211 Countries Visited - Welcome Marshall Islands & Hurricane Michael visited us...

On October 5, my humble blog got visited by the 211th Country - Welcome Marshall Islands! 

According to the World Factbook, Marshall Islands are situated in Australia-Oceania.
~

Yep, from the Panhandle of Florida, Hurricane Michael traveled through South Georgia right over our area.

This we got in the morning...

This was the Hurricane Warning on October 10 with strong SouthEast wind of 77 km/h or 47.8 mi/h
A 4-fold warning...

By midnight it turned into a five-fold warning!

HURRICANE WARNING

TORNADO WATCH

FLOOD WARNING

TROPICAL WEATHER STATEMENT

FLASH FLOOD WATCH

It was just past midnight on October 11 at 12:16 AM when I read the above and especially the EastSouthEast wind of 85 km/h or 52.8 mi/h looked scary so I decided to stay awake till it would pass over.

Temperatures are in C, it was quite a bit cooler than the previous days.

Dublin is right in the darkest area...

Husband Pieter was sound asleep and I could hear the wind all around the house and heard some big noises, of a tree that came down. 

Turned out several big pine trees from a back neighbor's property had come down.

By 12:30 AM the power went off... and it was pitch dark!

Winds still were beating up anything that came in its patch.

We were only 19 hours without power and a couple of hours today...

Lineworkers are still working hard for restoring power back as soon as possible.

Even lineworkers from neighboring states have come to the South for helping out!

The above map gives you the dates or having power back on: October 12, Midnight, October 13, and October 14, October 15 and October 16...

We cannot complain! 

Our 6-year old Drake Elm - Ulmus parvifolia had snapped off...
It looked so dreary and gray next morning! 

Our Pecan tree had come out...

Our Pussy willow snapped off...

TONS of green leaves have been snatched off and little branches are everywhere...

This is on the edge of the lawn and on our driveway... so many green leaves are off!
Also our Leyland Cypress is leaning over the fence towards the street and needs to be cut down... 

At the end of our property line in the corner with the neighbors...
This needs to be cut down!
But NO damage to our home, not even to our greenhouse!
Lucky, compared to so many others in the Florida Panhandle; our prayers are with those people!

Proud of our community that is feeding 375 linemen (lineworkers) for lunch tomorrow!

Thanks for your visit and comment.

Related links:
210 Countries Visited - Welcome Sierra Leone | previous post by me
{Pussy Willow from Cuttings} | previous post by me
{Our Drake Elm - Ulmus parvifolia} | previous post by me
{2004 Hurricane Francis - Our Garden Before and After} | previous post by me
{Our Damage from Tornado spin off of Hurricane Earl, 2003} | previous post by me

google.com/+MarietteVandenMunckhofVedder

Garden Miracles After the Late Frost

On March 31, I've taken photos from some more tender pot plants on our patio and around the gazebo.

Having lived a sheltered life all winter, inside the greenhouse, they were now ready to move outdoors.

Spooky boy is always following you, like a loyal doggy... being a feline though.

Azalea is so HAPPY as one of Our Pot Plants!

Cleaning up the patio didn't make sense yet, or you could repeat it every day.

Catkins falling and frozen and dead leaves...

A very happy Hibiscus, the latest 'RESCUE', as Pieter loves to bring home neglected and abused pot plants from Home Depot and by placing them straight into a larger pot with good potting soil and being sheltered inside the Greenhouse, it LOVED us right back!

Our Staghorn Fern came out of the greenhouse for living one more year on the remainder of the special saved stump.

However, the stump is being worked over by the woodpeckers and such so each year there is less and less!

In the back you still see the frozen Japanese Magnolia leaves being brown.

This was such a delight on March 31!

Our variegated Bougainvillea was in FULL bloom while in the greenhouse...

Joy for the blooming Bougainvillea but what a SAD sight was this totally frozen Pommegranate tree...

BUT - Miracles do happen in nature!

This photo and the next are taken on May 8, and sadly there is only ONE Bougainvillea flower left...

But LOOK:

Next to the Bougainvillea this young Pomegranate tree has gotten completely NEW LEAVES!

Still you can see some of the dead, brown ones from the March 16 Frost.

Oh, one of our cat boys comes following me of course!

Closer to our Greenhouse, there is the 2nd young Pomegranate tree and here you see the very same young green leaves with some of the wilting frozen and brown ones.

That makes one very happy!
Both of us LOVE this Antioxidant SuperFruit.

Need to get out and weed our garden as on May 20 we will have people come for a Garden Tour, a fund raiser of one of my Knight Owls Choir members.

And yes, we did perform on Saturday the 6th at 14:00 and at 19:00 o'clock at our local theatre.

Together with the younger Mockingbirds; Hummingbirds; Knightingales we sang, danced and performed.

The full DVD of both performances will be available by the end of the month so finally all choir members can enjoy it too!

Husband Pieter was very impressed by this 20th Anniversary Revue.

All because of one single woman, our talented Leader Kelly Knight (hence our names Knightingales and Knight Owls...).

What a great asset to our community!

Will soon be catching up with your blogs and thanks for your visits here.

Related links:
Our Japanese Magnolias got Twice New Leaves | Previous post by me
{Dreaming of BIG Pomegranates from our own...} | previous post by me
{Growing Pomegranates the Ancient Persian Superfruit} | previous post by me

google.com/+MarietteVandenMunckhofVedder

{Castanopsis Cuspidata (Japanese Chinquapin) Japanese Shii}

Around mid-April our very special tree, the evergreen Castanopsis cuspidata (Japanese Chinquapin) Japanese shii, started blooming.

