Pineapple Popsicle - Red Hot Pokers

The Pineapple Popsicle is a yellow and beige red hot poker that produces flowers all summer long and often again in September. It's pretty obvious where the plant got its common name, red hot poker. This tough-as-nails, sun-loving perennial produces tall colorful spikes. Red hot poker's flowers are also nectar-rich so they will draw butterflies and hummingbirds from miles around. Plus, even when not in bloom, the lance-shaped foliage of red hot poker adds interest and texture in the garden. I love seeing the yellow and beige color in my perennial garden and have enjoyed their return in the Spring.

Blue, Blue Blueberries

It looks like the drape netting used to protect the blueberry bushes worked. In previous years, the deer and birds haven eaten the blueberries before we have had a chance to pick them. Will be picking blueberries soon for pies, cobblers, pancakes, or just to eat! YUM!

Clematis virginiana

This is a photo of a Clematis virginiana also known as Devil's darning needles, Virgin's Bower, or Old Man's Beard climbing up the side of the barn in the mountains. Lacking tendrils, the vine supports itself by means of twisted stems that wrap around other plants or structures.

This is a beautiful plant with feathery tails or plumes, that give a hoary appearance and is especially showy in late summer. The bees love this common Clematis as they are gathering pollen.

Sugar Pie Pumpkins

Sugar pie pumpkins are favored for pumpkin pies and have the highest concentration of sugar than other type pumpkins. A typical 6" Sugar Pie pumpkin is enough for one pumpkin pie (8" pie pan).

Sugar pie pumpkin blossom

Small Sugar Pumpkin - Turning Orange!

Bee on sugar pie pumpkin blossom

Lees-McRae Summer Theatre’s production of Oliver

The 2015 season will open on June 26, with Lees-McRae Summer Theatre’s production of Oliver in Banner Elk!, the award-winning musical about Oliver Twist. I'm excited to say that I have accepted and will be joining the Lees-McRae Summer Theatre production of Oliver, the musical. 

Show dates are June 26, June 27, June 30, and July 1, July 2 at 7 p.m. and June 28 and July 3 at 2 p.m. Would love to see your friendly faces in the audience.

Garden

Gardening is about enjoying the smell of things growing in the soil, getting dirty without feeling guilty, and generally taking the time to soak up a little peace and serenity. ~Lindley Karstens, noproblemgarden.com

One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides. W. E. Johns, The Passing Show.

The garden sentinel!

Pollinators

The bumblebee foraging on my Lupine has a large pollen basket on each hind leg loaded with orange pollen. What a great pollinator!

Heliotrope - A Fragrant Delight

I love this heirloom plant  bearing clusters of purple blooms with rough, looking dark leaves and always include heliotrope in my planters. The plants prefer full sun and even moisture. Originally from South America they were introduced to Europe in the 1700s and became a favorite among Victorians. According to the symbolism of flowers, heliotrope symbolizes someone’s intentions to remain true. 

Greek legend states that the nymph Clytie was in love with the God Helios (or Apollo), but he did not return her affections (left her for another woman). Clytie pined away, spending all of her days gazing at the sun, not eating, resting or talking to anyone. Helios finally turned her into a flower and she continues to this day following his movements through the sky.

Mutinus caninus - a strange, stinky mushroom

This mushroom was found growing in the apple orchard near the blueberry bushes. I was curious to identify the mushroom and after some research found that this mushroom is Mutinus caninus, commonly known as the dog stinkhorn. It is a small thin, phallus-shaped woodland fungus, with a dark tip. The mushroom is about the size of your pinky in length and diameter but some text says they can get several times that size. This mushroom grows from a white egg and is covered by a decaying slime. The edibility of the mushroom is listed as “of no interest” but who would want to eat it. The slime attracts flies as you can see on the photo. The flies pick up the mushroom’s spores and deposit them elsewhere to help spread this mushroom around. A very strange, stinky critter indeed. 

Common Orange Daylily

These are photos of the orange daylilies, which have been blooming since about the first of July at our mountain home.  This lily is a species of a daylily called Hemerocallis fulva, and has many common names, including orange daylily, tawny daylily and the “ditch lily.” These lilies came from a friend, who  was thinning them out and told me to help myself to as many as I wanted.



The flowers open and greet the morning with their six-part petals facing the sun and close around dark, never to open again therefore the “daylily” name. With many flower buds on each stem and many stems in a clump, these lilies may bloom for several weeks.The orange petals often have ruffled edges and a stripe down the center of each petal and maybe doubled. With all the rain this summer in the mountains, they have thrived and are very showy and attention getting.

My Grandmother's Garden Tea Roses

My grandmother’s garden tea roses are in bloom.  I'm not sure when she planted this rose or how she obtained it  but  I do remember the sight and smell of this rose brings back fond childhood memories. 

This rose does quite nicely in a partly shaded location next to our garden shed and tolerates the harsh mountain winters. The buds are reddish pink, opening to pale pink flowers that quickly fade to blush white. As the flowers open, some of the reddish color on the buds remains on the outer petals for a short time. This blush-pink rose has long rambling canes that sometimes get in the way when mowing the lawn. The blooms are about 2-3 inches, cupped and quartered with a button eye and are blessed with a strong sweet fragrance. I'm not sure of the identity of this rose but think it is characteristic of the  "Arcata Pink Globe" rose. 

Steel Magnolias - Sauratown Summer Theater

How exciting for the first summer of the Sauratown Summer Theater Series in King to begin the series with "Steel Magnolias".  This is a comedy–drama about the bond among a group of Southern women and I felt that as a cast we did bond together as well during our weeks of rehearsal. Robert Harling wrote the play, based on his experience with the death of his sister. The title suggests the "female characters are as delicate as magnolias but as tough as steel". 

This is my second production of  Steel Magnolias. The first time I played Quiser but I enjoyed portraying Clariee in this production.  I had fun with my first experience performing in an outdoor play and being a part of the debut of the Sauratown Summer Theater. This was a great group of ladies to work with and the director, stage manager, and props manager all exhibited professionalism from the beginning of the rehearsal schedule to every aspect of the process. It was a great theatre experience!

Cast of Steel Magnolias with Director

Snowballs that Don't Melt!

These snowballs don't melt. The Snowball Bush that my Mother planted in the Seventies has grown quite large (A Snowball Viburnum Bush can grown up to 12 tall and 15 feet wide). This bush flowers in mid spring and will last through early summer. 



This ornamental shrub's dark green foliage will take on tinges of red or purple in the autumn months before dropping. 

I think these bright white blooms look like cheerleader pom-poms.

Lovely Lupine Garden

Lupines, Lupines, Lupines!

What would become of the garden if the gardener treated all the weeds

and slugs and birds and trespassers as he would like to be treated?

- T. E. Huxley

These are pictures of my lovely lupine garden.  I'm just wild for these magnificent North American natives. My Mother planted the purple lupines several years ago. I added the other plants last summer and to my surprise some of them are yellow. Several people have asked I save them the seeds from the yellow lupines. I am planning to harvest the seeds this year instead of buying more plants. If interested in learning how to save Lupine seeds, click on the link below:

How to Save Lupine Seeds | eHow.com

How Does Your Garden Grow

A New Garden by Emily Dickinson

New feet within my garden go,
New fingers stir the sod;
A troubadour upon the elm
Betrays the solitude.

New children play upon the green,
New weary sleep below;
And still the pensive spring returns,
And still the punctual snow!