Pam – Page 48 – Hydrangeas Blue

Memories of April in New Hampshire

Every now and then I look back at my life in New Hampshire through the many photos I took while living there.
Since Spring is upon us (in Florida it’s hard to tell) I decided to share some April photography and memories.

In April the forsythia begins to bloom and the bright yellow flowers are a wonderful sight after a dull and colorless winter. I had planted a forsythia bush up near the road in my front yard in New Hampshire. I thought it was far enough back from the road to survive the snow-plowing in winter, but I was wrong. This big branch was broken off so I cut it and brought it inside to enjoy the flowers.

cat drinks out of forsythia water — Skittle, being Skittle

Skittle, the cat enjoys drinking water from all sorts of places. And once she discovered the vase of water holding the branch, she just had to partake!

The Lenton Rose will be full of flowers by April. It blooms before the snow is gone. I really enjoyed this little flowering bush.

Screen Shot 2017-04-20 at 4.47.28 PM — Lenton Rose

The coreopsis is popping through the ground and so are the thick red stems of the peony. I love peonies. They remind me of my grandmother, so I had a lot of them planted in my yard in the north. I had white, red, and pink. One of the reds was more like an open flower, but I can’t recall the name of it.

Screen Shot 2017-04-20 at 4.44.37 PM — Peony

And of course the hydrangeas were coming to life. It’s always thrilling to check out the gardens in Spring. Each day more green is showing and it was always fun to watch the progress as the perennials came back to their beautiful showy state.

Screen Shot 2017-04-20 at 4.44.59 PM — Hydrangea in Spring

The first photo is my house taken about three months before I moved. I couldn’t afford to live in New England, but it’s where my heart is.
I miss it and always will.

Parsley Worm and The Butterfly it Becomes

This is a story about the parsley worms in my backyard. My garden is small, and a bit unique in that at the present time my vegetables are in pots and fabric bags. I use fresh parsley often, and I have it growing in two locations.

One day I found this colorful worm crawling along a parsley stem and munching away. I could see that he had chewed off many of the surrounding leaves. This striped guy is appropriately called a “parsley worm”.

I couldn’t remember what type of butterfly it would become, (had to look that up) but I knew it was getting ready to form a chrysalis.

Turns out it’s a Swallowtail butterfly that emerged from the green chrysalis a few weeks later. The wrapped worm was attached to a stem of basil, which had gone to seed, but was in the same pot as the parsley the worm was eating.

But here’s what happened first. I found the worm sitting in this position (below) and he was no longer eating. In fact he was on the basil now, and not the parsley. This is where he formed his chrysalis. I checked it every day, and after a few weeks, there was something new to see.

Screen Shot 2017-04-20 at 1.58.07 PM — Worm beginning to form a chrysalis

Once the butterfly “hatched” he crawled to the top of the basil stem to try out his new wings. Maybe this is the perfect set up for encouraging butterfly production. I hope it happens again.

Screen Shot 2017-04-20 at 2.34.44 PM — Arrow pointing to the empty chrysalis

A few days ago I happened to go outside and saw this beautiful black butterfly at the top of the basil stem, and I knew… the baby was born! The wind was blowing, but he held on for hours. I kept checking on it, and then suddenly he was no longer there.

I felt like a proud parent. I had helped a new baby butterfly enter the world. Course, I had done nothing but plant the parsley… haha!!! But I felt good. And I’m glad I was able to see the beautiful butterfly before it flew away. I took lots of photos, like a proud parent does, and one video.

It turns out that there are many types of Swallowtail butterflies, and the worms can be different colors too. I honestly don’t know much about all of this, but I love it! Imagine going from being earth bound and crawling among bunches of green parsley, to having big beautiful wings that take you up into the sky! I will keep an eye out for eggs on the parsley leaves, and bright green worms among the branches.

Wondering When my Persian Lime Tree Will Bear Fruit

Persian lime buds — Buds on the Lime Tree

A few months ago I purchased a lemon tree and Persian lime tree from a local nursery. Both are blooming and beginning to bear fruit. I planted the lemon tree in the ground, but decided to keep the lime tree in the pot. I’m glad I wasn’t in a hurry to put them both in the ground, because the lemon tree is not doing as well as the lime.

The Meyer lemon began budding almost as soon as it was planted. The tree itself is very small, so I expected no fruit from it. Surprisingly, some of the lemons are now getting to a good size, but many have already fallen off. I gave it a sunny spot, but failed to realize the amount of wind the tree would receive. The lime is more sheltered from the strong wind, on the south side of the house, and also gets a lot of sun. From what I’ve read, this is more to it’s liking.

budding persian lime tree — Potted Persian Lime Tree

Also, the lime tree (photo above), which was never removed from it’s original pot, began to grow like mad! It has doubled in size in the past few months, and is just now blooming. Because of the size, I have some hope of picking limes in the not too distant future. Fingers crossed! I’m holding of putting it into the ground because it’s growing very well where it is.