You can click the pink hyperlink for information...

This photo is actually from April 26, where it is already in full bloom!

As for its name Japanese Shii, it is related to the famous Shii-take mushrooms

'Shii' is the name of the tree that usually hosts the mushroom. The tree belongs to the Birch family. 'Take' means the mushroom fruit...

Screenshot is taken from: Medical Mushrooms.net just click it.

The above information you can find: Castanopsis cuspidata (Japanese Chinquapin; Japanese shii by clicking on the hyperlink.

There is very limited information about this very special tree.

You can find more here: Castanopsis cuspidata

These are the flowers (catkins?) about mid April as they start opening up.

The tree seems to be related to beech and oak!

Looking somewhat hairy but very special!

This is on April 26, the Japanese Chinquapin is partly seen to the right of the tall 'Magnolia Namnetensis Flore Pleno', so you have an idea where it is.

Now I'm stepping back, across the road for an overview. 
Our Golden Live Oak 'Quercus Virginiana Grand View Gold is partly seen next to the big Magnolia.

Walking back to the Japanese Chinquapin...

Again, these photos are from April 26 and the flowers start already looking dark.

Except for areas with less direct sunlight.

It is a very unusual and exotic looking tree!

Have you ever seen, or heard of this Castanopsis cuspidata, Japanese Chinquapin or Japanese shii?

Hope you enjoyed this introduction!

Thank you for your visit and time.

Related link:

{RARE Icicles in Our Garden} | showing you this Japanese Chinquapin with icicles on!
Castanopsis cuspidata (Thunb.) Schottky | Common names: Japanese tanbark oak; ita-shii (Japanese) and its Pharmaceutical interest

google.com/+MariettesBacktoBasics

{5 Giant Oak Trees got a 'Hair Cut'}

We needed to give 5 of our Giant Oak Trees a 'Hair Cut', so it happened on November 6, just the day after I took their photos to show the before and after.

Our Giant along the driveway on November 5, showing the maple trees in the back with some fall color.
When mowing the lawn on the John Deere, low hanging branches are a problem too!

We really love this majestic, old oak tree.

Photo from December 14, clearly you can see that the lower branches are gone!
You also can see that the under brush in our wood garden has been totally cleared.

This is our broadest oak of all we got; it also is semi evergreen!

Those low hanging branches are gone now, photo from December 14.
The low hanging branches prevented the waterlilies from growing in the pond because of the shaded area.

This giant oak is near the gazebo and was touching the Japanese Magnolia to the left and a dogwood tree to the right; which light branches you can see in this photo.

Seen from the other side of the gazebo it looks a lot more open now for other trees to breath again!
This too is semi-evergreen as seen on this December 14 photo.

Between our property and the neighbors, we have another Giant Oak...
This one had kind of weeping branches, touching over the picket fence all the way down.
Also suffocating the Japanese Magnolia that is visible to the left of the lantern.

Impossible to capture it entirely...
Photo from December 14, and almost bare. The Japanese Magnolia to the left is happy with those lowest branches being removed!

This was the main problem... Our Quercus Virginiana or Live Oak, which was touching the chimney when it was windy and hanging over the balcony...

Photo taken on December 14, and you can see how much has been cut off here!

This photo I took from the balcony, on November 5th.

Photo from December 14, our balcony is free now!

One big reason was this!
The sap from the catkins and leaves (yes, those evergreen trees also do shed!) caused this staining on our balcony's Polyurethane ballustrade...
We love the shade from our giant trees but not the mess!
See two of our felines underneath the tree?

Soles Tree Service did an excellent job!
We're all set for the coming years and hopefully the balcony stays clean(er) as well.
Do you have any Giant Oak Trees or others, that need 'Hair Cuts'?

Related link:

{Black Gum Nyssa Sylvatica Cut Down} | about tree that got cut down in front of the house on the same day.
{65 Year Old Pine Tree Cut Down} | previous post by me from December 2013
{Our Live Oak got a Haircut} | previous post by me

Mariette on Google+

{Fall Colors & Clearing the Underbrush}

A pity that the spectacular golden color of our Sugar Maple tree Acer saccharum never lasted that long... This year the leaves went all down in one week time!

This is on November 12, and only one third of its golden leaves are on the tree, the rest is on the lawn...

Husband Pieter, the gardener, is seen on the other side of the creek, to the left...

This is a photo from November 5, and the color starts to become golden and the Red Maple Tree, or Acer rubrum is not quite red...

Back to November 12...

This photo is from November 5, after husband Pieter did clear the underbrush on this side.

You can see the clippings piled up alongside the creek.

First time in four years, since his quadruple bypass in September of 2010.

A chain saw of 16" (it got replaced recently as this one died...); hand saw with an extendable lopper for cutting thick and high branches.

The wood garden's floor in this section, is full of long pine needles...

The final wild corner to be tackled!

Hard work and a lot of muscle power is needed for doing so.

Pieter is blessed with a strong and 'again' healthy body.

Pieter holding the loppers, they were a steal of a deal at +Tuesday Morning 

Those heaps of cut off branches make for safe hiding places where chipmunks and other critters can hide.

Soon it will decompose and be added to the soil as humus.

The creek is always changing its shape.

Lovely when it is calm, but it can become a roaring river.

We both are pleased with the open view of our wood garden.

Lots of shrubs have been removed, for easier maintenance in the coming years.

Mariette on Google+