Signs of Spring

[rtunison]

Great pictures everyone!! I sometimes dream about living in a northern clime to avoid days like today when it was 100deg. with thunderstorms rolling through, but if I even think about snow my extremities get cold..........lol.

Anyhow, several years ago when we relocated to S. Fl. to have in home hospice for my parents my lovely partner took some trimmings off of a hibiscus plant of which only one lived and when moving back home she cared for it greatly as it is a strain my Mom created.

It is putting out beautiful blooms for the first time and I wanted to share the picture. I think the bloom has a little of the red of the 129 decal as well as a little yeller on it also.

And yes, that 129 is a worker!!! Mowed 3 hrs. yesterday, pulled a dead silverthorn bush with chains and pulled a sled to collect pine cones for an hour or so. I do blow it off before going into the garage.

Finally, if you have not tried Charlie's snake oil additive I highly recommend it.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Richard, the 129 looks great! I like Hibiscus plants. We have a few that are hardy that are planted in the ground and one tender one that we bring in over the winter. That's very cool that your mother developed that strain. Does that strain have a name?

 

[rtunison]

Thanks Kraig!!

I don't know if "strain" is the proper word. The plant is the result of grafting several different types and colors of other hibiscus. She called it Joan's blush. Neat that you have them up there in cold country. Have you ever pulled a blossom and sucked the nectar from the end?
The little white nub is also tasty.

 

[kmcconaughey]

Richard, perhaps "variety" would be more correct.

Nope, never tried tasting one of the blossoms. Here's some photos I took last August of the 3 hardy varieties that I have, not sure of their names...

Sooooo, is this the part that you taste?

 

[rtunison]

Beautiful flowers Kraig!

As you probably already know, the entire flower is edible and can be made into many things.....jam is my favorite. But as to your question on what to suck on and nibble off is the white piece in the middle.

http://www.cafenilson.com/2009/04/edible-flowers-hibiscus-rosella-jam/

 

[rtunison]

Kraig, please do read the eat or not to eat section of the link just in case anyone in your house might be affected.

http://www.hibiscus.org/culinary.php

 

[aaytay]

Sent to me by a good friend after a walk along his property...

 

[kmcconaughey]

Richard, thanks for the info! I love the look and color of your Hibiscus!

Art, wow! Amazing how well that fawn matches the pine needles.

 

[wshytle]

Art-

That's a great picture of the fawn. I understand they are almost odorless and can lay totally motionless for hours as their defense against predation. I guess Mom's out getting a bite to eat. Great pics! Thanks.

 

[dtisdale]

I love the flower pictures. Thanks for posting them in this thread. I also have a lot of flowers at home but I actually do not have pictures of all my plants and flowers. Maybe I should shoot some and them share them here. A few weeks ago I saw beautiful flowers in UK and I think I will order them and show a picture here. http://www.serenataflowers.com/petals/Flowers_online.htm

 

[kmcconaughey]

Donn T., WELCOME!

I see you have a Cub Cadet 125. The 125 is my favorite model Cub Cadet.

 

[mpatterson]

Got some new bedtime reading today...Stokes seed catalogue showed up in the mail already! I guess I get to start planning early this year for the garden?

 

[kmcconaughey]

Mike, my Totally Tomatoes catalog showed up over the weekend.

But then so did the first snow...

 

[mpatterson]

That's gotta suck Kraig! Knock on wood, no snow here yet. Have called for it a few times, but nothing to stay or amount to anything

 

[jbaker]

This is not a sign of spring ,but it is my spring project. 12 loads large trucks of wood chip from the utility tree trimmers.

I plan on filling in a tree line be tween me and the nieghbors farm field

and one pic of some of my daughter chickens

 

[mpatterson]

Jeff,
What you filling in a low spot or an old ditch? Why you using wood chips, cheaper than fill? Hope you have a cub with a blade on it and not just a shovel or pitch fork to level it out with??

 

[jbaker]

Mike , no ditch just a 400 foot long by about 5 foot wide tree line that I would like to mulch with the wood chips.

They are FREE the tree trimmers for Com-Ed likes my location for dumping all the stuff they chip.

And everything they are dumping now is leaf free pure wood chips. I wish I had a loader, my buddy will come over with his skid steer and move them and all I pay is his deisel fuel for the day.

I cant wait for spring pics of this project

 

[aschumacher]

Mike, just remember not to mulch immediately around the base of the trees. Supposed to be something about insects attacking the soft lower tree bark if they have a good place to live.

 

[jchamberlin]

The denizens of the Great White North will be glad to know that I've been hearing Canada Geese honking in the skies over my place in eastern North Carolina for over a week now. I haven't been able to snap a picture (I don't normally carry a camera), but I have seen one decent wedge formation, and one formation of only two birds (!!!???). I hear them every day, though.

The hunters around here are a bit disappointed, it seems the birds showed up just after the END of the duck-hunting season (smart birds!). It seems the cold weather held off long enough to keep them away. (The cold weather BRINGS them into our territory, from what I'm told.)

So, Charlie, Kraig, Don, Denny, and everyone else above the snow line, there is hope. Spring is just around the corner, guys!

 

[kmcconaughey]

Jeremiah, I'm not so sure that our winter isn't set to arrive here in a few weeks. So far it's been more like an extended autumn.

Here a photo I took back on December 4th of some geese that were headed South.