Rather to my surprise, since I hacked everything in the bog to the ground about ten days ago, this never-wet (Orontium aquaticum) has started blooming. The bog was designed as a homage to a ditch in Okefenokee, a reminder of possibly my favorite place on earth, and it is full of unglamorous natives. Never-wet is so-called because its leaves are very waxy and repel water more than most leaves.
Viburnum tinus is in full flower in the front hedge. This particular one is a very slow grower, only about 5 feet tall at 5 years from a cutting.
Lady Banks is in full flower on the pergola. So is Lonicera sempervirens, but I can’t get up high enough for a photo. I know Lady Banks blooms only once a year, but that’s NOT a problem since there are 7 or 8 other vines on the pergola that bloom at other times. And what’s not to love about a thornless rose that is such a glorious yellow.
Chionodoxa luciliae is just beginning to flower. There’s probably something I can do to the camera to produce a better blue than this washed-out affair, but I don’t know what. I should really take a course or get a better camera, or read the instruction book, or something.
After considerable debate about various species of jasmine, I am convinced that this is pink jasmine, Jasminum polyanthum. I moved it to the veg garden fence about 18 months ago and it is doing just as I hoped, working toward an imitation of a gorgeous fence I saw on a Charleston garden walk:
This is a rather fine flower from a camellia of which I am not fond. It looks better this year because I have disdubbed it every time I went near it. I don’t know the variety. Thom gave it to me years ago. It looked fine when it was in a grove of pines, but now that the pines are gone, it is the most prominent feature of the front garden, at least as viewed from the house. It is large, and red and green with no subtlety.
It is usually said that camellias like shade, but this one is now in full sun and seems to love it. Admittedly the red ones are said to tolerate sun better than paler ones. This one is growing rapidly and never gets mold or scale or any of the usual woes. Despite the fact that it displeases me visually, I can’t bring myself to cut it down because it is so healthy. The other shrubs and trees that have been rather randomly chosen to take over from the pines are still pretty small. Maybe the camellia will be less intrusive when they get bigger.
Here is the first daffodil of the year. I don’t know what happened to all my paperwhites. Maybe they got disappeared in all the garden remodeling.
In fact, I must say I am disappointed in the flower display from the hundreds of bulbs I planted 2 years ago and all the ‘Dutch Bulb Food’ they’ve received. All were carefully chosen for supposed ability to do well in Zone 9. Maybe they just need more time to become established. Ha!
Here’s a great blue heron sitting on a bush that looks too frail to support it. It is lurking at the edge of the marsh hoping to have another go at our goldfish. We seem to spend our time recently shooing large birds out of the pond. First the egrets, now this. I hope the pond still has the goldfish shelters that I built into it in the first place: hideyholes under large stones propped up on bricks. I know stones and debris have fallen into the pond. I just hope they haven’t blocked the hiding places, but it is much too cold and wet at the moment for me to get into the pond to find out.
