Mid-April 2019

Spring has sprung in the backyard. It seems that overnight we went from brown to lush green. This weekend we are in a bit of a deluge with flash flood watches.

It's a week I'm ready to put behind me. It started with a virus from Sun. thru Tues. then restaurant closures to tragedy with the gas explosion in downtown Durham. Two of the restaurants had been here for over ten years, Tyler's at American Tobacco and Blu Seafood. Even my cake bite bakery, Big Bundt's closed this week. This happened earlier in the month, but the demise of the light rail project also occurred.

Real tragedy struck with the gas explosion in downtown Durham: people with life changing injuries and a local business owner who died. Prayers to everyone who is affected. We heard the explosion from our backyard, but had no idea what it was until a few minutes later when Rob called to say Annette is okay. Her work place in downtown, the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center, had their ceiling fall and windows were blown out. She did go to Urgent Care later to have a cut on her hand cleaned and sealed. We quickly tuned into the news to learn it was a gas explosion. This hit Durhamites hard emotionally. We love this quirky town that is quickly growing. Every week seems to bring changes to the city.

Back to gardening, I've been taking lots of garden photos and would like to share some of the better ones with you. It's nice to have a peaceful little corner of the world. All gardeners know this. If some of the shots look "dusty" you are seeing pollen. It has been like a snowfall, it's so heavy this year.

Here's my favorite photo. This year we have more frogs than ever. These are Green frogs which are sometimes referred to as bronze frogs. We also have Bull frogs, Pickerel frogs and Leopard frogs in the garden pond.

Domino Epimedium I might move these plants out of the deep shade as they didn't bloom very profusely this year. I love the winged blooms.

Unfurling Clematis in a pot. I recently learned that all early blooming clematis are classified as Group 1. They bloom on old wood, so think before you prune, if at all.

The clematis in full bloom on April 12th.

Solomon's Seal This has become one of my favorite plants. It has many positive attributes: bees use it, performs well in dry shade, slowly colonizes, native to North Carolina.

Bluebells I have a variety of these. All were marketed as English Bluebells, but as you can see all may not be genuine. They are all lovely though.

I did some online research regarding the definitive English Bluebell. They are purple blue with yellow stamens. White Flower Farm, thank you for sending me the real thing.

I really should consider adding some Virginia Bluebells to the garden; it's just that I'm such an Anglophile.

Sticking with the purple blue theme; here are Spiderworts gifted to me by a dearly departed neighbor, Ludie Lunsford. Plants really do keep memories alive. These are native plants, Tradescantia virginiana.

A North Carolina classic, the pink azalea.

I rarely show you a view of the garden. Mainly because I'm not satisfied with the photo. Colors and detail are often lost, since it's not a close up. Here's one from the back of the pond. The photo didn't capture the blue of the willow amsonia by the cushion spurge.

Here's a close up of the willow amsonia. I'm very fond of the blue and chartreuse color combination.

Here's one for Julie and Annette. Maddie is in the photo. She's by the epimediums which are in full leaf now.

A view from the far back to the part sun garden bed.

Ian has just reported that we've had 3.5 inches of rain in the last twenty- four hours. We'll see the sun in a couple of days. Happy gardening!