years and the garden area of the yard has evolved over time. The rose bush purchased for my Grandmother’s 80th birthday in 1992 still blooms in the spring and fall!

Indoor Flowers

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My office windows have a limited view to the outside even though there are 4 of them:

  • Irises and violets (long past their blooming) in a flower bed and lawn

  • Hosta and crape myrtle in a flowerbed, pine and lawn

  • Hostas and a bush in a flowerbed, chiminea fire pit, holly trees, bird feeders

  • Patio

The hostas are blooming but not anything else. I appreciate whatever is blooming around the yard and periodically bring them indoors to enjoy in vases that easily fit on a windowsill – out of the way and where I can see them when I am at my 2-monitor computer table. In July the indoor flowers are primarily roses and gladiola.

Periodically I get into the mood to do something with my cameras…and the indoor flowers are obvious subjects – particularly on rainy or ‘too hot’ days. Macro photography (Samsung Galaxy S10e) is easier indoors – no breeze to move things around.

High key photography is also easy enough since the flowers are already in a window that has sun shining in for a short time in the morning.

Most of the time I can adjust enough to eliminate the screen outside the window (I left one image with the screen showing a little in the slideshow below). I had taken the screen off last year but discovered that birds crashed into the window too frequently without it! I have an office chair well back from the window…using the zoom on my bridge camera (Canon Powershot SX70 HS) to compose the image I want…probably the most ‘artsy’ type of photography I do. I like the gentle curves that combine to form the flowers…the softer focus.

Our Missouri Yard – July 2023

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There’ s always something to photograph when I walk around our yard. I photographed a mushroom that had appeared in the grass near one of the pavers along the route to our back gate for a walk around the neighborhood ponds.

The big players in my macro photography (done with my phone – a Samsung Galaxy S10e) around the yard this month have been the roses that came up from the roots of the bushes that died, the ornamental grass (also coming back from last year), ‘wildflowers’ I planted in a flowerbed near the house that I cleared of rocks and landscaping cloth, and the crape myrtle that came back from the roots (I have 4 and they all came back but only one is blooming so far).

After an early morning rain, I went out to photograph the water on the plants with my bridge camera (Canon Powershot SX70 HS) so that I could use the zoom rather than needing to get close: roses, grass and leave/needless, hosta flowers, crape myrtle. The hostas are my favorite.

I like our new home – inside and out!

Lake Springfield Meadow – July 2023

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Earlier this month, my husband and I headed over to the Lake Springfield boathouse for some photography of the meadow.

Before we walked to the meadow, we looked around the boathouse itself. The American lotus is blooming in the shallow water near the boathouse,

The plantings of native flowers in the beds around the structure, and

A non-native, invasive rose is growing at the edge of the forest.

The Purple Martin houses are still full and there appeared to be a young one in the grass…still being fed by the adults but also beginning to fly about as well.

Summer flowers are beginning to bloom profusely in the meadow.

There are lots of insects in the meadow too; they present a little more challenge to photograph. This month I photographed bees, butterflies, and dragonflies. The dragonflies and butterflies were intentional; I waited until they were posed. Milkweed in bloom is impossible to photograph without bees; I am including the picture that had two well positioned bees – selected from many images where they weren’t. I couldn’t resist the bumble bee butt image…a zoomed picture of a flower that a bee just happened to be flying over!

As usual, the meadow is an active place and there is always something to photograph. In August, I’ll be looking for grasshoppers!

May Yard Work

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There is a noticeable uptick in yard work in May….always something to do. The temperature is warm enough – and there is sufficient rain – for the grass to need to be mowed (weed eating/edging) weekly. Most of the time my strategy is to do the front yard one day and the back the next. In the back I am realizing it was a mistake to plant alliums in the grass since they are not done yet….so there is a patch of taller grass along with them.

There was one week that had a lot of rain in the forecast, so I opted to mow everything in one day before the rain. I took a little break after I used up the batteries…only a little left to go and I needed some down time anyway. When I started again, the most robust pine in our yard was in my path. When I bumped it – yellow pollen swirled through the air – and I diverted to give it wide berth. Some of the grass near it did not get mowed! The allergic reaction didn’t start until somewhat later – one of the worst of the year so far; I didn’t even realize I was allergic to pine pollen until now.

One of our other pines is problematic. It is leaning toward other landscaping and our house – the ground freshly heaved upward. The arborist says it can’t be saved so they will come soon to take it down.    

Both rose bushes appear dead. They are older but the landscaping fabric/rocks were added by the previous owner before she put the house on the marker and they might have caused them a problem. I’ll start cutting them up and burning the sticks in my chiminea fire pit soon – a better solution than cutting them up and taking them to the recycling center (yard waste) since the thorns making handling hazardous.

