Tuesday, July 2, 2019

Springtime at Windy Poplars - a photographic tour

This is what one of the flower gardens looked like on the day spring began, March 20.


Two days later


March 24


March 28


March 29 - plotting out the new vegetable garden, in the snow!


April 3 - sheep shearing day


April 6 - evening light


April 9 - evening light again


April 13 - signs of growth


April 20 - chickens on the lawn and crossing the road



Also April 20 - daffs we planted last fall are up!



April 22 - amazing evening sky - second picture only seconds after first one, and third seconds after that.




May 5 - forsythia. I learned it should really be pronounced with a long "I" because it is named after William Forsyth, a Scottish botanist.


May 6 - Ice Follies narcissus was a blog header picture


May 16 - viburnum up the road


May 17 - double rainbow, and our old daffs on the side lawn


May 24 - a bouquet of my plum blossoms, and lily-of-the-valley coming



May 26 - newly tilled up vegetable garden


Field violets -  were here when we came


 Thalia daffs


Bleeding heart


The patio gardens




June 7 - lilacs


June 11 - the white barn lilacs. Tom's mother gave him this for Father's Day decades ago.


Crabapple. At the top left of the picture you may see a mowing line. We are leaving half the lawn un-mowed this year. Lots of pretty wildflowers are appearing.


June 17 - Iris we transplanted into patio garden in the fall


Baptisia Australis - wild indigo


 Aquilegia, also transplanted in the fall


June 18 - on the hill out back. The wild garden, never weeded with a Lucy path through the middle. Ferns, iris, lupine.


That beautiful evening light - was a blog header. This was the last picture I took of the gardens of springtime. What a spring it was. Everything bloomed abundantly and lasted a long time. It was cool and wet, with some hot, sunny days.

34 comments:

  1. It is fascinating to see the progression of spring where you are. And those three shots of the evening sky! I usually run for my camera only to come back and the light has left, you captured it beautifully. I learned that about forsythia while watch British gardening shows. They pronounce so many plants different from the way we do. I try to always remember their way of saying clematis and it drives RH crazy when I do. I keep adding bulbs to my bulb list for this fall and put ice follies and Thalia on it now, remembering that we had both at Valley View, the Ice Follies planted by my corgis' graves. We never see lilacs this far south as magnificent as those in New England! Seeing your Aquilegia reminded me that I read deer hate them and we are looking for anything to put in the front garden that deer hate! A must, for sure.

    And now your summer photography has begun in earnest, I bet!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I was very lucky with that sky! I think I've heard the British say clem AT tis with the emphasis on the at. But Monty Don on Gardeners' World says clematis the way I've always known it. Along with Ice Follies and Thalia, I also planted Bath's Flame but somehow I don't have a photo of it. You may see it here: https://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/111622-product.html
      All those choices were from watching Gs' W! That is so touching about the graves. This was a great lilac year, as with every other bloom. I didn't know that about deer. The blog header photo is a summer picture, but I really must change it because the peonies went kaput with a couple days of hard rain.

      Delete
    2. Dewena, I did just change it!

      Delete
    3. Beautiful new header! I adore white roses. Nan, here in the South we say clematis with the emphasis on AT but I've heard the British say it with emphasis on clem. And they pronounce herb the way my father always did, as a man's name. I'll have to look up Bath's Flame. I always ordered my bulbs at Valley View from White Flower!

      Delete
  2. Oh, Nan! I will return and return to this post in the coming days. Simply gorgeous, unbelievably beautiful photos that are thrilling. BTW, what model and make of camera do you use? A great one, obviously!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, Judith, you won't believe it - an iPhone 8!!! I pretty much point and shoot! Thank you!

      Delete
  3. What a wonderful 'tour'! Loved it! Also love your new header picture.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Kay! So pleased you enjoyed it. I had fun putting it all together!

      Delete
  4. I loved seeing your garden through spring in all its varieties. You had a lot of snow, and to see lilacs so late in the year would be very strange here - I think they were gone before May even started properly.
    How high up are you? I must look at a map to better understand the difference between your seasons and ours.
    The evening sky pictures are my favourites, but I also very much like the snowy road from March 24.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you! 44.2903 is my latitude. Is that what you meant by how high?

