Backyard Dove

After last night's snow I went out on the back porch to play with my camera. I caught this dove resting in our tree.

Poinsettia Ponderings

It has been a crazy busy fall for me and this blog and my Twitter account have been two of the casualties. I’m still keeping up with my writing, though and plan to get these peripheral things back on track soon so I can prepare for the coming of the spring gardening season.

This is not the greatest photo as I just took it as the light was beginning to wane. Also, this poinsettia is a bit past it’s prime. Before the holiday season I wrote two articles on these plants and squirreled them away so I didn’t have that worry. They are “How to select and care for a poinsettia plant” and “How to rebloom a poinsettia plant”. (I plan to take my own advice and rebloom this guy down the line.) Oh, and I learned why I could never correctly spell poinsettia over the years. I was spelling it as “pointsettia”. Duh.

Eagles at Chincoteague

A couple of weeks ago we went on another trip to the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. Now, every time we’ve gone there we heard about eagles. There used to be a video monitor in the visitor’s center, which showed some baby eagles in a nest. But, we never saw any until this last trip. Note that there are two here, and one flew by just as we saw these. This was on the wildlife loop in the late afternoon.

Tobacco at the Maryland State Fair

One thing that I always enjoy at the Maryland State Fair is seeing the many different varieties of things that people grow in our state. There are heirloom watermelons such as Moon and Stars ( a personal favorite), nuts such as walnuts and pecans, grains, and hay. One thing I always seeing on display are the tobacco hands, such as this one, which one a blue ribbon. I hate smoking and the tobacco industry, but I do like this because it hints at local history.

Currently tobacco farming on Maryland is on the wane, but it was once a big industry. During Colonial times tobacco was a big moneymaker. At first, workers were brought over from England but over the years African Americans took over this work. It takes a lot of work to harvest a field of tobacco. The local tobacco industry suffered after the Civil War, was revived during World War I, and then waned again. Now, many Maryland tobacco farmers have given up the crop in favor of other, more profitable things like vegetables. To see a recreation of a Colonial tobacco plantation, consider visiting the Spray Tobacco Plantation in St. Mary’s City, Maryland.

I Love Zinnias

Yes, I do and I try to grow them every summer. I usually have a mini variety in pots and semi-doubles in the main flowerbed. This year I tried some new types but they didn’t quite make it. I find that mysterious, as zinnias are the one flower that will grow for me anywhere. In fact, they were the first flower I grew in the all cement yard next to the outhouse.

Well, as you can see some of them are recovering from the drought and heat of early summer and beginning to bloom. I believe this is a Candy Cane mix. I also have them in white with pink streaks, and pink with white streaks. They add a lot of splash and I will certainly grow them again next year. Last year one of my neighbors had a great bed of cactus type zinnias in their front yard. I want them next year but I’m afraid they’d look too crazy in with the candy canes.

And yes, I wrote an article about zinnias. Actually, I wrote this last winter but deleted it a few months ago and re-wrote it for summer. I had planned to introduce a “flower of the month” thing to my column but it seemed hokey so I dropped it. I wanted a winter series but I’ve since come up with better ideas. I also liked the photos in that article, but since Examiner is migrating to a new style we don’t have control over our layout and things look wonky unless they are super simple.

Peachy Goodness!

Yesterday while we were out and about we stopped at Baugher’s farm – they of the famous pies that pop up in stores around the area. My intent was to get peaches because I tend to get a bit peach crazy in summer. While pick-your-own is only on weekends there, they still had a wide variety of goodies to choose from.

I haven’t tried all of the pictures fruits so far, but the Red Haven peaches are sublime. The white peaches are OK, but I’ve never found a white peach that is as good as others. The donut peaches here aren’t quite ready yet and neither are the white nectarines. The apricots are a bargain at $1 a pound – a sign explains that they are smaller than usual and have harmless spots on them. But, they are quite tasty and better than the prettier apricots I’ve been getting at the farmer’s market.

When we were kids there were peach trees on our property so I have lots of nostalgia connected with them. Of course, my brother and I didn’t appreciate them but I remember watching the peaches grow at all stages, from hard green buds to rotted ones on the ground. They were often buggy so my brother and I mainly used them to throw around. Still, they were great trees to have around.

Wordless Wednesday - the Baltimore City Hall Garden