Showing posts with label camellia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label camellia. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

más flores

ginger lily
it grows from a central thingy - sort of like a bromeliad
the last micro-flower on the Mexican heather
miniature roses bloom among the mums
pyracantha aka firethorn

clematis 
rose hip which grows on a trellis with clematis
Usually I do not spray my plants with anything.  Sometimes I will spray with soapy water and garlic.  The camellias which grow in my yard, and there are dozens and dozens of bushes, are between 70 and 20 years old.  Many were planted when the house was built in 1938.  Others were added until about 16 years ago.  My neighbor propagated camellias and is very active in the local camellia society.  From my side porch I can see paper bags on her plants.  Something is going on under there.
My neighbor sits on about two acres and her lot is a wooded paradise.  It is filled with azaleas (hundreds!), camellias, ferns, hydrangea, and just about every other plant you can think of that will grow in southern shade. Dozens of bird feeders and hummingbird feeders attract all sorts of feathered creatures and the rattlesnakes and white oak snakes which like to eat their eggs.  I hope to be able to put in hydrangeas of every variety because I so admire these blooms in her yard.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

and the bees

Yesterday after I took pictures of the Medina Bird, I took some photos of the yard.  The camellias are still blooming, the azaleas have gone crazy, and the wisteria is in full bloom.  I love the wisteria when it is flowering, but really it is a weed here in the yard.  We spend hours x 100 trying to get it out of the other shrubs and bushes.  Yet for a few brief weeks it is lovely.

I found a bee busy pollinating the azaleas.  Papi swears that the azaleas change colors each year, but after eight years I am not convinced.  Who really knows what the bees do because the pollen is so thick here that car washes advertise: Is your car really yellow?  You can see some of the powdery film still on the leaves below, but that is really nothing because it is what is left after a day of torrential downpours.