Sunday, April 29, 2012

Rhododendron Time on the Farm

Do you have Rhododendrons where you live?  We sure do!  Our farm place has many different varieties here.  I think one of the owners had nursery stock for sale over the last hundred years.  We moved in to this farmhouse in January and I will never forget when Spring arrived and everything started sprouting and putting out blooms.. it was amazing!  This is the first one to bloom.. I've noticed that the whites and creams bloom first and the darker ones later, although I do have a pure red one in bloom now, too.  The buds on this start as pink but it opens to a pure creamy ivory white.  
This is the whole shrub, see the pink buds?  Behind it is my favorite color, it's a brilliant magenta/fuchsia color.  See the Japanese Rose that has infiltrated the rhodies?  Tsk tsk.
Standing at the base of this is divine, looking up into all that lovely bloominess.  (Oh look, I coined a new word!)
The Kerria Rose/Japanese Rose is pretty, although invasive. 
Next to the pond, my Bleeding Hearts are beginning to bloom. 
We have a pot of chives.. if you don't have one, you need to get one!  This pot of chives has been thriving with no special care for almost 15 years!  We use it all the time in our cooking. 
We planted several hardy Fuchsias in these baskets the last few years, it was such a mild winter that the green one in the center never even lost it's leaves!  They're all filling out wonderfully! 
 Our DIL Kristi brought the boys out for a visit yesterday, they're sitting with grandpa on the shed deck.. poor gramps was mortified at this photo, we have some garden work to get done, but the weather has *not* cooperated until now.  Buddy is a hole digger the little bugger.
Grandpa got quite a bit of mowing before the kids got here and did more after they headed home.  They love riding on the mower with gramps. 
I took the dog on a walkabout earlier and I just wish you could smell the aroma of fresh mowed field grass and the Laotian flower farmers that grow fields of blooms across the road were out planting Dahlia tubers in the fresh tilled earth.   
Here are some purple Ajuga that Dayle spared while mowing, he also spared the blue flowers beyond.  We have a wild farm garden and my blog friend Gracie told me that she's been learning about gardening by watching a BBC program on Permaculture - and assured me we're doing the right thing with our wild garden ways.. yay! :-) 
I thought this unfurled Azalea bloom was kind of cool.. behind it is my Honeysuckle which is bushing out and putting on buds.
Here is that patch of Forget-Me-Nots, they are all over here. 
Our red Azalea out by the road is opened up pretty well, soon the whole bush will be brilliant red. 
I walked into the front yard and got a photo of our other creamy colored Rhodie, and I realized that it's a different variety as it's got all the red dots in it's throat, but the other one is un-dotted. 
This is another early blooming one.. it's pale pink and floppy.... we've had a super heavy pollen year and all the leaves have a coating of it on them. 
Here is the deep red one. 
Here I am in our driveway by the red azalea near the road - see the new mown grass?  See Dayle on the orange Kubota tractor by the barn?  See all the wild cherry trees in bloom? 
I have been checking the lilacs daily for the tight buds to open so I can bring in a bouquet of them.. this little half-forgotten lilac behind the carport is the closest one to being open.  The wild cherry behind and the shorter one in bloom is plum.  Our farm used to have an orchard and we still have a big old apple tree, several pear trees, plums, walnut and chestnut. 
My daughter in Ohio sent these photos of the girls having a tea party in their screened in porch at their new house.  She found this real porcelain tea set at a garage sale nearby.  Aren't the girls just adorable?  I miss them sooo much. 
Cute girls. 
We're having a nice easy weekend.. how is yours going?  I hope you have a great week and that you have flowers in your yard.  ((hugs)), Teresa :-) 

24 comments:

  1. Teresa seu blog é muito lindo.
    Adoro ver suas fotos.
    Faço uma viagem toda vez que venho ver suas fotos, é uma delícia.
    Beijo.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Beautiful flowers surrounding you, how lucky! The girls are looking older, I know you miss them so much it hurts! We are taking it easy, after a lot of cleaning and weeding I am trying to knit a monster I can really give away!
    Hugs to you,
    Meredith

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ohhhh, thank you Teresa for sharing another beautiful post! All the flowers and children and Dayle and Buddy and your commentary make me smile. It is so interesting that even though we live not many miles from each other, our flowers are a bit behind yours in blooming. I hope we can grow a tub of chives like yours...a pretty and practical idea. Thank you for mentioning me. I spent hours wrestling with Blogger yesterday trying to reconfigure stuff. I really like your photos in general, and continue to enjoy your barn photo header! <3

    ReplyDelete
  4. Ohhhh, thank you Teresa for sharing another beautiful post! All the flowers and children and Dayle and Buddy and your commentary make me smile. It is so interesting that even though we live not many miles from each other, our flowers are a bit behind yours in blooming. I hope we can grow a tub of chives like yours...a pretty and practical idea. Thank you for mentioning me. I spent hours wrestling with Blogger yesterday trying to reconfigure stuff. I really like your photos in general, and continue to enjoy your barn photo header! <3

    ReplyDelete
  5. My dad has a few Rhodies at his house up in Washington. I don't see them down here in Arkansas. I would love to have some Rhodies! I love all your flower photos! Springtime in the PacNW is beautiful and I miss it!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love the Rhodies and had some purple ones years ago. All of your flowers are beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  7. My parents have rhodies out at their house, but they're not nearly that plentiful! The time of year has come again for me to ooh and aah over your beautiful farm. Your flower pictures are always so lovely!
    ~Lacey

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your flowers are gorgeous Teresa .. you obviously enjoy your garden very much. I love Rhododendrons and Azaleas too - have a couple but they're nowhere near as big as yours. Its Monday here now and I'm just about to go to the post office to send a few exchange parcels. Have a good week. xox

    ReplyDelete
  9. Teresa, those flowers are just stunning! I love the shot of your husband on the tractor too with the boys. LOVED seeing your little granddaughters having a little tea party! I know how badly you are missing them.
    Thank you, for your sweet words on my blog too Teresa. You are so kind.
    Love,
    Kris

    ReplyDelete
  10. LOVE rhododendrons---they are so beautiful and yours are huge! Isn't this time of the year awesome? It seems like every week (and often even daily) a new plant begins to flower and I am captivated by the delicacy of its bloom, its fragrance or the color of its blossom. Love, love, love it:)
    How fun for the grandboys to hitch a ride with their Grandpa...and I love the porch and tea your granddaughters are enjoying! Hope you get to see them soon!
    Blessings,
    Aimee
    PS: Have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I loved seeing your gorgeous rhododendrons, they are amazing. All your flowers look so pretty, Teresa. Lovely to see the picture of your hb and cute grandsons too, and the sweet little grandgirlies are having a lovely tea party!
    Have a happy week.
    Helen x

    ReplyDelete
  12. You know, despite us being 1000's of miles away, our gardens are doing about the same things at the same time, although mine is nowhere near as beautiful!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Everything looks so pretty! It makes me want to go plant things, which just isn't fair since I have a tendency to kill plants.

    ReplyDelete
  14. What a beautiful spot you live in...and such joy in those boys faces. You are amazing grandparents!
    Thank you for your San Fran ideas...I am writing them All down...hope I can visit some of your spots and EAT some of that yummy food.
    Hugs xooxoxo

    ReplyDelete
  15. Your yard is so full of interesting plants and flowers. It's so fun to see. Dayle looks really happy to have his grandsons with him in all of his pictures. It's so nice that you get to see them so much and spend time with them.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Teresa, you live in such a beautiful place. Thank you for sharing so many gorgeous photographs.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Beautiful Flora!You could put all those colours into one gorgeous blanket. Did you know that if you turn the Dicentra (Bleeding Heart) upside down, it's supposed to look like a Victorian lady in her bath! I think I may have told you that last year so forgive me for repeating myself!You must miss those girlies terribly. Oh, and before I forget, there is a small town in Scotland which is in the process of 'twinning' with another small town in Oregon. Ours is called 'Dull', yours is called 'Boring'. Honestly, I'm not making it up!Have a good week, Teresa.

    ReplyDelete
  18. What a lovely trip around your yard. THe Barefoot Contessa was just singing the praises of chives in her yard

    ReplyDelete
  19. Beautiful flowers! Ours are beginning to bloom too. Of course, I never have a camera with me to capture the moment. At least, not when it isn't raining.

    I really love the red azalea. Such a pretty colour!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Everything is bursting into colour for you Teresa, it looks beautiful out there and yes I can smell that grass. The photo of your grand daughter's making tea with their china set so reminds me of myself as a kid. I had a china toy tea service and was always making cups of tea for my brother and my dollies ;0)
    Jane x

    ReplyDelete
  21. I am inspired by your chive pot and will get one asap. Fabulous photos:)

    ReplyDelete
  22. Your garden is so beautiful Teresa...my dad has a large rhododendron tree in his garden and it's so pretty...I love those little blue Forget-Me-Nots too...my favourites!
    Love all your happy family pics and I spotted that fabulous little camper van in the background!
    Hope you are having a happy week,
    Susan x

    ReplyDelete
  23. I too love the rhodies, and they are just bursting into abundant bloom here. It looks just wonderful where you are (which I suspect is not so distant from myself). Wonderful pictures.

    ReplyDelete

I absolutely love comments and thank you so much for taking time to leave me a note. :-)