What the cottontails eat

The lawnmower misses most of the clover that's mixed in with the bermuda and other grasses and wildflowers that populate the front and back yards on my street.

From Dierk Haasis: more lovely spring photos

In his Picasa gallery Frühjahr, Dierk Haasis has not only given us pictures of the marsh frogs near Hamburg to enjoy. He has now added some excellent photos of herons, a delightful squirrel, a foraging bumblebee, trees in bloom, and wildflowers, including a field of veronica (sometimes called speedwell). Go watch the slide show and savor spring in northern Germany.

Don't miss these!

Photographs by Dierk Haasis of the frogs that live in the marshes near Hamburg, Germany. During some warm days of early April these males congregated, all of them having turned bright blue for their short mating season. Read his interesting account of them and see the pictures here.

The text is in German, but on-line translation is easily available, using Google or Babel Fish.

April with Dierk Haasis

Now have a look at the pictures Dierk Haasis is offering this month -- delicious fish, a beautiful Easter egg, and many other enjoyable and thought-provoking images. Spring delights, all!

Dogwood Winter, With Tulips and Dandelions

Rainy and overcast, the skies briefly let a little sunshine through in the late afternoon of Thursday, March 24, 2011. And I spotted a welcome little tulip showing its head near my sister's mailbox. Was quite surprised, also, to find her dogwood tree in full earliest bloom, while, in my own back yard, to my delight, a dandelion was launching its seeds on their gossamer parachutes into the stiff breeze.

With the clearing skies, the temperature fell to 32 degrees F. (0 degrees C.) that night.

It's pretty early for dogwood winter, and the redbuds are also in bloom, but I haven't seen any blackberry blossoms yet.

Often Called a Tulip Tree

Around Nashville, Tennessee, the Magnolia liliifera is frequently called a tulip tree.

Chihuly Art at Cheekwood

The Chihuly exhibition at the Cheekwood botanical garden and art museum is spectacular. No photographs are allowed to be taken inside the museum, but there is an installation of several of the stunning glass sculptures behind the reception desk in the Visitors Center lobby, and I had permission to photograph those, as well as any of the outdoor sculptures.
Here's the one titled "Sun," which is on the museum's front lawn:





And here are three views of the exhibit in the Visitors Center lobby, behind the reception desk:

Daisies and Magnolias at Sunrise

This sign identifies the little garden behind Avalon Hall, on the Lipscomb University campus, where presently only the daisies are flourishing. "Aunt Mag" was the wife of David Lipscomb (whose name the school still bears), and Avalon Hall was the couple's last home.



And here are the daisies:





Walk west from Avalon Hall and past the student center and see several young magnolias, in bloom ever since late May. I snapped these photos just after sunrise:

Daylilies? Double Daffodils? Who knows?

This morning I made some more photos of the planting of yellow flowers, hoping that seeing them en masse might help one of my viewers identify them for me.







And the flower's heart itself, as seen on May 30, 2010:

Who Can Tell Me Its Name?

I wish I knew the name of this plant. It's part of an ornamental flower bed -- the long, slender leaves are very profuse, making a striking green appearance with the showy flowers crowding among them. It's a banked bed that extends back several feet to the decorative wall, curving around it in a gentle arc of five or six feet. The plant is obviously a cultivar, but I haven't been able to identify it yet.





I put a cropped closeup of it on my other blog, reckon i should tell this? a few days ago, just because I think it's such a beautiful color and form, but, now, not knowing its name is beginning to nag at me.

Hope someone will see it here and be able to identify it for me.

Stars and Stripes on a Calm Morning

A Gaggle of Petunias

Just past sunrise this morning, I got to enjoy these straggling but bright petunias as I walked on the western edge of Lipscomb's campus, beside Granny White Pike.

Flood Survivors

Photographs taken at sunrise, May 19, 2010, as I went on my morning walk along Granny White Pike on the eastern edge of the Lipscomb University campus:

We had rainfall in record-breaking amounts, approximately 14 inches in 36 hours over the weekend of May 1 and 2, 2010 -- so much rain that it came down in sheets, and even low-lying land far from any of the rivers, including the portion of the Cumberland that flows through downtown Nashville, was covered in rushing water for many hours.

The Cumberland came out of its banks to a height unseen since the floods of 1937, heavily damaging the Opryland Hotel miles upstream, the Schermerhorn Symphony Center on 4th Avenue, and many downtown businesses on Lower Broadway and other streets near the river front. Nashville lost one of its two water treatment plants, and all of Davidson County is still under a mandatory water conservation order. So Lipscomb University has signs indicating its compliance posted in the lush green grass between the campus and Granny White Pike.

A number of beautiful old trees have survived both drought and flood around town, but many also succumbed. I was pleased to find the ancient white-oak to the east of Avalon Hall (the farmhouse which was the last home of the school's founder, David Lipscomb, and his wife) and the huge old Magnolia grandiflora in front of the historic building still standing unscathed, at least for now.



Sunlight was just touching the magnolia's leaves and flowers as I turned onto the campus to try to get the entire tree into my camera's view frame.



I then walked up close to it and held the camera at arm's length, high above my head, to get this image of the lowest blossom. The tree does not have as many blooms open as in past years. Whether this is related to the storms and unprecedentedly heavy rains of May 1 and 2, one can only speculate.



The blossoms on the peony bush near the front porch at Avalon Hall were drooping from yet more rain on the morning of May 19, and a little bit mud-spattered, too.



I got my shoes and the hems of my trouser legs soaked in the wet grass near the rose bed behind Avalon, but the sun was just high enough to light up this low-hanging bloom, and the leaves near it, apparently an insect's recent lunch-leftovers. The rosebushes have recently been mulched, and they may have been newly planted since the floods. Wednesday, May 19, was the first morning I'd been able to walk near the campus since April 30, the day before the historic storms moved in.

Friends Who Grow Roses

"Veteran's Honor" and "Tiffany" -- two roses given to me recently by a friend who likes to grow roses:



She brought them to a garden-club meeting on May 7. This is the oldest garden club in Nashville, with about a dozen members, mostly elderly, ranging in age from 50 to 100 years old.

Now, I no longer garden, and never did grow roses. But when I was invited to join last Christmas, I accepted, just for the company of these old friends who meet about half a dozen times a year in one another's homes, share sandwiches, and invite a speaker on an interesting topic. So far, I've heard about birds, trees, and roses. Interesting tidbit: "Veteran's Honor" is descended from "Mr.Lincoln," another popular red rose.

Iris and Honeysuckle

Lucky April Lawn Dwellers

One of many little wild strawberry blooms which kept their heads below the lawnmower's blade:



An April violet, also unscathed among the grass clippings:

April Iris

April Tulip

Only Tiny Weeds in Bloom

Pink and Welcome in the Grass








White Among Patio Bricks