I love April

It is so pretty here now. Here are a few bloomers from today.

The Bottle Brush is really glowing this week.

First flowers on a NOID native azalea.

Abutalon Belle Apricot

Container garden of sedums. These were only planted in January; I hope they will fill in soon.

Mixed pot of kalanchoes, etc

Louisiana Iris and a species canna peeking through.

Garden art (bet I am the only one with one of these.) LOL

Beautiful pics. And I definitely don't have what you had in the last one, LOL. How on earth do you already have those big leaves on the Banana coming out? Do they respond that well down your way in the winter?

Oh Alice everything is so beautiful!

I love April too.It's been raining for days (no complaints) so I can't get out and take pictures.I hope it's nice for the Brookgreen event this weekend.

Your bit of garden decoration is very popular in our area.I would say there are at least 2 on every block.There is one right in back of us now.

John, that is a basjoo and they do not udually die back here. It is very messy however and I trimmed that one up after the cold spell i January when some of the leaves were raggedy looking. That is the plant destined for the compost pile when it is finished shielding the porta potty.

Nancy, I envy you the rain. We have had lots of thunder and lightening and a few sprinkles but no measurable rain.

Wow, those photos are fantastic, ardesia! Sure wish I had your camera...

Ardesia, I can't believe you've still not gotten rain. I drove through a storm just north of Beaufort yesterday that came complete with hail stones! And we've had heavy rain this evening. Think soggy thoughts!!

My Basjoo has good leaves too. In my yard, it does go brown but it kept putting out new leaves all this winter.
My La. Iris are late tho!
Deb

LOL,I was at the Publix on Lady's Island this afternoon and it was pouring; but when I got home it was dry. We had had a sprinkle but the the pavement wasn't even wet.

Yesterday it seemed like we were going to really get hit. The sky was so black and the thunder was steady. We sent the painters home thinking they were in danger with all the lightening but the storm never came close, it must have been chasing you Deb.

Thanks Fleur, my camera is not fancy but it has image stabilization so even when I shake, the picture usually (but not always) comes out OK. :-)))

This message was edited Apr 2, 2008 8:34 PM

It's raining, it's pouring and yes, the old man is still snoring!

Around midnight it started raiing and hasn't stopped. Wish I could find my rain guage so I could be sure but it looks like we got several inches. The tide is unusually high this morning too so the part of our property where the contractors have been parking is very wet.

You know Alice pretty much anything destin for your compost pile would be welcome here. LOL. I'll take it all and if I don't need it I'll find it a new home. I know a guy who built a tiki hut this winter and he will take anything tropical looking. Of coarse that's after I have a shot at it.

Hope your roof is finished. Wishing for rain minus a complete roof is probably not the best wish to make. You getting new skirting around the bottom of place too? I like that ones that look like brick.

This message was edited Apr 3, 2008 6:25 PM

LOL, you wise fanny.

If you want to dig the basjoo up, it is yours...............

By the way, have you been to the nursery at the John Deere Place on Argent Blvd.? They have some really nice shrubbery there.

Last weekend I went to the SC Native Plant Symposium @ Clemson University. On Saturday there was a bunch of great field trips all over the upstate with knowledgeable people leading them that we were able to quiz endlessly. I went to Station Cove Falls in Oconee County. It was really a neat opportunity. Attached are a few pictures from the weekend.

This is a picture of the Falls.

This is a picture of mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum) that are not quite ready to bloom.

Sweet Betsy (Trillium cuneatum) in both the maroon and yellowish green form.

Close-up of Trillium cuneatum.

Wonderful pictures.

I would really like to participate in an event like this.

Could you send me their info?

Thanks

Sure. Here's a link to the webpage for the SC Native Plant Society
http://www.scnps.org/

They have a great newsletter, and there are several chapters throughout the state that have meetings.

I really liked the set up of the symposium where there were about 8 field trips on Saturday afternoon. The size of the field trips was restricted to 13 people and we had 3 leaders, and the keynote speaker from Friday night, Colston Burrell came, too. Cole spoke on Friday night about invasives, but he has a book on perennial combinations that is one of my all time favorites.

On Sunday morning the group split into two and part went to the Clemson Forest and part went to the Clemson Botanical Gardens. The keynote speaker from Saturday night, Patrick McMillan (he has a show on SC ETV called Expeditions) joined the Clemson Forest trip.

Jenny

Beautiful pictures, Jenny! Love that waterfall:-)
Bev

core, have you been to the greenery on hilton head? it is so much nicer than the one out here!

Yes I have but it's expensive. My cheapness tends to keep me away from the greenery. It's like the seeds I'm growing, I probably could have tracked everything down on line but it would have been something like $500 worth of plants. I would rather trade some seeds and if they don't work out, I'm out a few stamps. Sunshine is my favorite to walk around. I think they get in plants and put a low price on them to see if they sell. If they sell fast I think they get more and bump up the price. Trick is to catch them when they first try selling something. I got my boug from there for $11.99, at the greenery almost the size boug was $70. Big difference. I got a good size confederate rose at sunshine for $5.99, I don't think you can my anything under $20 at the greenery. Confederate rose? The greenery will claim it's an exotic and charge $50, the northerners don't know any better.

lol yeah... my favorite place is the palm tree nursery out past my neighborhood in okatie on cecil reynolds road next to matthews marine... idk why, but i just like it.... i guess its just all the palms. i love palms

Thanks Jennie

I love watching Patrick McMillan on TV.I have even gone to the Clemson web site to look for excursions with him.

The local chapter is having a plant rescue this morning and I am missing it. This has turned out to be the most active of groups but everytime they schedule something I am busy. Today I am babysitting contractors - again.

what do you mean by plant rescue??

We're wandering around Bee's Creek Plantation off 462 to see if there are any native plants worth retrieving. I understand they're getting ready to go through the next phase of development and grade the whole area.

Nice, Jenny! My heart sinks everytime I see a bulldozer in the woods around here. I know for sure that there were tons of native jack-in-the-pulpits at the park where we did our swap that were torn up when they built mega houses out there:-(

ardesia, one day your renovations will be finally complete. Must be stressful in the meantime, though.

One of my irises has opened. I dashed out while it was raining and discovered it. Didn't want to risk getting my camera wet to snap a photo, though.

This message was edited Apr 5, 2008 8:42 PM