RUBY, RUBY, RUBY

ruby is the top reason my favorite tree is the magnolia. just look at these flowers!all i can say, is "wowie!"
cow bird, how did you sneak into this post? brood parasite becomes blog parasite?
this photo just does not do it justice, but here is the whole tree, not yet in full bloom. some of the buds had freeze damage on one side:
the flowers are larger than my hand!!!!!!

WHIPPET COWBIRD ORANGERIE DAFF

i'm traveling this week on business, and have taken a load of pictures so i can post while away.

here is luna, our whippet, in her favorite spot ha, i finally got you mr. cowbird, you brood parasite, you!
the orangerie daffs are blooming en masse, i'll take another pic of the group later

IN THE PINK

magnolia 'leonard messel' is blooming a bit sparsely this yeari've found 3 praying mantis egg cases in the garden, this one on a budding almond

bought a pieris japonica 'dorothy wycoff' for the front yard

HEALTHY CAMERA & BROOD PARASITE

my camera is finally fixed and the birds were showing off for me. i have moved some plants outdoors - a passion flower, orange, banana and jasmine. tomorrow i'll have some garden pictures to post.i have been seeing male and female cowbirds for the first time ever. the male, with its distinct brown head and black iridescent body, was too quick for me today. this female is probably going to lay her eggs in another bird's nest, where its larger hatchlings will likely kill the others. cowbirds are the only brood parasites in our area.

APRIL SCANNED

two more weeks and i get my camera back!
meanwhile, another scan:

MAINE SNOW REPORT

these pictures come from friends of family, of a freight train stuck in a snowdrift along the montreal, maine and atlantic railway line in grand isle, maine, reported by the bangor daily news last saturday. i have been unable to find the article, but the pictures were taken by a local woman.

ok, i'm happy to have my few shivering daffs for the moment!!!!

APRIL GARDENFOOL'S DAY

happy april gardenfool's day! what is this flower? it's an upside-down epimedium acuminatum, upside-down so that it looks like a fool's hat! this photo was brazenly borrowed from the university of british columbia, vancouver, botanical garden website.

my favorite epimedium resource is darrell probst, who discovers new epimediums from china.

CANADIAN SNOW CHALLENGE

My relatives in Campbellton, NB having been sending incredible snow pictures this winter:

Can you top these? Feel free to comment and leave a link to your snow picture posts!

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