garden – Top of JC's Mind

Much Ado in the Garden

Why, you may ask, is Joanne wearing a fetching Renaissance costume?

Because tomorrow, Sunday, July 17, 2022, I will be singing madrigals with The Madrigal Choir of Binghamton at the Much Ado in the Garden event, sponsored by Cornell Cooperative Extension-Broome County.

There will be music, dancing, garden tours, Shakespearean scenes, games, food, and more, so come to Cutler Botanic Garden and join us!

Madrigal Choir will be singing at 2:00. At 11:15 AM, I will also be participating in a mini-workshop and reading with the Binghamton Poetry Project, but not in costume.

I’m sure that you want to see my headpiece, so one more costume shot.

so many roses!

The above inadvertently artsy shot with sunbeams is of roses growing in our back yard. This rose is a daughter of a rosebush that grew near my mother’s childhood home in Hoosac Tunnel, Massachsuetts. You can read more of the backstory in this post which itself includes a personal essay from before I started blogging.

This rosebush is the subject of the one poem that appears in both my chapbook and collection manuscripts, which I can’t share here because it is currently unpublished. It tells the story of the revival of this daughter bush from near death and ends during my mother’s final illness.

We have just passed the second anniversary of her death. The rose bush apparently liked the snowy winter and slowly unfolding spring this year and has more blossoms than I have ever seen. It has also grown very tall, as you can see in the photo below. For reference, I’m 5′ 1.5″ (1.56 meters), so the rose bush is probably close to seven feet (2.1 meters) high.

Because this is an heirloom close-to-wild rose rather than a hybrid, it has a very strong scent. With so many blossoms this year, the smell is heavenly.

Nana would have loved it.

One-Liner Wednesday: mini-daffodils

mini-daffodils from the supermarket that we will be able to plant in our yard this fall to bloom again next spring

Join us for Linda’s One-Liner Wednesdays! Find out more here: https://lindaghill.com/2021/04/14/one-liner-wednesday-ive-been-shot/

tree trimming

Today, we had a tree service come and trim the large trees in our backyard. They are all at least seventy years old and some of them had some dead branches that threatened to get blown down during storms. There are two maples, an oak, and a cherry.

The company we hired was recommended by the landscapers who are going to give our yard a major makeover this fall. They have certified arborists and we were impressed with their work and their observance of safety protocols. T’s environmental science background informed her appreciation of the helmets, rigging, ropes, chaps, etc. involved. Bonus: They did a great job with cleaning up after they were done.

It’s nice to have a bit more sunlight making it down into our yard, especially where we have my mom’s heirloom rosebush, while, at the same time, still having these big shade trees on the south side of our house.

It’s also nice not to have to worry so much about being impaled by javelin-sticks when it gets windy.

Portuguese Squill/Hyacinth of Peru (Scilla peruviana) 地中海綿棗兒/地中海藍鐘花

Sharing some beautiful blossoms from one of my favorite photo-blogs.

My Food And Flowers

Portuguese Squill/Hyacinth of Peru (Scilla peruviana) 地中海綿棗兒/地中海藍鐘花

2016-01-31 132 (Medium) Portuguese Squill/Hyacinth of Peru (Scilla peruviana) 地中海綿棗兒/地中海藍鐘花

2016-01-31 134 (Medium) Portuguese Squill/Hyacinth of Peru (Scilla peruviana) 地中海綿棗兒/地中海藍鐘花

2016-01-31 131 (Medium) Portuguese Squill/Hyacinth of Peru (Scilla peruviana) 地中海綿棗兒/地中海藍鐘花

2016-01-31 135 (Medium) Portuguese Squill/Hyacinth of Peru (Scilla peruviana) 地中海綿棗兒/地中海藍鐘花

Beautiful bulbous perennial. Easy to grow. Best growing in full sun to partial shade location but also tolerant light shade. Small deep blue flowers in flower ball in spring. Flowers attract bees and butterflies. Good for cut flower. USDA Zones:7-10. Mature size:6″-1′(H) X 3″-6″(W). Plant is toxic if ingested. Propagate by seeds, bulb or division.

美麗的多年生球根花卉. 容易栽種. 最好栽種在全日照到半日照處但也能生長於散光處. 小朵深藍色小花聚成的花球於春天盛開. 花吸引蜂蝶. 也適合為插花的花材. 喜熱不甚耐寒. 成熟株高6吋到1呎,寬幅3-6吋. 植株全株有毒勿食. 繁殖以種子,球根或分株方式來進行.

Reference links: 參考網站資料連結:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scilla_peruviana https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-tw/%E5%9C%B0%E4%B8%AD%E6%B5%B7%E7%B6%BF%E6%A3%97%E5%85%92 http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/59661/

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August Garden 八月的花園

I love flower photos and this blog is an extravaganza! Enjoy!

My Food And Flowers

August Garden 八月的花園

Cheddar Pink (Dianthus ‘Firewitch’) 多年生石竹

Mina lobata (Ipomea lobata) 金魚花/魚花蔦蘿

Double Annual Poppy (Papaver somniferum ‘Black Beauty’) 黑美人重瓣虞美人

Canna Lily (Canna indica )美人蕉

Sensitive Plant (Mimosa pudica) 含羞草

Cosmos (Cosmos bipinnatus) 大波斯菊

Red Double Blanket Flower (Gaillardia ‘Red Plume’) 大紅重瓣球型天人菊

Tricolor Viola(Viola tricolor) 堇菜

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia fulgens ‘Elmfeuer’) 紅花山梗菜

Bulbous Bergonia (Bergonia) 球根海棠

Bachelor’s Button (Centaurea Montana) 多年生矢車菊

Godetia Azalea Flowered Mixed (Clarkia amoena) 古代稀

Firecracker Flower (Crossandra infundibuliformis) 鳥尾花

American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) 花旗蔘

Garlic Chives (Allium tuberosum) 韭菜

Hall’s Honeysuckle(Lonicera japonica)忍冬或叫金銀花

Clematis (Clematis) 鐵線蓮

Clematis ‘Sweet Autumn’ (Clematis ‘Sweet Autumn’) 甜秋鐵線蓮

Anise-hyssop (Agastache rugosa)藿香

Calla Lilies (Zantedeschia aethiopica) 海芋

European Bellflower(Campanula rapunculoides) 歐洲風鈴草

Blue-eyed grasses (Sisyrinchium bermudianum)庭菖蒲

Tree mallow (Lavatera) 錦葵

Double Balloon Flower (Platycodon grandiflorus double blue selection) 重瓣桔梗

Self-heal（Prunella grandiflora ‘Freelander’）大花夏枯草

Honeysuckle Fuchsia (Fuchsia ‘Koralle’) 鞭炮吊鐘花

Common Soapwort/Bouncing Bet (Saponaria officinalis) 高性肥皂花/石鹼草

Double Lily (Lilium) 重瓣百合

Obedient Plants (Physostegia virginiana) 隨意草

Carpathian…

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July Garden 七月花園

It’s summer here in the Northern Hemisphere, so I thought I’d share this lovely post of summer flowers. For my Southern hemisphere friends, I thought you’d like a reminder that spring is only a few weeks away.
– JC
(Make sure to click on View Original to see the rest of the lovely photos!)

My Food And Flowers

July Garden 七月花園

Beebalm (Monarda) 美國薄荷