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| The roses almost floated away with 30+ inches of rain in July |
When I was a kid I used to
hear people say how quickly time passed as they grew older. And my reply was
always “are you kidding? It’s at least a million years between Christmas and
summer vacation.”
Now that I am approaching a
certain age, it seems those folks were right. If pressed for an explanation, I
could not tell you what happened to 2013. I remember falling asleep before the
ball dropped in Times Square to end 2012. And I recall watching it drop the
other evening to usher in the New Year.
Luckily I have my photos to
nudge my memory as to what happened in between.
I discovered some new waterfalls while walking this past winter. No worries about bears and snakes so I feel confident about wandering around in the woods.
My Shortia
bloomed along with a host of other new wildflowers including Soloman's Seal and
Shooting Stars.
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| Shooting Star |
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| Soloman's Seal is a native that blooms in April and May |
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| Shortia Galacifolia | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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We visited Christopher Carrie and his wonderful Mother Bulbarella and enjoyed an afternoon seeing their wildflowers and spectacular rhododendrons.
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| Rhododendrons thrive outside Clyde |
A fox, barred owl, turkeys and assorted bears stopped by this summer.
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| One of our more interesting visitors |
Memorial Day was memorable at the Biltmore where I was greeted by the intoxicating scent of over 2500 roses and did research for an article on the International Rose Trials. (I am now on the judging panel which is quite an honor.)
Doug Gifford invited us back to see his unforgettable mountain garden and once again, we were gobsmacked.
In early October I once again judged the Garden Club of Virginia Show at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens in Richmond. A perfect bloom of Randy Scott stole the show, but the Butterflies Live! exhibit stole my heart.
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| The Conservatory at Lewis Ginter |
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| A Chocolate Pansy landed on my sleeve – that means good luck! |
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| Julia |
My iBook The Dirt Diaries earned a 5-star rating in early October!
A new adventure for the Hunts! Dear friends invited us to join them for a few days in Nantucket, an area of the country I'd never visited. What a feast for the senses.
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| Virtually every home and business displayed spectacular window boxes |
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| Cranberries are still harvested from this bog |
We'd had so much fun in New York last December. we decided to go back for the sights, the sounds, the lights. And an encore performance of A Prairie Home Companion.
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| The fabulous Garrison Keillor talks about Lake Woebegone |
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| Bright lights, big city |
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| The tree beside the skating rink at Bryant Park |
Of course all year long I looked for birds who were willing to have their picture made. Some cooperated, others skedaddled. That is only appropriate because for me, this year simply flew away.
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9 comments :
I was in bed before 10 on New Year's Eve, not because I couldn't stay awake, it was by choice. Congratulations on your milestone, and happy 2014 to you!
Thank you Les. One of the joys of this past year was participating in your Winter Walk Off. And of course visiting you at Norfolk Botanical Gardens. What a treat to see how that rose garden has flourished!
A wonderful year in your garden and the ones you visited!
Those rose arches at Biltmore are gorgeous. So is Doug Gifford's garden, especially with those views!
Sweetbay, the roses at Biltmore are gorgeous. And photos can't do Doug's garden justice! Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment. In case you missed this posting, here are some other photos of Biltmore roses: http://www.thedirtdiaries.com/2013/06/amateur-hybridizer-blooms-at-biltmore.html
What a great way of remembering a year! If a picture is worth a thousand words, you just wrote a novelette!
Thank you so much Neal. A compliment from you always makes my day (and week!)
What a fun year and a super way to enjoy over and over. Your pictures are outstanding.
Thank you so much Teresa. I had fun putting it all together, but it does seem like the year went by so quickly. And I can't believe it is almost Valentine's Day already!!
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