Piedmont Farm Tour - Day 2 Slideshow

On day 2 of the Piedmont Farm Tour last weekend, we visited Timberwood Organics, Fickle Creek Farm,Chapel Hill Creamery, Pickards Mountain Eco Institute and Four Leaf Farm:



If you'd like to see which farms are which, and some captions, you can see the Flickr set here.

Slideshow of Piedmont Farm Tour - Day 1

I previously blogged about the Piedmont Farm Tour, which was held last weekend. I went both days, enjoyed myself thoroughly, and took some pictures. These farms sell flowers, produce, herbs, meat and eggs to our local farmers markets.

Below is the slideshow from the first day (last Saturday) and we visited several farms in northern Orange County: Maple Spring Gardens, Wild Hare Farms, Captain J.S. Pope Farm, Anatoth Community Garden, a farm not on the tour (a friend knew the farmers) and we saw llamas and alpacas there, and the last farm visited was Whitted Bowers Farm, a biodynamic farm.




Tomorrow I'll put up some pictures of the Day 2 of the Farm Tour.

If you'd like to see the captions of the pictures in the slideshow, detailing which farms the pictures are from just click here.

Christmas Cactus

This time of year when nearly nothing is blooming, my Christmas Cactus explodes with beautiful pink blooms. This one (below) was a gift from a friend a few years ago who came to our house one night for dinner. It's not too terribly hard to care for as outlined here. And it's not really a "cactus" as it doesn't grow in the desert, but rather is a tropical plant that grows in the rainforests of South America. Certainly grows quite well here hot, humid NC as long as it comes inside in the winter.

Christmas Cactus

One bloom

The blooms always looks like some sort of butterfly creature in flight--or maybe an angel if you are in the Christmas spirit when it blooms.

Red Spider!

Red Spider Lily, that is. Also called the Equinox Lily, Magic Lily, or Hurricane Lily. Or Lycoris radiata to be precise.

One of the many great things about owning an older home, in my opinion, is that someone may've planted cool things in the yard. The first time early fall rolled around after we moved into this house, and I stepped out the backdoor and these greeted me, I was enchanted with them. Here are some pictures I took a few days ago:

Taken from above.

Our cluster of Lycoris radiata.

Seems like these just pop up overnight. Boom, there they are, all red and bright and slightly Dr. Seuss-looking saying, "Hey, someone planted me here years ago so they could enjoy me." So I do make it a point to stop and admire them in their 2 or 3 weeks of glory and oddity. Thank you, whoever you are, for planting these. This house and its tended yard has been here since 1926 so it could've been long ago.

I've never done a thing but enjoy them each fall when they pop out of the ground, so they must do well here in our climate. They are native to China and Japan, often seen in groups on the ridge of rice fields.

If ingested they are supposed to give you lucid dreams. I wouldn't try that, though.

New Waterlily Competition

I took a walk at Duke Gardens on Sunday and the waterlilies in the koi ponds are just beginning to bloom. The ones that were blooming were simply beautiful. There was sign nearby that announced the following:

The International Waterlily and Water Gardening Society has once again chosen Duke Gardens to be the growing site for the organization's annual New Waterlily Competition, a contest that draws entries from skilled hybridizers around the world. The purpose of this competition is to promote interest in hybridizing new colors, forms, and sizes of both tropical and hardy waterlilies. In the past few years, several note-worthy new hybrids have been introduced as a result of the competition, including plants with unusual flower shapes and colors; new leaf patterns and colors; and new viviparous waterlilies. These one-of-a-kind lilies will be on display in the Fish Pool at the base of the Historic Terraces during July and August. Visitors are invited to see these new hybrids up close this summer and to choose their favorites as part of the second annual "People's Choice Awards". Votes can be cast in person using ballots, via cell phone using the Guide by Cell program, or here on our website.

So, you can stroll by and check out the waterlilies and cast your own vote for your favorite because there is a "People's Choice Award" for the lilies too.

Here are a few pictures I took on Sunday at the pond:




And here's the poster describing the competition and containing a ballot box (you can click it twice to make it larger and readable):

Night-blooming Datura

Several years ago, my great-aunt gave me a flower pot with little green plants sprouting. She said when mature, the plants would produce big trumpet flowers that are "sweet-smelling and night-blooming." She didn't know the exact name, but called them "moonflowers." After a little research on the internet, I found out they are actually "datura" and are desert plants, and thus, very drought tolerant. Here's one of mine:



They easily re-seed themselves each year, and require little care. They aren't fazed when I move the "baby plants" where I want them once they sprout up in the spring. Here's where I planted them along my driveway. At night, they open up and they do smell very good:



They have a funny-looking prickly seed head after the flower drops off, and then at the end of the season, the seed head splits open and spits out the seeds (these next 2 photos are from wiki):





According to the American Botanical Council, datura has a long history of being used in religious ceremonies because it is hallucinogenic, but then too, I think it could be very poisonous so don't eat them!

"You will always be Rose of Sharon to me . . . "

Props to my friend Jeff Hart on his great song "Rose of Sharon" which I'll forevermore hear in my head as I look out of my kitchen window and see my Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus), also called an "Althea," blooming in my backyard:

I don't understand you,
all I know is that I love you
and that's a start.
If I can't have you,
and if I can't hold you in the dark . . .
You will always be Rose of Sharon to me
somewhere in your memory, save a kind word for me.

