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May Flowers

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

 




Birthday Flowers

April showers bring May flowers!

Happy Tuesday, My Lovelies!  Today I'm sharing lovely flowers with you from our garden and other locations.

One of my favorite parts of the year is when the mountain laurels are in bloom.  Native to Alabama, they always make me smile!  The pale pink ones (below) are my favorites.


This photo was taken in Mount Laurel, a small town near our neighborhood.
It was named for this lovely species!



I've spotted some beautiful floral combinations while traveling, including these from a Louisiana garden.




On my birthday, my Bestie Barbara took me on a field trip to Petals From the Past.  


Petals From The Past specializes in antique roses.  Located in Jemison, Alabama, it is worth the trip!


Here are some of my favorites from my special birthday field trip:




I also saw some beautiful dahlias and poppies!






Below are a couple of climbing roses:






I bought an heirloom rose for my birthday.  Here it is:


"Crystal Fairy" 


Last week, day lilies were the stars at Red Dot Gallery.  Scott Bennet (my art teacher Dori's husband) displayed many of his gorgeous day lilies in a special exhibit.  Many people came everyday to see the pretty flowers.


It was the prettiest live flower art installation.  He's a daylily hybridizer, creating new flowers every year. 
Red Dot artist Jane Marshall exhibited her wood-fired animal-inspired sculpture. 
Everyone enjoyed it!
Photo courtesy of Red Dot Gallery.



This one is named Fancy Dori.  Scott named it for Dori, and it's my favorite.  I was able to see one at the exhibit.
Photo courtesy of Dori DeCamillis


During Christmas, we suffered a deep freeze that lasted for several days.  Needless to say, we lost lots of shrubbery, especially our Sasanqua "Shi Shi Gashira" Camellias and gardenias.  We were so disappointed because we had replaced much of our landscaping after the tornado of 2021, so our new plantings were just about 1 1/2 years old.

We've spent a few weekends replacing what we lost.  This was difficult because there is a shortage of camellias due to demand: We weren't the only ones who lost them!  We chose to replace a few with the Sasanqua "Alabama Beauty" Camellias because they handled the cold better than the "Shi Shi Gashiras."  We also planted a few pink spirea plants because they handled the cold well, too.


Spirea from our garden


We also replanted a few containers.



We like to plant several white flowers because they are so pretty at night.
We like to spend time outside on our patio grilling and watching Cubs baseball games as often as we can!  Nights are cooler up here on the mountain, too.



Mr. Bookish LOVES petunias, and he chose these for our deck area.



This is one of our large containers.  Below you can read the recipe for it.


Large Container Recipe (Sun)

Silvia "Snow White" (2)
Lantana "Lavender" (2)
Creeping Wire Vine (2)
Gomphrena (pink) (2)
English Ivy (1)
Vinca "Cora White" (2)
Petunia "Pearl White" (2)
Million Bells (pink) (1)


How does your garden grow?  Have you planted anything new this spring?


Until next time...

Happy gardening!
Ricki Jill



3 comments

  1. Gorgeous flowers and shrubs, and a perfect, blue sky day at the nursery! I love your Crystal Fairy rose. It's so sad when plants die, I feel your pain. I only lost 4 lavender, a French variety that couldn't bear the minus 20s temps we had, so I replaced them with a hardier, even better variety (English Hidcote). They were my tried and true in the previous landscape, so I should've been patient and waited for them to arrive in nurseries last year. Your art teacher's exhibit was unique, how delightful that he could showcase his hybridizing talents that way! I love your container plantings.

    I am still hard at work in my landscape, mostly with annuals now, almost finished for the season (said no gardener, EVER, lol). I have mixed quite a few whites in with my perennials and annuals, both. I love their clean, bright look in the landscape, esp at night, as you say.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank You for sharing the beautiful flowers. A wonderful mixture of color and different types of flowers. Who are you descendant from in the DAR?
    Happy Birthday year of happiness,health and blessings.
    Marilyn,Joan and Marion

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I have 17 Patriots (no Loyalists so far, haha), but the Patriot for my membership is Timothy Swindell from North Carolina.

      Delete

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I'm Ricki Jill. Welcome! I'm honored that you're reading my blog. I enjoy sharing my creative lifestyle @ The Bookish Dilettante. For more information about my blog, please read the Start Here page. Thank-you for stopping by, and I hope you'll consider following me via email.

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