Christmas Notebook

Over the past few years, I have been taking pictures of the Eastern Box Turtles we have found in our yard. Last week, I found the first pair of the season. Unfortunately, one got away before I could take her picture, but I did get some pictures of the male.

The turtles were on the east side of the fenced garden.

The same turtle was found May 1, 2010, in the flowerbed under the Southern Red Oak in the back yard.

And in September 8, 2009, east of the veggie garden.

Box turtles can live up to 100 years in the wild, with shorter life spans in captivity due to the fact they have specific requirements which are hard to meet. Box turtles have a home range of less than 800 feet in diameter. If you find one in your yard, you may meet him or her again in the years to come. Males do sometimes range wider in search of mates. Several turtles can share the same area as they don’t mind living near other box turtles.

I have taken pictures of more than ten different box turtles in our yard since 2005. I’ve only seen a couple of them more than once. I’m hoping to find more repeats as time goes by.

~~Rhonda

I’ve had to stay in the recliner with my legs up for a few days. At least the weather was cool and wet, so I didn’t feel too bad about missing the garden. Tuesday was warm and sunny. I managed to get out for a while and took some pictures.

The redbud trees are loaded with seed pods. See those brown areas?

Some of the redbud trees have green seed pods and some have red ones. I don’t know what makes the difference. The seed pods are edible. I tasted one today. Almost a tangy lemony flavor. Like sorrel. Not bitter like they were last week when I tried one. I think they’re ready to harvest. We’re going to try them in a stir-fry. FYI, the blossoms are also edible. Great in a salad.

This picture was taken in 2008. It shows the green seed pods.

All those seeds…that means more trees to dig out of the flower beds next year. But the bloom color in the spring is well worth the trees we pull out. We also like redbud trees because they make great dappled shade for hostas. I took this picture this evening in the last of the sunlight, but for the greater part of the day, the hostas are shaded by the redbud tree.

All but one of our redbuds are native trees with green leaves. The other tree is a ‘Forest Pansy’ redbud that has pretty maroon colored leaves.

Leaving some stems from last year’s garden provided a place for a little spider to spin her web. The color in the background is the ‘Forest Pansy’ redbud leaves shining in the sun.

The peonies are blooming all over the yard. We have at least eighteen different cultivars with multiple plants of many of them. This one is ‘Dancing Butterfly.’ It’s a beautiful shade of rosy red. I managed to catch a bee making rounds of the peony blossoms.

The iris ‘Kevin’s Theme’ looked great today. That’s false indigo behind it (Baptisia australis).

And the columbine is really pretty right now. This is a great flower. Reseeds itself, but not aggressively. A perennial, so it comes back the next year. Easy to transplant. Can take some dappled shade or sun. Just a happy spring flower.

It works well with the hostas.

The Star of Bethlehem is still blooming around the yard.

And the Honesty plant looks good, too. It’s beginning to make its green coins. I plan to cut some of the Honesty back so it sends out fresh flowers. It’ll have a rebloom in a few weeks.

Just as I was ready to go back inside, I noticed the birds under the bird feeder. DH keeps it filled each morning, but it had run dry. So the birds were checking for fallen seeds on the ground. Here a cardinal, a mourning dove, and a house sparrow search for a snack.

Mrs. Cardinal was there, too.

I’m looking forward to more garden time on Wednesday. This is my favorite time of year. Not too hot and new things to see each day. I hope you’re able to get outside to enjoy a garden! If not, you can stroll through other gardens at Jean’s Bloomin’ Tuesday.

~~Rhonda

Here are some pictures from the garden this past week. I haven’t been out the past few days as it has been chilly and wet. Hopefully, I’ll be able to get out tomorrow or Tuesday. We shall see. If it turns sunny and warm, this would be a nice spot to enjoy the garden. That’s the lilac ‘Miss Kim’ in the background.

These Johnny-Jump-Ups really did jump up where least expected. We didn’t plant them, but there must have been a few seeds that managed to find their way to the garden. After a few years, the spot is now loaded. A sweet little flower. My paternal grandmother had these in her yard. And it seems there was a spot in the pasture where they covered a slope every spring. Anyone else remember that?

Hosta ‘Frances Williams’ with ‘Royal Standard’ in the background. ‘Frances Williams’ can be persnickety about getting sun. Too much at all and the leaves burn and brown. But she seems to like it here under the redbud tree where she gets late evening light.

The honesty plant (otherwise known as “money plant”) is making its “coins.” If the plants are cut back to just under the flowers before the coins get too mature, they will send out new shoots and bloom again in a month or so.

The hosta ‘Flower Power’ is a large upright hosta. It will have fragrant white flowers in early summer.

Iris ‘Fjord’ has a pretty blue cast to the blossoms.

‘Illini Warrior’ is a single peony in a beautiful shade of dark red. I like the single blossomed peonies. The flowers, with one layer of petals, are light enough to stand up to even heavy rains. Anyone with the larger bomb type peony blossoms knows what happens when it rains…floppy flowers.

Here’s a picture taken in 2010, of peonies after rain. Singles won’t do this.

Another single…’Lavender Lady.’ This is a plant sold in the past by Wal-Mart. It is not a registered peony as far as I can find out. But it does have a pretty single pink bloom.

Hosta ‘Big Mama.’ This is one we’ve waited on for several years. Hosta growers are fond of saying, “First year it sleeps, second year it creeps, third year it leaps.” Well, this one has been on a “sleep” hold for a few years, but this year it looks great. Maybe it has decided to leap.

Hosta ‘Torchlight’ This is a great hosta. Fast growing. It made a large clump quickly.

And it has a secret…red petioles. So pretty! Here’s a picture of DH moving it in 2010.

Iris ‘Red at Night’

Unknown irises…these were in the yard when we bought the house in 1994.

Hosta ‘Guacamole’ with ‘Sagae’ in the background. ‘Guacamole’ is another nice hosta. Large, grows well and has pretty guacamole green leaves with a darker green margin. It was named “Hosta of the Year” in 2002.

Another unnamed iris. This one is from my Aunt Jane’s yard. Perhaps the most fragrant iris we have in our garden. You can smell it’s lovely scent from across the yard.

Iris ‘Kevin’s Theme’

Iris ‘Northwest Progress’

Iris ‘Mary Frances’

Hosta ‘Invincible’ is a very pretty hosta with shiny solid green leaves. It is one of the first ones up in our garden.

Hosta rectifolia ‘Nakai’ is one of my favorites. I like the shape and length of the leaf, as well as the creamy border.

Another lovely single blossom peony…’Dancing Butterfly.’

We’ll finish with the columbine. It’s a long lasting spring flower. Very pretty with hostas.

I hope you enjoyed the garden this week. If you’re local, come by and see the irises and peonies in person. Take note of what you like and we’ll dig some for you at the next plant sale.

You can check out more gardens at Tootsie’s place.

~~Rhonda