It’s January now and our hibiscus plant that we brought in for the winter is still getting occasional flowers.

It was a nice day today. A far different type of day than yesterday with the damp chilly feeling with the threat for rain and some light rain at times. That was the typical back door cold front type of day. As a matter of fact it feels warmer this evening than earlier today did but that goes along with the warm to hot weather forecast ahead for us. I knocked out an older street parking WOD today and finished that well above the goal rounds but I am pretty good at cycling the sandbag.

It seems like just a few weeks ago it was still pretty chilly with snow on the ground and the threats of more of the white stuff in the forecast. We had to go pick a few things up and I waited in the car while Molly went into the store. They tend to have boxes everywhere and people everywhere so I decided I didn’t want to go in. While just looking around I noticed a patch of bulbs blooming near main street just to the side of where the car was parked.

our rose still has clusters of flowersThis is a photo of some red roses blooming on our rose bush. I looked out the front door this morning to see if we had any monarch butterflies flying around yet and the rose clusters caught my attention. The sun was hitting them just right that they were glowing super bright. I wanted to get a picture of it to post here but naturally my phone was dead and on the charger this morning.

I have been smelling honeysuckles for days now but didn’t see them. Turns out they must have been in the deep shadow in the trees the other evening when I went to see if I could find them. These always remind me of our house in Andalusia that had many trees in the large yard. Right outside my bedroom window was a holly tree. Honeysuckles grew on that tree so I’d smell them every spring.

We were walking out the door to the car and I thought I smelled flowers. I want to think honey suckles bit I didn’t see any where they typically grow. I could have sworn that’s what I was smelling but didn’t notice them. They could have been hidden in the shadows. My nose is also still a bit stuffy so it could be messing with my olfactory sense. It’s also under a constant state of irritation these days between the fire pit smoke and chain smoking next door neighbors.

Our rose bush normally blooms sometime around new years for what ever strange reason but it didn’t get to do that this year. It used to change colors when we first got it but it never really grew that well for us. We assumed it was just dead. One winter we had to have the yard dug up to fix the sewer. That was a shitty day. Thanks neighbor’s tree roots!

I haven’t yet had any like identifying what these are for sure but I really haven’t put a ton of effort into discovering it either. It’s really just a curiosity but I thought I’d share the picture of some spring positivist. Purple flowers across the streetIn this picture there is a plant with small four petaled purplish pink flowers that are blooming. They come up every year and every year I wonder what they are but then forget to look deeper into it.

Now that our bleeding hearts are fully blooming we know for sure they were a good choice for our shady front yard. The two smaller slower plants aren’t blooming yet but we had bought different kinds so maybe they’ll bloom later into the summer. Our bleeding hearts turned out niceOur bleeding hearts turned out nice. It looks like little green buds starting to emerge from the ground where the milkweed plants are too!

It was a very nice evening so I took the very short walk across the street to see what sort of flowers are blooming no. I noticed a few of the Daffodils are flowering. I always called them egg flowers when I was a little kid because of the yellow center and outside center makes it look like a perfectly cooked egg. Daffodil blooming at the curbThis picture shows a daffodil blooming.

I have posted before about the flowers along the street since the neighbor planted them. With all the negativity in the world and the not doing much of anything outside the house with the coronavirus happening at this time it sure is a nice break to see these flowers a few hundred feet away. He has all sorts of flowers planted so there is basically something in bloom at any time of the spring, summer of fall.

Our Bleeding Hearts Are beginning to bloomThis photo contains bleeding Hearts are beginning to bloom. The flowers are red and white. We’ve been wanting for a long time to come up with ideas for perennials to plant in our front yard that doesn’t get much sun. We’ve been planting annuals which grow but can be kind of a pain to have to find and plant what we want each year.

Trying to continue with the more positive posts with all of the bullshit going on right now. Maybe it could brighten someone’s day or something. Besides that I just like flowers. Yellow and white flowersThis is a picture showing some yellow and white flowers blooming. We were doing our typical once a week grocery store run when I noticed these flowers in the sun. They’re in an empty, unused lot of land.

It’s still March 30th and the trees along the street are blooming. Well technically they began blooming last week. They do smell good but they produce so much pollen that blows like dust everywhere and coats everything. I happened to notice the lower flowers today near the railroad tracks so I had to go grab a picture. A cluster of flowers on one of the trees across the street.This picture contains small pink and white flowers on trees.

Well Our Hibiscus plant that the squirrel ate last fall has been blooming a bit and slowly improving all winter. It’s bloomed off and on as the old buds continued to grow and is slowly regaining leaves. Over the past few weeks the growth has been speeding up and a whole new wave of buds appeared. Today it has 5 flowers in various stages of being open with a couple of more buds getting ready to open.

Someone that used to live nearby planted lots of flowers in an empty lot a few years ago. I think he may have moved away since I didn’t see him taking care of the flowers at all last year where in the past he was always out there. The bulbs keep coming up and it’s a nice thing to see the flowers each year. Driving past their yesterday we noticed the flowers so I had to go check them out today.

It’s really been sort of surprising and interesting to watch how our Hibiscus plant is coming back again. A squirrel ate it bare right before we brought it save a few pieces of leaves and flower buds. It took a couple of months but those buds eventually opened and new smaller leaves appeared. There are still small leaves but they’re slowly getting bigger. The thing that has been surprising to me is that it keeps getting flower buds.

My Nan and Pop didn’t have much money and always made what was available work for them. I was always very close to them. When I was a kid I took an interest in gardening and wanted a greenhouse. My Grandfather built one in his back yard. It was just a small wooden frame with various recycled windows he had around or got at work I guess. He built a couple of shelves in there and it surprisingly worked really well.

Last fall I moved our Hibiscus plant from the front yard to the patio to be nearer to the garage door to make it more convenient to bring in for the frosty nights. The first morning bringing it outside again I noticed some damage. I figured I banged it into the door frame carrying it and it lost those leaves. it got worse each day. Maybe it’s adjusting to less light and lower temperatures I thought.

We spent the spring looking for butterfly weed last year. First we checked at Hostetters in Mount Joy but they didn’t have any yet. We found ourselves at Stauffers later for other plants and decided to check there. We found swamp milkweed instead so gave it a try. I grew well and did attract monarchs. It turned out to be white instead of the pink it was marked as but it was okay.