Friday, March 28, 2008

Get 'em while they're hot! "Everything Must Change"

I Love David "Fathead" Newman's version of "Everything Must Change" more than David Sanborn's soulful rendition. There's a quality of the tone that's more than just straight powerful playing - an added dimension of depth that goes beyond good playing.

Indeed everything must change so I thought I better add these photos before the flowers are just memories. I screwed up the sequence of the photos using the multiple photo upload I only discovered recently. Sheesh, talk about clueless!





The Magnolia stellata flowers are just starting to open. We are still having strong winds so I hope the flowers won't be badly damaged.




A very large white crocus.








Very large violet colored crocus.




One of two early tulips just starting to flower.





The Leucojum has grown taller and looks better than the stunted version photographed earlier.





A dry picture of the Chionodoxa.





A bud of the Magnolia Dr. Merrill. There were open flowers at the very top of the tree but none where I could reach to take a picture of them.





The other tulip.





Weirdly striped crocus.

18 Comments:

Blogger Priscilla George said...

Gorgeous blooms! Great photos as always.

8:08 PM  
Blogger Annie in Austin said...

Oh, boy - once spring gets going in New Jersey there won't be any photos we Texans can post that will equal your floral power, Ki.

Always wanted a Merrill magnolia in Illinois, but my Little Gem is quite satisfactory for now.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

8:28 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Those crocus shots were especially nice.

3:59 AM  
Blogger Entangled said...

I'm glad to see the squirrels didn't get all the crocuses.

Your tulips are blooming way ahead of any I've seen here. I haven't even seen buds on mine.

I love star magnolias - I think that was the first magnolia I learned to recognize beyond the common pink M. soulangeana.

4:46 AM  
Blogger Ki said...

Thanks VanillaLotus. This is a stuttering spring. We'll have cold weather for at least a couple of days now so the plants won't bloom until it gets warm again. It does have its benefit in that the blooms last for a long time.

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Hi Annie,
I've seen some gorgeous plants visiting the Austin bloggers early this spring. Much earlier. That nicely tempered my spring fever. We do still have to look forward to all the wonderful flowering trees which I don't think you have in Texas like cherries or crabs???

The Merrill mag. is really a lovely tree. I looks like a larger version of the stellata and the multi-petaled flowers are broader and overlap each other more than the stella. It is some compensation for the magnolia cylindrica 'pegasus' I lost :(

Your 'little gem' is an outstanding tree. I saw several the the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. I think I like it a bit better than our 'Edith Bogue'.

----------------------------------
Hi Les, Thanks. These were quite late. The earlier ones have bloomed and are already gone. I'm glad we have a variety so we have a long bloom period. Thanks for stopping by.

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Hi Entangled,
I don't know why the squirrels didn't get these later blooming crocus but it is an interesting puzzle. Were the crocus planted deeper making it difficult for the squirrels to get to the bulbs and that's why they appeared later? Are the larger flowered ones less tasty? The patch of these crocus are only about 5 feet from some of the ones which were dug up a couple of weeks earlier. I knew what these looked like so I wish the squirrels dug these up instead and left the ones we so laboriously planted last fall. :( My jaw about hit the floor when I saw 3 then 5 then 8 squirrels after catching and taking 11 to the park. In the couple of days since I determined that these aren't the ones I caught previously but are from around the neighborhood. I didn't realize we were feeding so many of them. These outlander squirrels are much smarter and don't seem to go for the bait in the trap so I haven't caught anymore. I remembered seeing a parrot eating a chili pepper pod without any discomfort. I read birds don't have the protein receptors that give peppers their heat so I decided to spray the seeds with a hot pepper sauce solution which seemed to work quite well except there's one squirrel which seems immune to the fiery sauce. I better make sure I catch this one so it doesn't pass on the heat resistant genes to future generations. ;)

The tulips are very early. I'm sure it was some time in the second week in April last year.

I think I had exactly the same experience as you did about recognizing the star magnolia or more likely becoming aware there were other magnolias than the ubiquitous M. soulangeana. We love the stellatas so much we have about a dozen strewn about the yard! ;)

6:37 PM  
Blogger DeeMom said...

Ki my Leucojum is not up YET

Fabulous pictures

I finally figured out how to link some of the Blogs I really enjoy. I do believe this will be an additional help for me to visit your blog more often.

12:31 PM  
Blogger kate smudges said...

Hi Ki,

I love the bloom of the Magnolia stellata. It is beautiful - and brings back a memory of the pink stellata I had in my Ottawa garden. Your crocus photographs are great - the colours are so vibrant.