I cleared away rocks and landscaping fabric from an area and planted sunflowers, black eyed susans, cone flowers, gladiolus, and a wildflower mix in the big plan and some mini-pumpkin seeds in a smaller area nearby.

I sprinkled the area with spent flowers and empty edamame pods as a kind of celebration of the bed after I finished. I’ll be collecting seeds from the things that grow this year (except for the gladiolus) to plant in other areas next year. Creating places to plant has been hard  work (rock is heavy and landscaping fabric is tough).

Realizing that the weight of the rocks might be a problem for some of our other plants, I raked rocks away from the small cedars that have looked sick from the beginning. And there are more plants that might need the same help. Always something else that needs to be done in the yard!

Josey Ranch – March 2023

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I went to Josey Ranch (Carrollton, TX) in the early morning. The male grackles were posturing. The females seemed to be mostly ignoring them.

There were two Great Egrets in breeding plumage staying together as they looked for breakfast.

There seemed to be more cormorants than usual. They are probably moving northward since their breeding grounds are in the norther part of the US and into Canada.

There were a few scaups and ruddy ducks left. They too are moving northward. I don’t expect to see them in April.

I walked to the garden area between the water and the two buildings. The trees are beginning to leaf out and roses are blooming. The area was impacted by the harsher (hotter and drier) summer and it will be interesting to observe how many of the plants will regain their vigor in the upcoming months.

March is a transition month. It will be interesting to see if more of the summer birds show up when I visit in April. I always check the pond (or is it a lake?); it’s an short, easy outing and their always seems to be something new to observe.

Zooming – February 2023

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There were some sunny days in February – good for outdoor photography even if they were very cold! The ravages of winter on vegetation from last summer/fall is reaching an extreme. We’re all ready for the spring! Enjoy the February 2023 zoomed images!

Carrollton Yard – January 2023

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I was in Carrollton, TX the last week of January. It was almost spring-like on a day early in the week. I took pictures of the yard – dried or frost damaged vegetation – but noticed signs of spring as well: the Japanese quince in bloom, the fronds of the naked lady lilies up through the mulch and some new leaves on the rose bushes. The oxalis had recovered from the deep freeze in December…providing swaths of green in the flower beds.

The bird feeder is very popular with a flock of house sparrows. They like the larger seeds – often flying to nearby bushes with their seed – leaving the feeder available for their friends. There are occasional chickadees and house finches that comes to the feeder too.

The mourning doves clean up the seeds on the ground – the rejects of the feeder birds.

There seemed to be more robins around in the front of the house – another sign that spring is on the way!

Favorite Photos – 2022

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I picked some favorite photos from the year for a slide show. They are all outdoors. Thematically there are birds and insects more often than lizards or turtles. Some are documentation type pictures and others are artsy. They were taken in four states: Maryland, Virginia, Missouri, and Texas. For some reason – the fluffed up Eastern Bluebird is my favorite. Enjoy the show!

Our Missouri Yard – December 2022

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I walked around my yard on a cold, windy, cloudy day….not a good day for landscape compositions; it was a good day for macro photography, though.

I had some fun with a bush with colorful leaves. One of the leaves looked (to me) like a green alien figure surrounded by a yellow and red prison!

There were seed pods and colorful leaves from last season, buds on the rhododendron for next spring, greens of pine needles and rich browns of cones, and lambs ear with water droplets in a flower bed.

The rose bush was caught by the abrupt and very cold spell in late October. It is putting on some new leaves which probably won’t last much longer. I decided to look at the thorns more closely….staying far enough away to not get caught!

I’ve also noticed that the two boxwood bushes at the front of the house have brown leaves on the ends of their branches. It took some time for the damage of that early frost to show…but it is very evident now. I guess in normal years, the bushes stop growing as the season cools down and the new grown is better prepared when the first days down in the 20s occur – unlike this year when it happened abruptly and early.

Our Missouri Yard – October 2022

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We had two mornings with temperatures in the 20s last week after I took some pictures of the yard. The frost didn’t seem to impact the oak or river birch in our neighbor’s yard very much.

The rose petals are all limp now, but the leaves are unchanged. Some of the buds might still open now that we are going to have at least 10 days of temperatures well above freezing.

The pokeweed flowers and berries survived very well but the leaves or limp. The berries that are already ripened will probably be eaten by birds, but the immature fruits are probably not going to develop further.

The oxalis triangularis that is growing on the east side of our house survived the frost unscathed! Maybe it benefited from being close to the brick wall of the house and getting sun first thing in the morning when the temperature was the coldest.

