{Calycanthus floridus L. Carolina Allspice, Strawberry Shrub}

• Introducing one more member of our botanical garden. This one is a native that we purchased also from the former Caroll Gardens, Maryland. It's name is Calycanthus floridus L. or Carolina Allspice, Strawberry Shrub and in German it is called: Karolina-Nelkenpfeffer. 
• So now you all know! Deciduous shrub with 2" reddish brown, very fragrant flowers. borne at the tips of short branchlets in May and June. 
• Well, ours bloom in April... This is the old fashioned shrub from which Grandmother used the flowers tied in her handkerchief. 
• When squeezed, an unforgettable sweet fragrance was emitted. Attractive glossy, deep green, corrugated foliage. So here she is (it HAS to be a she...)... Join me on a Garden Tour.

• This photo I took on April 2nd of this year! Very early bloomer.

• This was April 27, 2010

• Pieter took this one on April 14, of this year.

{Our Bletilla Striata Alba Orchid native to Japan and China}

Already since February 1996 we do have our Bletilla Striata Alba Orchid, or Chinese Ground Orchids as they're called. They are native to Japan and China. The hyperlink also gives shipping information, for those of you who would want to know. Also there is the Japanese Bletilla striata 'Kuchibeni' offered from Plant Delights Nursery, Inc. in a purple lip variety. Both are equally pretty. Ours grow in the wood garden and yes, they are winter hardy as well! We got them from Carroll Gardens, from Westminster, Maryland who unfortunately are no longer in business since June of 2009. They always were an excellent source of rare plants and shrubs with high quality plant material.

Even though it is called 'Alba' it is still showing a hint of purple. This is last year's blossom, photo taken on April 27. Join me on a Garden Tour.

That is their foliage, broad green leaves. We have them next to our Ginger lilies and that foliage is still on the ground. This photo is taken on April 8 and the last photos with the blossoms completely open are from April 12.

A close-up of our teenage Orchids... 15 years old!

April 27, 2010

April 12, 2011

It is a beautiful Orchid and I can only recommend it!

{Mother's Day & Pelargonium Childhood Memories}

On April 12, before we did go on our trip to Florida, all the potted plants came out of the greenhouse. Our Pelargonium were already blooming inside the greenhouse so I filled a vase full. Instant memories came back to mind about my Mom and it is quite appropriate to post this for Mother's day. 

Join me for a Garden Tour.

When I stood there with the beautiful salmon red and white geraniums in my hands, all of a sudden by its very smell I went back to my early childhood...

Are they not lovely? Well, I wish you too could pick up its typical geranium scent. Because of that, I did travel back in time... to The Netherlands.

Here I am, a little girl of maybe four or five years old, watching Mom cleaning our windows. The house had narrow tall windows with smaller panes inside and they were being opened from the center by pulling down a shiny brass handle so they came inwards into the room... There were indoor shutters to close for privacy and a rather wide window sill on which Mom kept her prized red geraniums. They could remain between the window and the shutters, once they got closed, there was enough space.

At times the condensation did make the windows all wet and water had to run down into a special carved out mini-gutter which had one rounded opening in the center, that let the water out through the wall outward. At times we had to poke the hole free of some dirt or a fly that got trapped in there, using a knitting needle... We were quite inventive at that time!

Watching Mom do the window treatment was quite something! She used water with vinegar in it, a sponge (a real one from the ocean which vendors sold door to door at that time!) and a chamois. The geraniums were taken down and were put on the table, making the scent fill the air even more so by the movements. Mom also vigorously did polish the brass handle of each window with Brasso. Yes, Brasso we were accustomed to in the Old World as well - at least this remained the same after immigrating! I still can sniff all these special scents of the vinegar in the water, the sour smell of the Brasso used on a cotton cloth and then the geraniums... oh I just LOVED them!

They will stay deeply engraved into my memory forever and that's why they live with us still today.

Wishing you all a Happy Mother's Day with fond memories too!
Too far for me to visit Mom, but we've visited her 63 times; so no regrets so far...