Keep your Feet in the Street

For the wild theme I decided to post my favorite Italian "wild" flower/bush--La Ginestra, in English, I believe it's broom or Scotch broom.

This picture was taken from a beautiful view spot in Piemonte. If I remember correctly, the town is called Alice di Colle. We climbed up to the top where you have a 360 view of the gorgeous surrounding countryside.
You can see La Ginestra all over Italy in the summer shining its bright yellow light along your way.

Camellias are the big pay off in winter in Tallahassee. They are beautiful, showy flowers on a bush which can get quite large--up to about 20' tall. Although they are native to Asia, they thrive in the acid soil in our area. We are lucky enough to have about 15 planted around our home.

I thought I would post one picture each week of February, of some of my favorites, along with a little tidbit of info--this is from Wikipedia:

The Japanese Camellia (C. japonica) is the state flower of Alabama as well as the city flower of Sacramento, California, Newberg, Oregon, Slidell, Louisiana, the Chinese municipality Chongqing and of Matsue City in Shimane Prefecture, Japan. It is also an emblematic flower of New Zealand. Camellia reticulata is the floral embem of Yunnan province.

Here's one of my favorite varieties, called "Pink Perfection" which I photographed from my neighbor's bush a few days ago, before we had hard freezes. The below freezing temperatures bruise the flowers with brown spots.

This is an example of a petal with blotchy colors--here they're (obviously) bright red and white.
The flowers almost never have a fragrance.
I don't recall the name of this one but I do know that we bought it from local growers, the Hardisons, in about 1989.

These are very big flowers, about as big as my hand.

Enjoy!

The white camellias are my favorites. This one is called Nuccio's Gem and it is growing outside our bedroom window. I have another young plant that is Nuccio's Pearl but it hasn't bloomed yet. I think it need a couple more years. It's flowers are the palest pink.

And this one is similar but has pointier petals. It's called Sea Foam.

Aren't they gorgeous!

I'm still in Miami but these Camellia pics are on my lap top

this one is called Mrs. Wheeler. It has fluffy petals and a pretty yellow middle.

And this is another from Hardison's; I don't remember the name but it shows off the prominent center.

Enjoy...

This one is called L.A. Peppermint and it was given to us, about 15 years ago, by my great friend Lee.

It's so pretty! Good enough to eat.

Daffodils by William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

The first of many bouquets from my flower garden. A sure sign that spring is on the way here, in the deep South of North Florida. While I don't have ten thousand, I do have a nice bunch of varieties that do well here; I've collected them over the years with the help of daffodil expert/artist, Linda Van Beck and the Florida Daffodil Society. Whether I am cutting them for inside, or walking outside admiring them, they really are a source of great pleasure.

DAFFODILS!!!

Spring is here.

This has been a different kind of year for me as a gardener. Never have I had to battle the bugs like this year! They are really attacking my zinnia crop.
Of course, some of the plants are there just for the caterpillars, like the fennels. I have one regular fennel and one, much larger, bronze fennel. The bronze plant is just loaded with swallowtail caterpillars. This means that in a few weeks we'll be full of beautiful butterflies.

The purple cone flowers in the background attract butterflies, too. Luckily the weeds are not seen in these shots.

Here's a close up of one of the big guys on a fennel bloom.

My dad jumped out of the car one day when he and my mom were visiting us in Tallahassee and bought us this little pink dogwood sapling. He seemed to insist that we have it and we always think of him as we watch it grow.

After about 10 years or so of growing, the little tree is finally having a noteworthy bloom, this glorious spring.
I cut one small branch and put it into a nice big vase, on our hearth. It's gorgeous inside our home.

Ken said "Is that from Howard's tree?" Yep. Howard's tree is giving us some wonderful sighs, loving spring and loving his memory.