Because I am not familiar with growing either types of fruit, I searched online for Persian Lime Tree Care and found an article at the Gardening Know How site. In fact they have many articles with growing and care information. That being said, I always get my gardening information from more than one source – especially when reading online. In fact, this article “How Long Does it Take to Grow Limes?” at the Home Guides site, gives a lot more useful information. It tells me that fruit is harvested twice a year; May-June and November-December. This is the information I wanted to find.

Online articles can be written by experts, or by people who really have no idea what they are talking about. Some people write online simply to make money and are not all that interested in truthfulness. I prefer to find information on a blog written by someone with first hand experience. In other words, someone who cares enough to share what they know to be true.

At the present time, I am not a lime growing expert, but I hope to become one by growing them myself. As time goes on I will share MY first hand experience, but for now, I must count on others for solid information.

I’ll be sure to post about eating my first home-grown lemons and limes!

Happy Easter

It’s Easter 2017 and I have worked online most of the day. We have no special food to eat, just leftover chicken from yesterday. It’s not a big deal here. I know what Easter is all about and I used to spend the morning at church, the afternoon eating, and the evening cleaning up. I hid Easter baskets, and worked hard leading up to this day. I know that Jesus rose from the dead and it’s a wonderful thing, but I just don’t celebrate as I used to.

And it’s nice. Hope you had a nice day.

Hydrangeas in Florida May Grow Best Inside

With the extreme heat and sun of Florida, it may be best to grow hydrangeas as potted plants indoors.

Since I moved to Florida last summer, I’ve kept a lookout for my favorite hydrangea shrubs in local garden centers. At least they are not in the “garden” area. I’ve seen hydrangeas in pots inside the Home Depot meant to give as gifts or use as indoor plants. And I think that in this hot and humid climate they may grow best inside.

Screen Shot 2017-04-06 at 2.20.18 PM — Pretty Pink Potted Hydrangea

From what I’ve read, the Oakleaf hydrangea will survive outside in zone 9, so that is one option. It’s not exactly like any of the other types of hydrangea I’ve grown, so it will be experimental if I decide to buy it. Also it seems very leafy, without those big gorgeous flowers like the mopheads have. The Oakleaf seems suited to areas beneath trees where it would get filtered sunlight. And it doesn’t seem to be grown for it’s gorgeous flowers.

Screen Shot 2017-04-06 at 2.22.30 PM — I miss my blue hydrangea (photo is mine)

What I do know is that a hydrangea will grow best getting some morning sun and then shade for the rest of the day. In Florida, during dry times, it will require a lot of watering also. I picture any hydrangea growing in the ground here needing a lot of water.

I’ve read in gardening forums that some people buy the potted hydrangeas that are sold around holiday time, and then keep them inside out of the direct sun.

Screen Shot 2017-04-06 at 2.20.00 PM — I’ve never had a pink flowering hydrangea and this one is lovely.

The trouble with having hydrangeas in the yard down here is that most tropical plants remain lush and green year round. Hydrangeas are deciduous, which means their leaves will fall off for the winter months. For that reason, they will look out of place in a Florida landscape. In the north, everything goes dormant for the winter, so leafless hydrangea plants don’t stick out like a sore thumb. Or will they keep their leaves because of the southern climate?

Someone suggested growing camellias instead of hydrangeas. I’ve grown camellias before and they are lovely plants with a variety of flowers to choose from.

Camellia

Easter and Mother’s Day are both coming up and I suspect the local stores will be offering some hydrangeas for both of those holidays. It could be the best time to find new hydrangeas to grow in my southern home.

In the north, the blue hydrangeas and Pinky Winky were my favorites, but it might be a nice change to have a true pink potted hydrangea.

(Photo credits: Pixabay.com)

I Purchased a Potted Hydrangea in Blue

Now I own a potted blue hydrangea. The local Home Depot had them for sale and they were small enough to not cost me a fortune, so I decided, why not?

Florida Yardscape Must Include At Least One Hibiscus

Now that I live in Florida, my yard must contain the normal Florida perennials. Hibiscus is at the top of that list, and therefore I recently purchased a shrub and recently planted it along the side of the house.

I know that hibiscus will tolerate lots of sun and heat. Although the tag on this one said it was protected from mites and aphids, I notice there are some on the buds. I mixed up a solution of dish detergent and water to spray on the plant, and picked off the buds that were full of bugs. I’ve had to do this for a few days not. It’s irritating that I bought it with the bugs on it. Should have checked closer.

Next to it, I added a rose bush and on the other side a small Desert Rose. In my photo below the plumeria hasn’t been planted yet, but you can see the red poinsettia I bought this past Christmas … the flowers are still red! That one also needs to go in the ground.

rose bush and hibiscus — New Little Florida Garden

I need to get these gardens planted before the weather becomes too hot. I can’t work outside like I used to, and I dislike working in the heat. Digging up this St. Augustine grass is a real chore, and then I must lug the dirt to mix into the dug hole. The Florida “dirt” is mostly sand, so it must be amended with quality dirt and fertilizer. After it was planted I added black mulch.

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

I Purchased a Potted Hydrangea in Blue

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!