FARCH FLOWERS

i am borrowing the term "farch" from an esteemed canadien blotanist because the continued cold here has really limited what's blooming this month. here is a scan of the always intrepid hellbore, daffs, chionodoxa and scilla.

SNOWDROP INHERITANCE

my sister-in-law gave me some snowdrops from her deceased mother's garden a few years back. they have been prolific! this weekend i dug some up, washed, separated, scanned and replanted them. i had to plant (and therefore scan) them during the day, so the background is not the usual black.

HAPPY EASTER

usually easter is later in the year, so that's my excuse for this scan of may flowers.i have been busy in the garden cleaning up and spraying against the deer; they ate all my crocus flowers.

NYBG ORCHID SHOW

thanks, mom, for taking these spectacular shots of the new york botanical garden's orchid show!

GRAFFITI: MODERN CAVE PAINTING

back when my camera was working, i took a few pictures of human artistic attempts in our little village woods. this fellow can be found on the side of the skating shack.someone must have placed this stone between the trunks many years ago, now it is unmovable.

in the garden these days, i'm spraying deer stopper, as the deer are eating crocus, magnolia buds, rhodies, everything. we are preparing the north front yard for a complete makeover, using as little $ as possible. and i am executing the garden clean up. yesterday i got hubs to top the cherry tree. whew.

THROUGH A SCANNER DARKLY

Since my good camera is in the shop (oh woe!) it's time to share some scans:H. Diane (the black background is created by scanning with the lid up at night in a dark room.)

H. Diane, flowers fully extended a bit later in the season, with white paper laid over the top.

Dombeya Seminole, which is still blooming in my office!

HARRY LAUDER WALKING STICK

my camera is surely broken, so i'm going to have to use "previous" photos or my old camera. this shot of the harry lauder walking stick in bloom is from late march last year.

CARDINAL BATMAN IMPRESSION

ok, so if you're not sick of the cardinal yet, here he is again showing off his batman impression:

"i'm ready for my close up, garden fool!"

the female cardinal stopped by today, but didn't want her picture taken.

CARDINAL DIVE

snowdrops, the harbingers of spring, akebia decorating the cherry tree

species crocus blooming todayhose manifolds are empty, waiting

WHERE IN THE WORLD

where in the world is garden fool? that question is answered as part of the garden bloggers' geography project, begun by jodi of bloomingwriter. what a great idea, jodi!gf's approximate location is shown on this historic 19th century map of new york city with a 30 mile radius... gf is just north of the city in usda zone 6b near the mighty hudson. our river town has a complicated revolutionary war history, which is re-enacted every 5 years or so. our town has emerged from its industrial beginnings to become mostly a commuter town of about 8000 people. located on the eastern seaboard, new york city is famous world-wide, and can be seen from a river promontory in our town, below. from this spot you can see the george washington bridge and the tall, pointy building in the far distance, which is the empire state building. town residents were able to see the twin towers burning from this spot on 9/11/2001 (there is a memorial, but too depressing to post.) of course, new york city is also famous for times square, the statue of liberty, rockefeller center and other sites too numerous to name. but closer to gf are some incredible gardens to visit, including my favorite, wave hill. wave hill is a 28 acre public garden in the bronx, with views of the hudson river, and has my favorite alpine tufa collection, as well as incredible gardens of many types.

more famous than wave hill is the new york botanical garden, also in the bronx, which is now holding its orchid show. i like the extensive green houses and beautiful trees. both are worth a visit!thanks for reading about gf's location!

luna and the orange tree

repotting the dombeya was a good idea; it's covered in flower clusters

though there is still plenty of hissing and spitting, snoopy is forging a place for himself amongst the dogs - here he rules the bed

maybe i need to get little bird shovels?

WINTER RED

the cardinal and the witch hazel

NEW GARDEN DESIGN

I'm thinking of replacing the old swing set, which nobody uses, with a formal square vegetable garden:
The light green areas are for the vegetables, in the center would be an obelisk trellis, and the whole thing would be deer fenced, so I could even have tulips! Below is my entire little plot; the proposed vegetable garden would be where the SWINGS are:

I'm open to suggestions, anyone have a better idea?

jasminium nudiflorum blooming in the snowour house and street in friday's snowstorm

FLIGHT