It's Earth Day tomorrow but I am posting today because of the forecasted rain event. We are so dry around here. We desperately need it. My hope is that the rain will also help to sprout seeds on the scarred and barren ground that they just about clear-cut near my house. Because the prediction is for an inch or two of rain, erosion and flooding might occur but I am holding out for the possibility that a load of good topsoil may wash into my yard. Yeah, I am the bottom of a hill.
The Iris plants are loaded with buds and here is the first bloom:
A friend gave me some 3-foot tall saplings of the Rose of Sharon shrub or tree, hens and chicks, and some lavender. I have been trying to grow hollyhocks with no luck so I was delighted to try these these resilient relatives in the hibiscus family. They are going right next to the property line to give me privacy from the ever increasing traffic to the school. Next year the high school will be at full capacity when they have their first senior class. Here's a photo of the hens and chicks. Don't they look like they have been there forever?
With the devastation behind me I have new appreciation for the seedlings that I find around the house. These were collected in out of the way little nooks and many were hiding just under shrubbery. I have potted up, American holly, dogwood, swamp maples, oaks, pines, red bud, huckle berry, and laurel. I will baby these plants:
Now some might think this is a trashy looking thing to junk up a garden. So to feature this item here on Earth Day I am a little embarrassed but I am having so much fun with this solar powered butterfly. Its action is so realistic. It jiggles and flutters round in circles. I know it is realistic because I saw a robin go after it---only once it was fooled :
Maybe I will get a to share a few strawberries with the birds:
This is for documentation only. I do not care for my cultivated blueberries properly so last year the berries were plentiful but this year these are the only blossoms that I have from four bushes. So I definitely will not be tasting my own blueberries:
Same as above. I did not care for my asparagus enough to get those fat stubby shoots. What do you expect from pine barren soil? My grandfather came over once and called it "sweet potato soil". Just about pure sand! It needs to be "amended" with manure :
Cranberry bogs up in Chatsworth needed a drink, too:
A trip to the bay in Tuckerton, NJ gave us this view. http://www.tuckertonseaport.org/ Love this town:
Two more scenes from Tuckerton:
Finally, my house with the red maples starting to leaf out and a dogwood in bloom. Never went for the gusto and got myself a beautiful pink cultivated one like my neighbor's. Happy Earth Day :
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