Our Garden in May

 May is still a pleasant month here in the South; not yet too hot and plants and shrubs thrive.

Our Yucca lily is putting on a show again...

Yucca lily is a happy potplant and rewarding us annually with blooms!

So are our loyal Oxalis!

Snapdragons are quite happy and perform if they get plenty of water...

Happy yellow!

Oakleaf hydrangea or Hydrangea quercifolia.

Oakleaf hydrangea with Rose Arbor and Gazebo...

The bumble bee that flew around did not want to pose for me...

Yes, our kitties live in Paradise.

Lounging here under the Quercus Virginiana Grand View Gold, left is Tiggy–Tiger and her brother Spooky to the right of her.

Palm tree is doing well and our fragrant Magnolia Grandiflora 'Namnetensis Flore Pleno' is blooming.

On May 19, Pieter made this photo of a bloom of our fragrant Magnolia Grandiflora 'Namnetensis Flore Pleno' and it measures 26  cm or 10.5 inches in diameter!

And it is double, two layers of petals.

Happy kitties lounging after supper!

Still sunshine around 18:00 o'clock and I love the shadow of the palm tree on the garage door.

The driveway is very warm from the sun and Spunky girl is stretched out, her brother Spooky in the grass...

Gazebo visible in the back and a tiny greenhouse in the distance to the right of it.

This is from the front, as I walked around our property and on the wood trail.

My first exercise on May 17, after my severe mid–back arthritis pain...

When I opened the repurposed mailbox (bird house now!) in the wood garden, the Carolina Wren flew out and I saw that she had now Baby Birds!

Read more in my previous post with photo of nest with eggs→: Husband Pieter Finished Restoration Work on our Bridges on Wood Trail

So glad that Pieter timely did remove the white egg, the brood parasitic bird one, just before they hatched, without disturbing her! 

Did not want to leave it opened too long, nor disturb the 3 Baby Birds; two beaks are clearly visible here.

Do you have birds nesting in your garden and/or around the house?

Related links:

Variegated Yucca Lily Blooming | previous post by me

213 Countries Visited - Welcome Sint Maarten and my Pinterest + Yucca Lily | previous post by me

SPRING ARRIVED

 Each year it is quite a joy to see the Spring Blossoms!

Here I stand next to the azaleas that grow behind our gazebo.

Wearing my wool with rayon shorts from Escada's Apriori line with matching top.

Booties and belt I've found elsewhere and also my brown slouch socks.

These azaleas were in full bloom on March 9.

Hard to keep up with everything!

While working in the office, finally processing the long scanned photos from Pieter's family and adding names and info as Pieter recalls, Pieter brought me this fragrant nosegay of Bluebells...

March 21... WISH I could share the heavenly fragrance!

These pansies were putting on a show on March 23, looking so happy on our retainer wall alongside the driveway.

Our Somei Yoshino Cherry in bloom behind the pond.

Our Bletilla Striata Alba Orchid in bloom in a pot.

It is native to Japan and China, see post below.

Are you enjoying Spring Flowers?

Related links:

{Hyacinthoides Hispanica Excelsior - Spanish Blue Bell or Wood Hyacinth} | previous post by me

{Our Gazebo and Azaleas} | previous post by me

{Our Somei Yoshino Cherry in Bloom} | previous post by me

{Our Bletilla Striata Alba Orchid native to Japan and China} | previous post by me

Spring Started at the End of February

 Yes, Spring did ARRIVE...

On February 20 I made my rounds to capture the Spring Beauty around our Home.

Pieter had planted these lovely snapdragon plants.

Some of them ended up residing on the steps to our front door...

Some Japanese Magnolia blooms were fully open before we left on our 10-day trip to Florida.

Despite the cold–spell with some frost, they continued to bloom.

Only a few brown ones from frost damage, seen bottom left...

We love our patio with pot plants!

They are quite a show, every spring!

Golden Pansies have been planted by Pieter, inside our Fiberglass Window Boxes.

This shows the bay window area of our kitchen, where we enjoyed breakfast in the sun just before I captured these photos.

Closeup of the golden pansies in the Fiberglass Window Box on our bay window with the gazebo visible in the back.

Our Camellia Sinensis or Tea Plant

We can just see those from our bay window.

With 'half' of the other Japanese Magnolia tree above...

Once a big tree fell into it and ripped off the other half.

Now with more light, big oak tree limbs that hung overhead being cut off, it might recover even more.

View back towards the house

Forgot to capture this planter with violets, residing on the huge oak tree stump.

Have you planted some spring plants already?

Related links:

{Our Camellia Sinensis | Tea Plant} | previous post

{MORE BLOSSOMS IN OUR BOTANICAL GARDEN} | previous post

Winter and our House Plants in Delft White Pots

HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all American readers!

Before I've mentioned how hard it was to keep all our house plants alive, while being away for 3 weeks at a time, doing consulting work.

With the water computer inside our greenhouse, things worked out perfect, together with a heater for the colder period.

Here is our excellent collection from that time...

When viewed on YouTube you can find English text below, with clickable points.Remember, we always talked Dutch, as those videos got mailed out to my Parents...A nice view of our Kitchen Bay Window and our Veranda—full with plants.

This was around Christmas in1985, our previous home where we had solid oak indoor shutters that were not painted white.

Me crocheting on some curtain with my feet up onto the leather foot stool.

You can see the same solid oak indoor shutters here now open.

Related links:

Houseplants in Delft White Pots in Our Veranda | previous post showing same orchid and some Christmas cactus

The often HIGH price of being AWAY for Consulting | previous post about what we found the same year...

