His mama named him Tommy

The folks just called him 'Yellow'.
-Kenny Rogers

I've got two kinds of yellow roses. Sunny Knockout opened its first bloom yesterday. It's funny. I never even noticed the bud. I think the fading daffodils had me confused.



Golden Showers on the perennial arbor is budding. This is a reblooming climber.



The last "last" daffodil has opened. I think. Maybe there will be another later blooming variety after this one. These came from the mixed bags I planted in the fall. Ignore the weeds. They'll be gone soon.



The last daffodil, the one that bloomed before the last yellow one has a touch of yellow in the center. Both of these have multiple blooms per stem.



The Amur Honeysuckle also contains yellow. It's not much, but the fragrance is lovely.



This bearded iris came from my sister's house last spring. I had to clear a bed of them when I planted her round flower bed. I remember them all being brown. I don't have a very good memory, obviously.



Out near the street, this has appeared. I'm not sure what it is. I know I planted a rooted weigela in that area. I don't remember anything being this color. I like surprises.



The latest columbine bloom has a hint of yellow with blue streaks.



Speaking of blue, Blue Girl hybrid tea rose is budding.



Lagerfeld is finally open and looks as it should, a pale lavender with a delicious fragrance.



Soon, the pink rose I moved from the woodsy area last spring to the perennial bed arbor, then the front porch, and finally to the swing out back, is about to bloom. I hope this year to have it identified. There will be lots of blooms. It's covered in buds.



After work yesterday, I repotted most of the tomatoes into individual containers. They're still tiny. I gave them a very weak dose of transplant solution. I also stuck cuttings of euphorbia in the cloner. I'm hoping they take root. My seeds didn't germinate.





Poncirus trifolata, or Hardy Orange, has germinated well. I'll be planting these out in the gully to discourage the neighborhood kids that have twice decided to play hide and seek on my property at night. The 1-2" thorns are deadly.



It's 45 degrees. The high today should reach the mid 70s. Still no rain to speak of. Maybe Tuesday.

Today, I noticed things.

I tend to spend a lot of time with my face near the ground regardless of the season. It's easy to overlook a lot of things that get lost in spring, summer, and fall just out of sight from the safe areas of the yard. I took a walk last year in the wild and gully. I did the same thing again today. They're always there, sometimes covered by fresh spring growth, shaded by oak leaves high up in the treetops, or ignored completely due to things that crawl and slither.

A bird deposited nandina so red it's nearly black in the sun.



A leatherleaf mahonia on the other side of the dead oak tree.



Another one in the gully.



Oranges still trying to ripen before the wind and rain (possibly snow) take them down.



I wonder who was living here when this one fell? The rotted stump is where I planted shastas, bamboo, and forget me nots in the perennial bed.



Next year's Rose of Sharon seedlings.



A very cold camellia.



A fancy leafed English ivy that's nearly overtaken this maple.



Catbriar (smilax) with berries that the birds love to spread.



It will offer the lucky pair that takes refuge in the house I built for them some protection from the neighborhood cats.



The intricate patterns of strangling vines.



Long ago, this pine was the victim of a lightning strike.



The bark tells me it won't be long before it falls to the ground. I wonder if I'll notice.



The seeds of Miscanthus "Cosmopolitan" against the blue sky.



Finally, something new, that I didn't plant, poking out of the leaves in the former white bed corner.



I just wanted to take a closer look at some things today. I've spent so much time planning the big picture lately. It's 45 degrees and sunny.

Tomorrow I got back to work until Saturday. I'm going to miss being outside, in my own yard.

Growing Oranges in North Carolina

It's called Japanese Bitter Orange, Poncirus trifoliata. It's a thorny, sparsely leafed shrub that reaches 10-12' in height. I found it last winter in the "wild" beyond the edge of the backyard. There's another in the gully. In spring, they bloom with a light sweet citrus fragrance. The leaves are insignificant. I imaging these two shrubs have survived for years with no care, no pruning, and no fertilizer. Until the oak tree fell, the one pictured here lived in deep shade receiving only winter/early spring sunlight.





They do produce oranges. They have a very bitter flavor, and leave their scent on your hands much longer than you'd like. The skin is slightly fuzzy, like a peach. The largest one this year is about the size of a ping pong ball.



Inside, there's very little pulp, lots of juice, and a dozen or so seeds.



Since the seeds do not store well once removed from the fruit, I have already sown several in outdoor containers. I plan to use these and pyracantha to create a bird habitat in the gully. The thorns will protect them while they eat berries and sample the fruits from these spiny shrubs.



Planted nearby, and intertwined with the hardy orange, is an elaeagnus. I'm not sure of the variety. Again, grown in heavy shade, I've never seen any fruit and have only found this one specimen in the woods. I suspect it's E. pungens. Some varieties are highly invasive. Given no others are nearby, this is probably not the invasive Russian olive, E. augustifolia. There are several common names, silverberry, Autumn Olive, Winterthorn. This one has small, golden flowers that aren't as highly scented as I've read about. I plan to propagate more of this shrub in the spring using softwood cuttings.



New growth from maturing stems appears as 1" long spikes. These later develop leaves and become new branches. Given ample sunlight, they really put out some amazing growth in just a few weeks.



In the shrub island, the "white" hibiscus is blooming again. I guess I should give this one a name as well. Grown from seed, the flowers are a deep, dark wine color. The picture is lighter than the actual color. This one shall be called the other, other red hibiscus.



More of the wild.



At the edge of my property along the perennial bed, the maple has really taken on some color in the past 24 hours.



Across the street, Beth's back yard is something I aspire to. I'll be raking leaves back here in a few weeks to use as mulch and add to my compost pile.



It's 70 degrees and cloudy. We got rain for all of 3 minutes last night about 1am. Several passing drizzles have dampened the soil this morning. More scattered drizzles expected throughout the day. We need a lot more rain, not this teasing habit Mother Nature has developed.

Thorns

I have finally identified a nasty looking plant growing in the woods out back of the house. It's Poncirus trifoliata, or Hardy Orange. My research tells me there should be blooms in the spring with fruit later in the year. The fruit is inedible. I've put it on my list of things to watch for as the season changes.





It's 27 degrees and sunny. A high of 42 is expected.