Rainy Day Dianthus

This morning on my walk I noticed these dianthus. They were so bright on this rainy morning that they almost won’t photograph well because the color is too intense. I’ve always liked dianthus. Then, a couple of days ago when I was shopping with a friend he said that they looked like “little stars”. Yes, I can see that, especially on a gray day like today.

By the way. I'm quite happy with my new Sherwood Gardens article, which includes a slide show. I've resolved to do more slide shows this year. It is a kind of visual reporting that I like because I carry my camera everywhere.

Elbows, Sherwood Gardens and Graveyard Lilies

Owww….after all of the “advice” I give people about garden safety I hurt myself while gardening yesterday. Actually, I had been feeling a twinge in my elbow all week but I thought it was gone by the time I went out in the yard last night. Instead, it was just lurking, ready to come back in force after I came inside for the night. Now it seems worse this morning. I’m actually thinking of making a sling from a scarf. I also might have to cancel my date with the Phantom tomorrow. I volunteer at the Hippodrome and hate to miss working a show of the “Phantom of the Opera”, especially since this is the supposed farewell tour.

Well, on with the writing news. This morning I posted on ways that gardeners could spread the word during National Gardening Month. Unlike the other articles I wrote this week, I kind of like this one. I used a photo of last year’s display at Sherwood Gardens, and the photo above is from the same flowerbed. I’ve been picnicking at Sherwood a lot over the last couple of weeks and I think last year’s display was defiantly better.

I also wrote a short piece on gravestone lilies for my Curious Urbanite blog. I’m not particularly obsessed with death at the moment, but when I visited Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond a couple of weeks ago I was intrigued by all of the graveyard symbols that involved nature. I would have liked more time there as the array of stone flowers, tree stumps and other garden related cemetery art was fascinating.

Photo Woes and Earth Day

This photo is a “leftover” from my article this morning. It took me an inordinately long time to select a photo today. I liked these dogwoods because the colors and shapes are reminiscent of Earth Day themes, (round, green white, ect.) and I have the one I prefer with the article. But, with the weird way that Examiner crops their photos on the Home and Living page I wondered if it would end up showing the blank spot near the middle of that one. (Sometimes the crop makes the subject of the photo completely unrecognizable.) So, I plowed through my backlog of photos to see what to use and then ended up using my original choice anyway. It seems to look all right.

I wanted to make a good impression for Earth Day because I slaved away on a series for Baltimore Green Week but so far it has only average readership. Plus, I’ve had such a busy week and didn’t like the photos I chose for the other articles. They were just things I had, but didn’t quite fit. I’ve been too busy to go on photo expeditions and now I seem to be paying for it. Note that yesterday’s Wordless Wednesday was a random April flowers post full of more leftover pictures. Actually, I might use the azaleas from that post for tomorrow’s article.

Another thing that I did this week was post an Examiner article every day. Again, only average readership so I’ll go back to my regular schedule next week. This only really works if I have gardening news that is hot for a day or so. Plus, Examiner told the Home and Living Writers to spotlight National Gardening Month over the next few days so suddenly everybody is writing about gardening. It is also National Park Week and National Volunteer Week. Why don’t people write about that?

Oh, yes, I’m going to stop my complaining to wish everyone a happy Earth Day!

My Baltimore Green Week series

Tree Baltimore aids city residents during Baltimore Green Week
Volunteer opportunities for Maryland Gardeners
Rethinking your garden habits
Earth Day facts for Marylanders

Wordless Wednesday - April Flowers

Encountering the Old Blush rose at the Hollywood Cemetery

Last weekend I visited Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, VA. Even though the east coast had some warm weather recently, I was very surprised to find a rose blooming near James Monroe’s grave. Soon I realized that there were roses all over a moderately sized bush. A helpful marker identified the rose as “Old Blush, Class: China, Intro date: 1752”. I was charmed by these lightly scented blossoms appearing in the middle of the quiet cemetery, so when I got home I decided to look them up.

Old Blush is a rose with semi double pink flowers that appear darker or “blushing” in the sunlight. It is one of the oldest roses and the Chinese cultivated it for more than a thousand years. Old Blush and other China roses were brought to Europe by traders like the Dutch East India Company. These were later crossed with other varieties to make modern hybrids. Any rose varieties that existed before 1867 are labeled as “old” while those after it are “modern”. Older roses tend to be smaller flowered and more rambling. Old Blush can grow well in poor soil but can get out of control if left untrimmed.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - April 2010

This month my blooms are almost the same as last months. I only had time for a few quick pictures, but besides these I have pansies, violets, and a lone muscari is left under my tree. I really lack spring blooming flowers, other than bulbs. This weekend I hope to get cracking on the garden and put in a few things to spice it up a bit.

I did my monthly “What’s Blooming in Baltimore?” post and was quite envious of what other local gardeners have. There are some nice iris out there and one lady near me even has a nice potted blooming azalea. I did notice that the azaleas in Sherwood Gardens are beginning to bloom as well.

Wordless Wednesday - Oz at the Spring Flower Show

(Spring flower show brightens the Druid Hill Conservatory)