~ Jeff Hart, Rose of Sharon

I strongly suspect Jeff didn't write it for the flowering shrub, but it's a beautiful song, and it's lovely to see the Rose of Sharon blooming, not just in my yard but in others' yards too this time of year. I don't know who planted mine as it was here long before me, but I thank them.

This beauty is making my whole backyard cheerful

I was worried about my Oak Leaf Hydrangea last year because it was so very dry. It drooped and drooped, very sad, and finally lost all its leaves early.

But it bounced back this Spring! It's not a fussy shrub and I like that about it. Mine is about 4 or 5 years old and was practically a twig when I first planted it.

Oak Leaf Hydrangea

Pollen Baskets

Lenore's beautiful picture over at her blog reminded me of a picture I took last month of a bee slurping the nectar out of an azalea bloom at Duke Gardens. Since I know next to nothing about bees, I was perplexed about the gobs of yellow on its legs so I looked it up. I was afraid something was wrong with the bee, but thankfully no. Pollen baskets are what they are called. If I learned that in school in science class at some point, I had completely forgotten it. The picture may have captured a couple of droplets of nectar falling away from the bloom as well. Messy eater?



Happy Springtime, Durham!

Blooming in my yard today.

Yes, I went out and actually paid a some attention to my yard, mowing it (electric lawn mower, ya'll!), trimming it, and beating back the pesky English ivy--which I think is possibly more invasive than kudzu.

Amaryllis, one I transplanted from my granddad's yard:

Butterfly Bush:

Rose Campion:

The foothills of NC as seen from Fancy Gap, VA

We spent a couple of beautiful and cool days "up the mountain" at Fancy Gap, VA just off the Blue Ridge Parkway, relaxing and visiting with family. Totally unplugged. No computer, no cell phone (Verizon Wireless is dead on that mountain, can't get in or out. Annoying and also oddly refreshing, that. The landline works fine at least.) No screaming cable TV. Books, CDs, a Weber grill, a deck with a view, and a bottle or three of wine.

Below, a pic from the deck Saturday night. If you click to make it larger, you can see Pilot Mountain in the distance, the lights of Winston-Salem on the horizon to the left of Pilot Mountain, and the bright lights of Mt. Airy, NC on the right, closer. (You can click it to bring up a larger picture.)


Sunday we decided to go to Foster Falls, Virginia and have a picnic. The New River Trail runs for 57 miles and 39 miles are along the New River, which may be one of the oldest rivers in the world.


You can walk all the way across the New River at Foster Falls on this, and other, ledges that form the gentle 'falls' here. It's fun to do, but the rocks can be slippery if you don't have on good, grippy sandals.


We went for a hike along the New River Trail and saw bicyclists, horse-riders, and other hikers. Below is the tunnel at Austinville on the New River Trail. I found out that Austinville was named for the Austin family who owned the lead mines at the river for a couple hundred years. Stephen F. Austin, the son, moved to Texas as a young man and later became known as "the father of Texas." You know, the guy that Austin, Texas was named for.



After a full day, we enjoyed brats on the grill. Yum. (Sorry, couldn't resist a food pic.)



The wild blaze azaleas and the rhodies are blooming right now too.

Ducklings today at Duke Gardens!

The irises are in full bloom, the peonies are starting to bloom, the allium are terrific looking this week, and we just happened upon some duckings--bonus!

Wisteria Gazebo in bloom right now.

It's at Sarah P. Duke Gardens where I often take a stroll on the weekends. The wisteria gazebo smells so sweet and is wonderful to see. It's only in bloom a few short weeks each spring, so if you want to see it and smell it, go now. (Click on the pictures to see them larger.)




From the inside:

Sprouting & Unfolding for Spring

More new things happening in our yard as photographed today.

The Brown Turkey Fig Tree waking up this week, sprouting its first leaves on the limb tips:

The Quince is in bloom, with more blooms still unfolding for the sun:


Hostas poking their fingers out of the ground, beginning to unfurl their leaves:


The Dogwood beginning to open up, blooms tinged with color:

Loving the Durham Farmer's Market

The warm weather today has me thinking of the Durham Farmer's Market, so I dug out a few photos I took last summer.

Turns out the Durham Farmer's Market regular summer season starts next Saturday, April 5th. Check out the Wednesday market hours too:

On April 5, 2008, the market will resume regular summer hours (8am to noon) and be open every Saturday, rain or shine, through Thanksgiving. We are proud to announce that this summer the market will be open on Wednesday afternoons as well as Saturday mornings! The Wednesday market will be open from 3:30 to 6:30 on all Wednesdays from May 7th through September 24th!! Come join us in our home in the Pavilion at Durham Central Park on Foster Street. (click here for map and directions).

Here's the rest of the album.

Happy Spring. Tulips!

It was nice just before sundown to take stroll through Sarah P. Duke Gardens once again. Was curious if the tulips had started blooming in large numbers. Yes, yes they have! And some of the blooming trees are spectacular.

So take the family--or just yourself--for a walk, a picnic, and snap a picture or two this weekend. It's the most enjoyable time of year there. You can even feed the ducks--although FYI they want you to bring cracked corn and not bread crumbs for them anymore if you do feed them.

If you go, tell me your favorite sight! All 4 pictures below are from earlier this evening.

More Spring in my Garden

3 Faces:



Mini Daff:

More Minis:


Blue Pansies: