Design

Our deciduous native azaleas in the Southeastern U.S. are wonderfully garden-worthy, and happily are appearing more in local gardens, and perhaps other parts of the temperate gardening world! They've all been flowering in the last few weeks - some of the nicest are Pinxter flower (a common name used for Rhododendron periclymenoides and R. canescens ), both of which are lovely, and Florida azalea ( Rhododendron austrinum). Florida azalea flowers vary in color from yellow to orange, sometimes quite vivid. This one was flowering behind my office building awhile ago. They like filtered shade, and reasonably moist soil, similar to their natural habitat in the understory of mixed hardwood forests. They're definitely not in the category of adaptable natives, being fairly specific in their requirements!

These way-cool floor-to-ceiling, blue glass sliding doors make this kitchen something worth blogging about. - Living Etc.

The Japanese azaleas and our native azaleas have been in flower (and some are past) for awhile, but the evergreen Rhododendrons are later. Ours are just starting to flower. In my part of the world, in the SE US, we have lovely native evergreen rhododendrons in the mountains, but the ones that do best here in the foothills and Piedmont have a bit of hybrid vigor, thanks to some Asian genes and happy crosses. But still, they're fussy about site; the ones that have flourished have light morning sun and are protected from harsh summer afternoons. Perfect drainage helps protect against Phytophora spp. (which cause root rot).

This entry was designed by Molly Luetkemeyer. I love how she used the pretty pale blue grasscloth to soften the hall of this modern home. And what an interesting place for a fish bowl. - M. Design Interiors

Spring evenings are lovely in the garden -- the songs and calls of birds as they settle in for the night accompany my puttering around checking plants, mulching, pulling the odd weed. It's often a magical time, when suddenly it's almost dark, or it's time to cook dinner. Yesterday, several hours vanished as I planted, dug, and tended. The brown thrashers were busy protecting their nest; a fledgling, fully feathered, was on the ground, but the parents were protective and attentive. I had seen them yesterday up in the old redbud. The nest must be in one of the Viburnums or maybe in the butterfly bush. They were watchful again this evening, so hopefully the fledgling on the ground is under cover. Early this morning, on a rain-drenched (and shortened) birding excursion, we watched a pair of robins doing their courtship ritual, a remarkable display. We also heard song sparrows and saw them foraging for seeds in the lawn. A nice way to spend the beginning and end of the day...

This colorful apartment designed by L. Weatherbee is bright, modern and cozy. I love the turquoise and brown rug that provided the inspiration for the accent wall color in the entry and dining room. - L. Weatherbee Design Studio

Trombocino squash last year It was overcast all day, with some showery periods, and a forecast for more rain tonight. Perfect weather for transplanting and sowing seeds. I spent most of the day puttering in the garden, planting, digging, transplanting, with some weeding thrown in. The soil temperature here is now about 70°F, so warm enough to sow seeds of cucumbers, squash, and beans. I put in heirloom Armenian yard-long cucumbers, trombocino squash, lagenaria squash ( Lagenaria longissima- a new species to try ), Ronde de Nice zucchini, Eight Ball zucchini (similar to Ronde de Nice, I think, but from a different seed company), patty pan squash (Johnny's 'Flying Saucer F1'), and scarlet runner beans. For good measure, I also sowed some 'leftover' seeds in small pots to put on the germination mat: Toma Verde tomatillo, Corno di Toro peppers, "pizza" peppers (from two sources), a hybrid 'Italian Gourmet' pepper from Park Seed, and eggplant ...

On an excursion to one of our remaining independent nurseries yesterday looking for a pot of Bolivian begonia , which had been wonderful last summer on the porch, I didn't find any, and will just have to wait until the one I ordered as a 'summer bulb' arrives. I did find a number of other things (of course!) that I thought it would be fun to try. A large flat of Bidens in one of the greenhouses (species not given) was unusual among the normal collection of warm season annuals. Bidens is a genus in the Aster family full of tough, sometimes weedy wildflowers (common names include Tickseed, Beggar's Ticks, and Bur-Marigold), so seeing flats of something tame-looking labeled as an annual got my attention. I had run across a reference to selections of Bidens ferulifolia a couple of weeks ago, working on a drought-tolerant plant list for our zone (7b). They supposedly flowered all summer, were attractive to bees and butterflies, and were happily drought-tolerant in...

Miles Redd is simply incredible. Love love love. - Miles Redd and j'adore decor

This particular home was one of Ohdeedoh's Now You See It, Now You Don't Contest winners. I love their daughter's cute little bedroom featuring Ikea furniture (perfect for kids!) mixed with unique pieces, artwork and toys. - Ohdeedoh

The morning was lovely: cool, not humid- perfect to notice things in the garden. The blue flax ( Linum perenne ) was a striking clear blue, against our weathered gray fence. The deep purple of May night sage, Salvia nemorosa , made a nice combination with it. The main vegetable garden is waiting for tomatoes and peppers, while the satellite garden's onions, garlic, and potatoes are flourishing. I'll be planting squash seeds there this weekend, to rotate in as I start harvesting the garlic and onions.

