Clematis Volunteer

This is our best Clematis and it was a volunteer many years ago.  We planted some Mums in a large pot and they did well for a couple of years.  All the sudden this Clematis popped up and it has done great since then.  This year it is 8 feet tall with a bunch of blooms.  One interesting characteristic of this plant is the way the blooms face the ground instead of pointing sideways or toward the sky.

Amaryllis Whoops

 A couple of years ago we decided to plant our Amaryllis bulbs in the yard.  The process of potting, unpotting and letting them go dormant was getting old.  This year we were looking forward to a couple of flowers that were soon to bloom.  The day they opened, they looked quite beautiful though they were low to the ground.  That afternoon, we saw one of the just opened blooms decapitated from the stem. I immediately blamed the squirrels or bunnies until I saw our dog running through the flowers.  Maybe our dog was the flower critic.

Clematis Blooming

 Our Clematis vines are producing a bunch of blooms this year.  Maybe it was the warm winter or just Mother Nature doing her thing.  The first picture is the plant next to the shed that we have had for 15 years and it blooms year after year.  The second picture is a plant that was originally near the pond.  When we moved a bunch of dirt from the pond area to a new planter in the back yard, this plant came with the dirt.  The neat thing is the plant never bloomed this well in it's previous location. 

Elephant Ears Coming Back

 Another winter is over and another spring comeback for our Elephant Ears.  The ones by the garage door have come back for several years while the ones on the side of the house were just planted last year.  Once again, I left the bulbs in the ground over the winter and they survived just fine.  It sure is a lot easier than digging the up after they die back in late fall.  I'd like to plant some flowering bushes along the side of the house but haven't decided what to plant yet.

Bonus Bamboo

 Every spring brings new bamboo shoots popping up.  This year I think we are getting a bumper crop with shoots all over the back yard.  Every day I find another in a location I don't want it and break it off at ground level.  You have to break them off when they are young and tender or they will grow to 40 to 50 feet.  These pictures show a couple of young bamboo that grew 4 feet tall before I kicked them over. 

Small Pond Critters

 A couple of visitors to the small pond got in front of the camera recently.  I set the camera to get a picture of the critter that was pulling algae out of the pond.  I suspected this was happening while the critter was fishing.  Instead of getting a shot of a Hawk or Owl, I caught our Hound dog and one of his squirrel friends.  So after all that it may be the dog that is pulling the algae as I saw him do it later.

Cherry Tree Shines at Night

 Last week we had a nighttime storm which made the Cherry tree glisten.  It was made more interesting with the raindrops reflecting the flash back to the camera.  But even more, the stark difference between the way the tree looks in the storm as opposed to just a nighttime picture.  The later looks quite drab without the rain.

Rhododendron Hedge

 This is a great year for our line of Rhododendrons along the fence next to the driveway.  We planted these many years ago after seeing a similar display at another house.  These plants have grown slowly over the years and this year the flowers are really beautiful.  The only challenge is we have to keep them fenced to protect the plants from the neighborhood deer that love to nibble on our plants.