My six for this Saturday really date from 2 September and a visit to Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden in South Africa, which advertises itself as "the most beautiful garden in Africa," and it might well be. One of its signature plants is the Mandela Gold bird of paradise (Strelitiza reginae), as foreshadowed in the featured …
While doing some reading in the history of garden design—ornamental gardens that is, the squirrels, raccoons, and now armadillos make vegetable gardening far too frustrating for me—I read the following in Lorraine Harrison’s How to Read Gardens, “most gardens of any age are like a palimpsest: successive generations have changed adapted and influenced the soft …
I've trained myself recently to default to six items to write about in After Eden through participation in the Six on Saturday group. But, even though I am writing this on a Saturday, I am not limiting myself to six topics--and I am certainly not writing about my garden. What follows is a photographic cornucopia …
Continue reading "more than six things, much more than my garden"
It has been a few weeks since I've published a Six on Saturday post, but I've been following several other global gardeners and the meme site initiated by The Propagator. I hope that some of my readers have done the same. I do have, though, six things to pass along for this next-to-last Saturday in …
For well over a decade I have been fascinated with taking photos of bees on blooms. It all started while teaching summers for British Studies at Oxford, I think. The first challenge at catching bees on flowers that I remember took place in 2006 in University Parks while taking photos of giant sea holly (Eryngium …
Obviously, the featured photo above is from a few months ago when I first started thinking about this post. But with so many wildflowers blooming at Highland Lake this spring, my attention turned to Six on Saturday—that fascinating collaboration started in the UK by The Propagator in which global gardeners feature six things about their …
My six for today include a few stories and a thief. Before the first story, though, I want to encourage others to consider offering six photos, tips, or stories of their own by going to the guide at https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/. 1. Prickly pear cactus (Opuntia humifusa), in the feature photo is at the center of the …
1. This Saturday I have three blooms from the garden and three curiosities. I'll begin with the feature image, Rhododendron alabamense. This delicate deciduous native azalea, also know as the Alabama azalea, is small, about five feet tall. Its tubular flowers begin to appear before or along with the leaves, and they have a soft, …
I did not think that I'd have another six interesting observations to pass along for a third week in row, but I found that I do. Before I give my six for today, though, I want to pass along a provocative coincidence. At this past week's Master Gardener meeting, a friend showed me two camellias …
I had been writing the next post for After Eden in my head for days—all while working at the lake, mulching leaves, cutting back energetic and wayward ivy, burning fallen debris, and just generally tidying things up. Then I realized that the next post was not in my head but at my feet. Various …
After Eden 