I absolutely love this room belonging to designer Rayman Boozer that Style Court recently featured. - Style Court

It was close to 80°F (~27° C), pretty warm for late April. We've had, what seems to me, more windy days than usual for spring, but maybe I'm mis-remembering. What it does mean, with low humidity, warmth, and windy conditions, is that it's seeming pretty dry again. The first graders in our garden program rotations this morning were wilting by the second program; they were hot, thirsty, hungry, and tired. We're not used to warmth quite this early, even in the Southeastern US. I was hopeful in February and March (and the official drought projections had improved), that maybe we'd spring back into something more like "normal" rainfall, and maybe we still will. But I needed to water the vegetable garden this evening, even the sturdy garlic, shallot, onion, and potato beds, since it hasn't rained much for a couple of weeks (but for about a 1/4 inch last weekend). My deep-rooted 'Italian dandelion' is perfectly happy, however, as is the equally dee...

These amazing bathrooms all come from the Hakatai image gallery. One day I too will have a bathroom with gorgeous turquoise glass tile! - Hakatai

Late this afternoon in the Garden, I saw a large group of cedar waxwings swoop around and settle in a flowering hickory. Taking a few shots (without a good zoom lens), here's a view of a couple of cedar waxwings and a bluebird. There was also a mockingbird in the group, but they were largely cedar waxwings.

I normally don't pay a lot of attention to indoor plants, but a dancing iris (or walking iris, Neomarica gracilis ) given to me by a friend has bloomed away this winter and spring. It's a lovely member of the Iris family native to Brazil, and hardy only to about zone 8 outside, but is a very adaptable houseplant. Each flower lasts less than a day, but has intricate markings, and is delicately borne at the end of stems. It's easy to propagate from the young offshoots that appear at the end of stems after flowering, so there are always plants to share.

This bold home was a contestant in Apartment Therapy's fall colors contest. The owner of the home, Heather, explains her love of color: "Color makes me happy! I love bold colors because they make a statement about me as a person (I'm individualistic and creative) and they make my environment cheerful and pleasing." I'd have to agree. - Apartment Therapy

I was fortunate enough to be on a birding excursion this afternoon in a class that I've been taking. We saw all sorts of interesting things, thanks to our instructor, a great birder, but also an experienced entomologist. We saw birds, of course, and we're in the midst of peak spring migration , but I think my favorite new thing was learning about bee flies. They look like small, very cute bees, but are actually bee mimics. This one was visiting small pale tangerine-colored flowers out in the meadow (a weedy plant that I should know the name of, but which is really quite lovely). They're pollinators, just like bumblebees, honeybees, and other bees, but as flies, mimic bees to avoid predators. Here's a great array of bee fly images from giffbeaton.com. Similarly, watching a syrphid fly that mimics yellow jackets was fascinating. These flies are also flower visitors, and are sometimes called flower flies. Here are some good images from a NC Extension Sustainable Ag...

This 1929 adobe home was completely restored by Repp Design and Construction out of Tucson. I'm such a fan of exposed concrete slab floors. Combine them with my favorite colors and I'm hooked. - Repp Inc

I've always had a sneaking admiration for the adaptability of weedy species; they're amazingly flexible in their reproductive strategies -- annual (winter or summer), biennial, perennial -- either terrific seed producers or excellent vegetative spreaders. Lots of strategies! Weedy winter annuals love our mild winters, so I always get lots of exercise pulling them up in open mulched areas. Fortunately, they're easy to pull, creating mounds of compostable material (composted 'hot' if plants have gone to seed.) Weedy species vary in their success year to year, but since winter annuals are adapted to quick growth at low temperatures, relatively speaking, and producing flowers and fruits quickly in spring, it's hard to keep ahead of their seed production. And usually, I'm behind; even here in the Carolinas, it's often too inhospitable to get out and weed (uh, sometimes the weekends are cold and rainy, even if we do have perfectly nice days periodically in ...

A tapping outside my study window caught my attention this morning. I looked up and saw a male red-bellied woodpecker tapping on the gutter at the edge of the porch. Our gutters are made of coated heavy metal, so the sound was loud. After a look at some references, I confirmed my thought that the drumming behavior is about territory marking and attracting a mate. Woodpeckers often use created structures (utility poles, shutters, wooden buildings, etc.) to drum on, so our gutter was standing in for a tree. Red-bellied woodpeckers are widespread in the Eastern U.S., and relatively common because they're adaptable to suburban habitats and cities which have plenty of trees. They drill into wood to excavate the wood-boring insects that make up part of their diet. My camera was sitting on the desk, so I was able to get a couple of quick images before he departed.