Spring Flowers at JC Raulston Arboretum, Raleigh, NC

Hello and welcome!

It’s time to switch gears and get back to nature today. I have just a few pictures of the oodles I took at the last of the gardens we got to visit in May – the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, NC.

The quality of these isn’t great as I made them low res so the page will load quickly, but I think you will still enjoy them. If you missed the other posts, you can go to the home page and, in the right-hand column – under ‘categories’, click ‘garden.’

You can click on any picture to enlarge it.

Enjoy your tour!

^ Salvia ‘Cardona’ (They have GREAT signage at this arboretum! I didn’t catch them all, but will let you know the ones I did.)

^ Gerbera (Garvinea ‘Sweet Dreams’)

^ Dichelostemma multiflorum (wild hyacinth)

^ Iris ‘Tea Service’

^ Dianthus –  hybrid Sweet William

^ Magnolia… The flower is as big as my head!

Hydrangeaceae   Deutzia xhybrida “Tourbillon Rouge’

Dicentra “Amore Pink’ (bleeding heart)

^ Dichelostemma venustum… a cross between the Dichelostemma multiflorum (wild hyacinth), above, and the Dichelostemma ida-maia (‘firecracker flower’) you saw in my pictures from Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens (HERE).

^Lilium ‘Sunny Morning’

^ Kniphofia uvaria – Red Hot Poker/Torch Lily (a favorite of hummingbirds)

If you click on the next one to enlarge it, you might see who photo-bombed my picture in the upper left. : )

I meditate on all your activity;
I eagerly ponder over the work of your hands….

The works of Jehovah are great;
They are studied by all those finding pleasure in them.
His activity is glorious and splendid,
And his righteousness endures forever.

– Psalm 143:5 & 111:2,3

I hope you enjoyed your tour – feel free to stop by any time!

– D.Ann

.

p.s. Any ads you may see are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.

Spring Flowers at Duke Gardens, Durham, NC

Welcome back for another garden tour. These pictures were taken two weeks ago at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, North Carolina. I especially love the riot of springtime colors in the historic terraces section of the gardens! Oodles of poppies, foxglove, allium, pansies, columbine and more. Enjoy your tour!

“For his invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship”  – Romans 1:20

Thanks for stopping by… Have a lovely day!!

-D.Ann

p.s. Any ads on this page are posted by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.

Spring Flowers at Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens near Charlotte, NC

Ready for some more gorgeous flowers?

A couple of weeks ago we were at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens near Charlotte, NC. (You can find more info at www.dsbg.org) If you’re an American Horticultural Society member, you can tour the garden for free. If you’re going to tour more than a couple of gardens, you more than recover your membership fees. (More info at ahs.org)

I’ve been getting questions about what camera I use. I just upgraded and was comparing my old phone with my new one, so these are a mixture from both the Samsung Galaxy S4 and S6. Because the files run about 9MB each, I have saved them as low res images to load faster. Thus they are not as crisp as the originals, but I think they’re still lovely. As always, you can click on any picture to see it larger.

This garden isn’t as meticulous about signage, so it will mostly be a self-guided tour this time… If it’s uncommon and I didn’t write anything, your guess is as good as mine!

Enjoy your tour!

They had a small aviary with some Golden-Manteles Rosellas (Platycercus eximius). They are members of the parakeet family and native to Australia.

These were called Firecracker flowers (Dichelostemma ida-maia):

 

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has even put eternity in their heart; yet mankind will never find out the work that the true God has made from start to finish.

– Eccl. 3:11

‘Paprika’ Yarrow (Achillea millefolium):

Now we come to my favorite part of the garden… the orchid conservatory!

It’s packed with an amazing array of orchids in all sizes, shapes and colors. It always tickles me when I see faces, noses, lips, dogs, dancing ladies, babies, aliens and more in these flowers! Here are just a few of these lovelies… what fun things do you see?

I hope you had fun! I have pics from two more gardens we visited yet to come, so if you liked these, check back in a few days for another tour.

Thanks for stopping by!

-D.Ann

p.s. Any ads you may see are placed by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.

Spring Flowers in Indiana

Hello again!

No, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you… You ARE in the right place – just the background theme of my blog has changed. I was playing around trying to find one that would be better for showing photos and accidentally installed one, erasing my previous theme, which has already been discontinued and can’t be re-installed. This was the closest I could come up with until I find one I like. Thanks for your patience while I try to figure this out.

Meanwhile, I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the spring pictures I took while I was in Southern Indiana earlier this month. I made them low res so, hopefully, the page will still load quickly, but that makes them loose quality a bit. Someday I’ll figure out the right balance. Don’t forget you can still click on any picture to enlarge it.

When I arrived at the end of April, the first thing I noticed were the Redbuds, Dogwoods and Crabapple trees all vying for attention.

A pink Dogwood:

It’s easy to see that Crabapples are in the same family as roses (Roaceae):

There were still some late tulips and daffodils hanging about:

Bleeding hearts:

The lilacs were so pungent, even I could smell them!

Close your eyes and breathe deep… maybe you will too. ; )

The farmers were happy to see the end of the April showers and the locust trees blooming… local lore says that’s a sign that it’s time to plant!

(Wild mustard and blooming locust trees)

Of course there were already some edible perks of spring to be harvested… like morel mushrooms…

And tender asparagus, fresh-picked daily…

And fresh rhubarb pie…  YUM!

Ok, I’ll stop making you jealous and get back to the eye candy with more spring flowers:

A flowering almond bush…

Weigela…

I just love the colors of this hydrangea!…

Allium…

Pansy…

Spiraea is another relative of the rose (Rosaceae)…

Pansy…

Of course, some flowers are considered a nuisance, but they’re still lovely:

Raindrops make a difference in photos… which hibiscus do you like better?

I just love these bearded irises!!…

“Not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these!”  – Mt. 6:28,29

Did you know that azaleas are part of the Rhododendron genus? So all azaleas are Rhododendrons, but not all rhododendrons are azaleas. Confused? Rhododendrons tend to be larger and usually have 10 stamens, whereas azaleas have smaller leaves and usually have 5 stamens.

It was fun to watch this rhododendron bloom over the course of 5 days:

I fell in love with these lovely columbine flowers!! Perhaps you will, too…

Well, I could go on and on with these gorgeous works of creation, but it’s time to to bring this to a close.

A special thanks to my aunts and cousins who work so hard in their gardens tending these gorgeous plants for our enjoyment! I’m sure they keep as busy as these guys…

Thanks for stopping by. If you enjoyed these flowers, come back in a few days and I’ll have some more pictures posted from some botanical gardens and arboretums we visited in North Carolina last week.

-D.Ann

p.s. Any ads you may see are posted by WordPress and are not endorsed by me.