28 April 2007

Trees Pay it Forward


Trees Pay it Forward
Originally uploaded by larrapin67.

I love the cherry blooms against blue sky, these from a mature Kwanzan cherry the previous owners of the property planted some time ago. It graces a bank above a patio and is a stunning sight to look up at the sky through a galaxy of cherry blooms. (OK, so this was a pre-freeze pic too.)

I love planting trees because beside the beauty and joy they provide me, they keep on giving long after I've moved on. At my first house (on Olney Rd) in Asheville, NC the first tree I planted there was a Kwanzan cherry outside the kitchen window. I've been gone from there close to seven years, but someone on Olney Road is looking up at blue sky through cherry blossoms courtesy of this previous owner, just like I am in this picture. Nice way to pay it forward...

It's better to garden with company


It's better to garden with company
Originally uploaded by larrapin67.

Another beautiful reason to garden naturally... This winged lovely is a fan of a little lilac at the edge of the vegetable garden. I'm adding four new butterfly bushes this year to encourage more scenes like this one.

To the Spring We Lost...


To the Spring We Lost...
Originally uploaded by larrapin67.

Sorry to keep looking backwards but these were some of the beauties of late March 2007 in Fayetteville, Arkansas before the freak freeze. The pic is what I think of as "oak flowers" -- would those be catkins? -- but they are lovely -- remind me of a bow on a package.

Back to the Kale story (previous post): About five years ago I bought a giant packet of Kale seeds from a farm store in NC. They moved with me and this year I thought I'd just toss them all out on a garden bed and that perhaps a few would grow. WRONG! They all happily sprouted and we'll be eating lots of kale this year. Luckily, it's very frost tolerant and came back after the freeze despite a lot of frost burned leaves. In fact, it's grown twice this big since the pic and we'll be thinning it today and making a stir fry.

23 April 2007

Here's a happy veggie tale


Here's a happy veggie tale
Originally uploaded by larrapin67.





Lesson learned: Kale seeds last a long time! Story tomorrow.

Red Bellied Woodpecker Loves the Suet Feeder

I think I'll post about the birds to distract myself from the garden losses that are just becoming clear after three days of temps in the midteens the first week of April. Blueberries are a total loss in terms of leaves, blooms and fruit -- I just hope the bushes survive! The Crepe Myrtle branches essentially exploded and popped all the bark off and is dead to the ground. Instead of green spring leaves on all the oaks, they have brown streamers hanging from them. It looks like a bizarre Autumn in some of the forests.

But, the birds are wonderful, as I began... I started making homemade suet-like cakes years ago and they are always more popular with the birds than the storebought kind, or so it seems. This woodpecker, downy woodpeckers, hairy woodpeckers, nuthatches and chickadees are all fans. More pics of garden survivors later. I can't seem to post weekly like I'd hoped. It's kind of boom or bust, but that's how I tend to operate!