Now that is it warmed up again – I am planting bulbs: daffodils, hyacinths, allium, and crocus. The previous owner put landscaping fabric then rocks in the flower beds, so the task is very difficult. I removed a small cedar that had died and planted bulbs in the space – filling in the bigger hole I made in the black fabric with cedar mulch and rocks. Over time, there might be more and more of that…until there is not as much of the black fabric in the beds.  I am probably going to plant the rest of the crocus in the lawn since they will come up and bloom before the grass would need to be mowed!

Road trip to London, Ontario (and back)

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When my daughter told me about a conference she was attending in London, Ontario in early October, I volunteered to go too – doing half the driving. Flying directly to the place was expensive and flying to Toronto necessitated some form of transportation from there to the smaller city (rental car, bus, or train). She liked the road trip idea, and I booked a room in the same hotel where she had. We opted to make the 14-hour drive over two days with the 1st day being the long one in each direction. Her employer provided a rental car.

My husband took us to pick up the rental car on the morning we were leaving. My daughter forgot her coat (and the forecast in Canada indicated she would need it) so a stop by her house delayed us a little…but I had an opportunity to enjoy the fall roses near her driveway and

The spectacular pods on her magnolia. Maybe we can harvest some of the pods when they have the red seeds in them to use in December decorations.

The first-day drive was a long slog – over 9 hours – and we passed from Central to Eastern time. We arrived at the hotel at sunset.

We had chosen a restaurant for dinner…but it had closed about 20 minutes before we got there! Fortunately, there was another one nearby that worked out just as well.

The next morning, we were up early. My daughter splurged on a huge cinnamon roll from the hotel’s breakfast. I had my usual dark chocolate then ate the rest of the carrots I had brought for the road (finishing everything that needed to be kept cool). We stopped at the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory and Belle Island Aquarium…on the island in the Detroit River (more about that in subsequent posts). We had lunch on the patio at Ivy Kitchen in Detroit (Jefferson Street) afterwards. My daughter ordered a mimosa and was challenged for the rest of the lunch with wasps taking an interest.

We made it to London, Ontario by about 4PM having crossed into Canada at Sarnia and unpacked in our home-away-from-home for the next week. Since the rooms had kitchens, we bought a few groceries.

A week later, we go up before the sun. I took a picture of the sunrise just before I headed down to the parking garage with my luggage.

Google Maps routed use toward the border crossing between Windsor and Detroit rather than reversing our previous route. The route was like an interstate the whole way! A few things were different: the road number was on a crown rather than a shield, the ‘food’ symbol on signs included a cup/saucer with the familiar knife and fork, the speed limits were in KM and the gas plumps dispensed L of gas!

My daughter was driving so I was able to take pictures of the Detroit skyline while we went over the Ambassador Bridge back into the US. There was more traffic at the Windsor-Detroit crossing and it took longer than the Sarnia crossing a week earlier, but the ETA that Google had calculated for us must have taken it into account since we arrived at our hotel only a few minutes ‘late.’

The route crossed Michigan, Indiana and into Illinois. We were back on Central time.The next day was a shorter day and we got off early…arrived home in Missouri by noon! Both of us were keen to do laundry and otherwise get back to ‘normal.’

More posts over the next week about what I did in London, Ontario!

Zooming – September 2022

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There are 18 images in the zoom slideshow for September. Some are from around my house in Missouri. Others are from the Lake Springfield Meadow and the Springfield Botanical Gardens. One is from Carrollton, Texas. I have skewed somewhat toward macro images taken with my Smartphone but I still like to get ‘close’ from a distance with the optics of my bridge camera (Canon Powershot SX70 HS). There will be plenty of opportunity for photography with my upcoming travel (2 out of the next 4 weeks) and the beginning of the seasonal change. For now – enjoy the scenes I captured in September…

Artsy Photograph

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A soft focus rose…a flower that was in a small vase on my windowsill.

I like having a rose bush near my office – close to my office. I go out to snip the spent flowers and cut 1 or 3 blossoms to bring inside every week. These are not long-stemmed roses – like found in a florist shop. But the bush has bloomed since June and the colors vary from pink to red (changing with age)…some streaks of white. The bush has become another aspect of my Missouri home that I hadn’t realized how much I would enjoy until I was here for a few weeks. Having the roses to photograph is just icing on an already rich cake!

Zooming – July 2022

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Lots of photography locations in July. In Missouri: our new yard, the Springfield Nature Center, the Springfield Botanical Garden. In Texas, my parents’ yard in Carrollton. In Maryland, Brookside Gardens. There were still plenty of summer flowers to photograph…although fewer than previous years. The insects and birds are not as numerous either. So – enjoy the slide show for the best garden/nature views where I was in July 2022!

The very hot temperatures in Missouri and Texas are taking a toll, but areas that are watered are surviving. Hopefully we will start getting some rain showers soon.