      Delete
    2. I actually meant how high up in the mountains, and I have no idea at what latitude my area is, but I can find out by looking at a map :-)

      Delete
    3. We are about 1200 feet above sea level, Tom says. Does that help? We are in the mountains, which keep the cool air in, also as Tom says. I don't get any of this stuff!

      Delete
  5. I so enjoyed this post and smiled when I read Dewena's comment I am British and had no idea we pronounce some plant names differently than you. Lovely, lovely read and interesting comments and replies. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks so much! I watch British tv pretty much exclusively. It has gotten so that I say British words and expressions without even thinking. Now the words that come out match my soul that is within!

      Delete
  6. Yes indeed Nan - a wonderful tour - I am a proper "armchair traveller" this morning! I have walked the farm, admired the views, smelled the smells - thank you, I enjoyed that so much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love it that I gave you a little trip across the water! Thanks for telling me.

      Delete
  7. I'm always surprised by how late your spring is compared with ours, yet how quickly it catches up!

    Those lilacs reminded me so much of LMA's book Under the Lilacs. I still have my childhood copy and can see the cover in my mind's eye right now.

    I say Clematis, with the emphasis on the first syllable, like Monty. ClemAYtis is rather looked down on (!) but I've heard perfectly respectable gardeners say it that way. There's too much snobbery in gardening here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is amazing for us to watch Gardener's World when Monty has all those flowers, and we still have snow! I haven't read the Alcott book but will look out for i! Thank you. I've always said CLEMatis, only because I had never heard it pronounced.

      Delete
  8. I enjoyed your spring tour too. All that snow so late into spring. Brrrrr... We had a wet spring. It is a good thing because we had been in a drought the last three years. I was glad to have that rain. The huge white lilac is awesome. I have a white one. It came as a small stick of a start from one in the garden where I worked for some time. It is an OLD variety. No on knows the name of it. The people that lived next door for 50 years said it was there when they moved in. I would love to know how old the parent plant is. Fun to see Lucy photo bombing your pictures. She wanted to be pictured too. Dogs always run their territory. It took me awhile to learn not to plant right against the fence line. ha... Violets are taking over our lawn, such as it is. They are quite aggressive. If they stayed in the lawn I wouldn't care but they take over my flower beds muscling out some of the more delicate flowers which are dear to me.
    I hope your summer goes as well as your spring.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've dug a few violets out of the flowers, but I do so love them wherever else they come. Lucy is quite amazing. Those daffs were there before she was, and she never runs over them.

      Delete
  9. Oh my goodness! What a wonderful spring tour. I loved every picture. I was down in the dumps this morning, but viewing these glorious photos has cheered me right up. Thank you Nan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much. I'm happy you liked it, and that the pictures cheered you up!

      Delete
  10. Thanks so much for your tour, Nan! I remember our spring as wet and cold and barren. You've inspired me to try to capture the little treasures next year. :-)

    As others have said, that April 22nd sky was beyond amazing. Oh, what our Creator has wrought!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think the "wet and cold and barren" really brought out some amazing blooms, and they lasted so long. Our hazelnut trees seem to have grown six inches. The Korean lilacs bloomed like never before. New locusts that sprang up are growing so fast. It just felt to me like an English spring where it may have been chilly and cloudy but the beauty was incredible!

      Delete




  11. What a wonderful post this was! What a gorgeous header! Thank you, Nan. I feel inspired to take more photos around my own neck of the woods.



    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much. Good, because I would like to see more!!!

      Delete
  12. That is an inspiring representation of the life cycle and a reminder that everything has its season. Your pictures are beautiful, thanks for sharing them.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Wonderful garden tour! While not a fan of snow anymore, I love that picture of the road with the blue sky and snow (March 24th). All the evening light pictures are gorgeous! I'll bet that viburnum smells wonderful and your bleeding heart is so big and beautiful. I could go on and on. All your plants look so pretty. Isn't spring the best?!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know you aren't! I don't know about the viburnum. It is up on the wheeler trail where Tom takes Lucy. I've thought of bringing some down here.

      Delete
  14. So beautiful, and beautifully told! I never tire of the progression from snow to mud to shoots to flowers, and how quickly it all seems to happen. You've made me "homesick" for your neck of the woods . . . and thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much! I would be homesick if I didn't live her. haha. When we used to travel more, it was always a wrench to know I was going to miss something.

      Delete

I'll answer your comments as soon as I possibly can. Please do come back if you've asked a question.
Also, you may comment on any post, no matter how old, and I will see it.