Here we are with snow still about and you have tulips blooming. They are wonderful to see.

I was just thinking that I should learn more about squirrels. If they are territorial, the new ones probably moved in to replace the ones that you caught. There must be something tastier or more tender with the later-blooming crocus that they like better.

5:54 PM  
Blogger Curmudgeon said...

What lovely crocuses! The color is just wonderful. Here in the PNW our crocuses are done and our tulips are just opening. And the iris buds have begun to color up. Very much enjoyed visiting your blog. I grew up in NJ and DE.

10:40 PM  
Blogger Ki said...

Hi Deemom,
Thanks. What kind of Leucojums do you have -the green spot or yellow? Look forward to seeing them. Thanks for your comment.

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Hi Kate,
We have several of the pink variety too. Not as pink as the Leonard Messel in fact a very pale pink but I agree they are quite beautiful. I don't know which color I prefer the white or the pink.

Glad to share the tulips with you. It's slowly getting warmer so more should bloom this coming week.

The squirrels living in other neighbors' yards are now coming to the feeders. I caught #12 yesterday but there are at least another 7 more. I've resorted to spraying the seeds with hot sauce but several seem to be able to withstand the searing pain. It seems to deter most so I'll keep up the red pepper treatment. I may even add ground pepper to the seeds. :) If you find something other than crocuses they like better in spring please let me know. Thanks for visiting.

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Hellow WWW!,
My wife was just visiting her mom in Seattle. She said the magnolias were blooming as well as other flowering trees. Must be gorgeous.

It is interesting that tulips would bloom almost the same time in the NW and NE but the crocus at different times. No signs of iris yet but we just noticed the corylopsis (winter hazel)is starting to flower. Thank you for visiting. We lived in Seattle for a few years, First Hill and Ballard. Wonderful food, tons of things to do, wonderful city but the overcast skies, drizzle and long winter nights did us in.

4:06 AM  
Blogger DeeMom said...

“What kind of Leucojums do you have -the green spot or yellow? Look forward to seeing them.”


Goodness I do not remember and I feel sure I did not save the picture that came with the bulbs. On the other hand I have three that a friend gave me that grow in our area…but again until I finally see them I am Clueless…

4:42 AM  
Blogger Ki said...

Deemom, from what I read the green spotted ones bloom much later towards summer so if you remember they flowered then, that's what you have. If you remember them blooming in spring it could be the yellow spotted ones but there is a green spotted variation that also blooms in spring to complicate things. ;)

6:02 AM  
Blogger Catherine said...

Beautiful captures of the violet crocus...I used to have purple ones, they seem to be all blooming white this year..but beautiful just the same...atleast it is a sign of SpRiNg! :) Another gorgeous blog you have here..gorgeous photos!!
Cat

12:05 PM  
Blogger chey said...

Great photos!! Can't wait till we start to get blooms as well.

12:43 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Ah, this burst of spring beauty is refreshing...I will get the award for being the blogger to be the slowest at posting spring blooms, other than those few intrepid snowdrops, but I'm sure savouring everyone else's blooms.

12:45 PM  
Blogger Jessica said...

ah, your photos are beautiful! The crocus just pop...I'm living vicariously b.c our late-planted crocus bulbs never showed up:)

2:42 PM  
Blogger Ki said...

Hi Catherine,
We had white crocus paired with yellow ones which makes a nice combo even if it wouldn't seem like it but our Arizona cypress has gotten too large, shading the crocus so the flowers were all but hidden and anemic. Whew, what a sentence. Thank you, thank you, thank you for visiting all my blogs. It is spring indeed!

---------------------------------

Hi again Chey,
I bet when you northerners get blooming you put us all to shame. Thank you for visiting my other blog and for your kind comments. I will check out your blog for sure in the near future.

---------------------------------
Hi Jodi,
You Canadians start out slowly but I'm sure once they start blooming your plants are unmatched for their exuberance. I'll certainly keep an eye out for photos on your blog as well as Kate's and Chey's. Interesting to compare inland gardens as well as maritime influenced ones. Thanks for visiting.

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Hi Jessica,
Are you sure your crocus didn't show this spring b/c you planted them late and not b/c of those tree rat devils! ;) Thank you for your wonderful comment.

5:30 PM  
Blogger joey said...

Amazing photo shoot, Ki. 'Hats off' to you behind the lens ;)

5:12 PM  
Blogger Ki said...

Thanks Joey. Plants are extremely good photographic subjects. Cooperative, stationary unless there's a wind, photogenic, colorful, interesting shapes and forms so all the credit goes to them...well, and maybe to the sun for the lighting.

6:27 PM  

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