All I had time to find were some spring flower pictures. Most of the computer time was lost to "updates." Nevertheless...
Azaleas never heard of moderation. These are in New Orleans, shared by Messy Mimi, and reposted because I'm seeing a few azaleas starting to bloom here. Like blueberries, huckleberries, bilberries, etc., they like acid soil, and despite their name (said to mean something like "flowers from the desert") they like a reasonable amount of rain but they have to have good drainage. In some parts of the Blue Ridge Mountains (as in Takoma Park, Maryland) they're exuberant. In other parts (as in Hyattsville, Maryland) they don't grow well. Having azaleas says more about your land than it does about you--it's only in Takoma Park that people who don't maintain their azaleas would be seen as failures.
Hyattsville had, by way of compensation for their lack of success with azaleas, generally good success with roses. And forsythias, some of the first and loveliest flowers of Spring. And both Hyattsville and Takoma Park revelled in irides. And Takoma Park is one of the places where spring-beauties can get out of hand....
There's no way Claytonia virginica can ever become really invasive. In the right growing conditions they will spread. If your whole yard starts to look like this photo, you just dig up some of the dainty little plants, enough to give everyone a dish of tubers, and eat them. Iroquois people believed they were a great contraceptive. It's hard to say why they believed that. Claytonia roots look (and can be cooked) like miniature potatoes, and are said to taste more like chestnuts by people who remember chestnuts.
No comments:
Post a Comment