Grounds at Edison's Home

 

 

 

 

While we were in Ft. Myers, we visited the grounds at Edison's home. We did not go in the home as we had seen the house and workshop before, but we had to go by and say hello to the banyan tree. I believe it is the largest one in the US. There are larger ones elsewhere. India has some that cover acres of land.
The garden had been decorated with butterflies made by school children and was an interesting project. I really liked the metal tree with butterflies attached.
The green fruits were on a papaya tree that was only about 7 feet tall. It seemed an incredible fruit load for such a small tree.
The bougainvillea is pretty impressive also. My tiny little potted ones in the greenhouse were sad when I told them about how big and happy their family members are in Ft. Myers. It made me feel like I was keeping mine in a cold dark prison.

A Trip to Sanibel Island

I have recently returned to Alabama from a trip to sunny Florida where it was cold, windy,overcast, and misty/rainy. I suppose I should have known better than to go south during spring break. Although the beaches where I was were not exceedingly crowded, I suspect the reason was the weather. But in spite of the weather, it was a lovely trip and was nice to be with all the family, and share some time away. We stayed in a condo just steps from the beach, we ate at the original home of Cheeburger Cheeburger (Yum for those chocolate key lime pie milkshakes), ate a meal at the Mucky Duck (Once is all we could afford), and cruised around looking for alligators which we never saw. We took the ferry from Pine Island over to Caya Costa State Park and spent several hours trolling the deserted beaches for sand dollars. (Found about 5 or 6,none of which were perfect, but were still good finds.)I managed to get my feet sunburned (a first for me-it's usually my nose). My nose sailed through unscathed due to diligent use of spray sun block (A new thing for me-I thought you had to slather it on) as well as a very wide brimmed hat. We found lots of shells, but not a lot of big ones. We found so many in fact that we were only able to bring a fraction of them home, but then, the joy is in the hunt anyway. I will post a few pictures later but will try not to run on forever like I did about Hawaii.

Tucker House in LaFayette

 

This is an old house. I have no idea how old, but I remember it for more than 50 years. It looks like a castle and I always imagined that it must be castle-like inside too. I have never been inside it, but I consider it to be a landmark in LaFayette, Alabama. It is on the US 431 heading North out of LaFayette, on the left.

Camellia Professor Sargent

 

When I first planted camellias the deer tried to eat them up. At last I moved my two remaining plants closer to the house and barn and that seemed to work. through the years they just get bigger. the one by the barn is in full bloom now. It looks like a rose, only better.
Camellias prefer acid soil, so the South is a good place to grow them. They are shallow rooted and benefit from mulch until they get large enough to shade their own roots. This is another beautiful winter bloomer. I like to pick single blossoms with short stems and float them in a glass bowl for the dining table. I also have several flower shaped vases that hold them just right to show off.

Hellebores

 

 

Before I ever grew a Hellebore I imagined that they could not be grown here in the southeast, and certainly I had never seen any for sale. I had only admired them in plant freak magazines. One day a few years ago while cruising through the plants at Home Depot, I saw one and snatched it right up. Over the years (maybe 5/6) mine has grown and become quite a nice plant. Another smaller plant has come up beside it, from seed I guess. And I did find another one a few years ago. I can't understand why they are not grown more.
Hellebores are deer resistant. I have never had a deer bother mine at all. Occasionally a slug or snail will munch on a leaf, but that has never been a real problem either. They are drought tolerant after they become established. They bloom when little else is blooming. (Mine started in January.) The flowers last for months and come in all shades of pink, purple, and white. And they are evergreen. the only place they fall just a bit short is the flowers do not smell very good.
Like a peony, hellebores are incredibly long lived. The planting hole should be prepared like you expect it to be there for a while, because it will. They can be divided but I doubt I could ever get up nerve to split a beautiful plant.Propagation is best by seed, although it can take from 6-18 months.
I purchased some seed this spring and intend to try my own propagation.

The Perfect Yellow Bell

I saw this Forsythia the other day when I was driving through LaFayette. I was simply stunned by its symmetry. My own forsythia looks nothing like this. Every one I have ever seen was a scramble of stems sticking out every which way. Beautiful, yes. Cheerful,yes. Symmetrical, no. How did it come to look this way? Maybe it was all pruned off and all the stems came out at once. Maybe some magic formula was followed like pruning out one third of the old growth every year. Maybe I will just stop one day and ask.
Pruning one third of the stems to the ground each year is called renewal pruning, and should be done as soon as the bush has finished blooming. Flowers come on the old growth and at this time it is easy to tell the new growth and leave them as they will not have flowers.But this still produces a riot of unruly stems.
But whatever you do, do not prune a Forsythia into a box or ball shape. It destroys the natural grace of the shrub. And it is the result of a stymied mind.

Hyacinths To Feed The Soul

If thou of fortune be bereft,

And in thy store there be but left,

Two loaves, sell one, and with the dole,

Buy Hyacinths to feed thy soul

~Muslih-uddin Sadi

My mother loved hyacinths. She said it reminded her of when she was a girl. I never asked her what it made her think of. I imagined that it was the first flower a boy ever gave her, picked carefully from his Mother's flower bed. Maybe it reminded her how she would lie in the dead leaves beside the fragrant clumps and inhale the sweetness til she felt giddy. I will never know for sure what she meant, and she did not seem to want to elaborate. Now the hyacinths just remind me of her.