Solid Oak Shutters REDONE: Now Professionally Mortise Hinged by Husband Pieter | our shutters in white

{Our 'GREEN' Bedroom} | showing the bedroom with shutters and windowsill as seen in video above...

{Our Living Room} | showing the white solid oak shutters

Houseplants in Delft White Pots in Our Veranda

 As mentioned before, we loved keeping house plants.

This is in our Veranda, where we live now.

Not always easy due to our International Consulting.In the background you can hear the Dutch World Radio (it got being 'silenced' in 2013... see link from previous post below.When viewed on YouTube you find English information written below.

This was in the Veranda of our previous home...

Our present home's veranda.

Still have my Delft White Pots!

Those hand crocheted curtains died.

Related link:The often HIGH price of being AWAY for Consulting | previous post by me about our house plants{Our Veranda} | our present veranda with the same curtains still...Our Fragrant Hoya Carnosa Wax Plant in Metal Ring | final photo shows LOTS of Delft White Pots{After 40 years Something's Gotta GIVE...} | remnants of crocheted curtainsMy 2nd Fleur de Lys Crocheted Curtain is Hanging | replacement of crocheted curtains...Dutch PVV must WIN because Rutte is STEALING Money from 34,000+ ELDERLY in USA and Canada | previous post about the World Radio being 'silenced'...

213 Countries Visited - Welcome Sint Maarten and my Pinterest + Yucca Lily

On April 15, my humble blog got visited by the 113th country - Sint Maarten

According to the World Factbook, Sint Maarten is situated in Central America.

It has been Dutch but in a 2000 referendum, the citizens of Sint Maarten voted to become a self-governing country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
~

During this LOCKDOWN, it is obvious that a lot of people are reading more...
Not that I'm very active on my Pinterest but there are a LOT of viewers every month.

Another rise...
Our Variegated Yucca Lily is blooming again!

A dreary, cloudy day...

Last time it bloomed in the rain, see link below.

Our big Magnolias are also blooming...

Such exotic beauties!
Glad husband Pieter captured these photos on May 8.

Thanks for your visit and comment!

Related link:
212 Countries Visited - Welcome American Samoa + UPDATE Fairmont Château Lake Louise | previous post by me
Variegated Yucca Lily Blooming | previous post by me

Patio Azalea Blooming in December

What a joy to view from our bay window area at breakfast time a pot plant on our patio with  blooming azaleas!

So Pieter clipped off some branches to bring inside and I put it in a tiny vase on a silver platter.

For better light on December 3, I had to get outside on the tiled patio behind our Rose Suite.

As soon as I placed it on the table there, our Spooky boy jumped on the table too.

You see his front legs to the left... photo bombing my azaleas!

Here the azaleas are without Spooky behind them...

A view over the lawn with these lovely pink azaleas up close.

Pot plant with remainder of azaleas on patio next to bay window area.

Oh, we have tons of leaves on the lawn and everywhere, the wind is shaking them all off.

 But still this photo is from December 7, and that is not bad for having blooms!

Thanks for your visit and comment and do you have something blooming? That is, if you also live in the Northern Hemisphere...

One More Patio Added

In the spring of 2014, I've written the post: Our Patio Tiles Are DONE! (see link below post...) and that was it we thought. All part of our Water Control program. We did leave out ONE corner without tiles because we still had our healthy Hibiscus syriacus Jeanne D'Arc living there. See a post from a healthy shrub in 2011. 

BUT... our Hibiscus started looking bad and husband Pieter took starters last year, in order to rescue at least some 'Offspring'...

Meanwhile, with the photos of the tile boxes and all info, in front of me from the post about: Our Patio Tiles & Freeze Warning, I found them on the Internet! Home Depot had long discontinued them...

Yep, at a STOVER'S LIQUIDATION warehouse in Knoxville, Tennessee at some 7 hours driving distance from our home. They even were open on Sunday! So I drove there on June 11 of 2017, to pick up our order of 10 boxes with the Marazzi Orizzonti Sunset 12" x 12" tiles. 

We'd spent a night at a Hyatt hotel in Atlanta and from the warehouse I did drive straight home.

Photo is from April 26 after our pot plants had been moved back from the greenhouse and after all patios had been scrubbed clean to match this NEW one!

This is on March 10, a day that it was not 'wet'... We have had our share of rain this spring! 

Materials are inside front porch for protection.

Concrete is being poured by hand...

Our workers did a neat job!

See how green the wood work in our front porch was from all the rain and pollen...

That has been scrubbed clean too.

The old wheelbarrow functioned for mixing the concrete.

April 26 from the bay window area to the front with all our pot plants already out.

There are dwarf Mondo grasses growing along the edging.

New Patio Corner where the Hibiscus syriacus Jeanne D'Arc once stood...

Left and right are now both tiled and looking a lot better!

May 20 and you can see that husband Pieter took this photo in-between showers.

We have had such enormous rain for weeks on end and more to come!

Our Quercus Virginiana Grand View Gold is therefore not looking its GOLDEN BEST...

Sunshine makes all the difference!

We also missed good photo options for the blooming Yucca lilies... They're all gone due to so much rain.

Hope you enjoyed this update!

Will visit you within a couple of days, have been rather sick but am on the mend.

Thanks for your visit and comment.

{Our Patio Tiles Are DONE!} | previous post by me
{Our Patio Tiles & Freeze Warning} | previous post by me where you see the tile boxes and name info
{Our Hibiscus syriacus Jeanne D'Arc & Our Life in Italy} | previous post by me