Enchanting April

My front yard yesterday evening.

 

My front yard today, Easter Sunday.

April is when my front yard looks its best. This year my Kwanzan cherry blossoms are just starting to open, but aren't fully unfurled yet. I expect the morning rain will speed them along. The Thalia and Poet's Narcissi exude their lovely scents, and the creeping Phlox keeps on spreading, sometimes in the most unlikely places, like under the barberry 'Admiration' which is just leafing out.

 

Creeping Phlox peeks out under the barberry 'Admiration'

 

 

The east woodland garden is getting ready for its annual display, with the Carolina Silverbell tree and the Pagoda Dogwood buds swelling, but it's not quite there yet. A Rhododendron and a Jacob's ladder under the Japanese maples are also getting ready for the show. I'll photograph those when they bloom.

The backyard looks lovely with the redbud tree in full bloom, and lots of Narcissi and Daffodils along the length of the bed. Narcissus and daffodils are the one plant family that deer do not eat, as they're poisonous, so these plantings are free to multiply.

Not so with the flowering Quince, which needs to be protected by a barrier or the deer would eat every bud! They nibble away at my spring bulbs: Glory-of-the-snow, Muscari and Spanish bluebells, but leave the Scillas and irises alone.

 

My back yard from the deck.

The back bed with Daffodils and Narcissi

Double flowering quince

Back yard from ground level, with double flowering Quince in front.

  

Closer to the ground, several of the dwarf iris 'Bluebeard' have opened up. Next to them, a couple of  'Prince Alfred' daffodils bloom with some Grecian windflowers (Anemone blanda).

  

Dwarf iris 'Bluebeard'

'Prince Alfred' daffodils and purple Grecian windflowers

The Fothergilla is blooming, with its honey scented-flowers, and clumps of Thalia Narcissi and Mount Hood daffodils dot the beds. 

Speaking of beds, I've spent most of the week cleaning and weeding them, pruning branches and old stems, fertilizing and mulching. The more I plant, the more work there is to do! My plan to eliminate more of the lawn dictates it.

At  times I wish I had the money to hire one or two reliable helpers, but I can't afford it. Besides, the old adage that "if you want something done right, it's best to do it yourself" applies.

 

 

Fothergilla in bloom

Clump of Thalia Narcissi

The west yard looking towards the back.

 

This is just the beginning of the flowering season--so many more flowers to look forward to during the enchanting month of April!

 

March 2026 Bloom Day

February Gold daffodils in front yard

Front yard in March

After a long, drawn-out winter, spring is finally on its way! Welcome to March Bloom Day, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden blog--let's see what is blooming in my Zone 6 B Virginia garden today. The daffodils are all coming up, with 'February Gold' being the earliest to bloom--the original clump by the driveway has multiplied greatly over the years, divided and been tucked here and there into beds in the front and back yard.

 

February Gold daffodils, original clump by the driveway

February Gold clumps in the back bed.

Back beds from the deck.

The scented violet 'Queen Charlotte' has formed a beautiful clump in my east woodland garden, and is spreading. They'd be all over the yard by now if the deer would only stop eating them!

My two Hellebores are both flowering, though they look a bit sloppy at the moment--I need to cut off the old foliage. The blue Siberian squills are blooming under the Japanese Pieris.

 

Viola odorata 'Queen Charlotte'

 

Hellebore 'True Love'

Japanese Pieris (Pieris japoinica) with blue Siberian Squills

The dwarf iris (Iris reticulata) I planted the fall before last are starting to pop up--not exactly a spectacular display yet, but they're surviving, and hopefully, will multiply.

 

Dwarf iris

 

'Delft Blue' hyacinths with Sedum 'Angelina'

 Hyacinths are also popping up along the front walk, in blue and white.

  

White Hyacinths

Last spring I bought a White Forsythia (Abeliophyllum distichum), a rather uncommon shrub of Korean origin that is part of the Forsythia family, and planted it in the front bed by the garage. I hadn't realized that deer would find it appealing, and they munched the tips back before I had a chance to protect it. Despite this, my little plant has put out a few flowers, and they are wonderfully scented! I hope I can protect it better this growing season to grow into a lovely shrub next spring. This is a plant that deserves to be seen more in gardens.

My yellow Forsythia in the back yard is still about a week away from blooming, but the buds are showing a little color. 

 

White Forsythia (Abeliophyllum distichum)

 

Indoors, my Thanksgiving cactus has decided to bloom again, and is looking very pretty. My miniature Dendrobium orchid is also re-blooming.

 

 

Thanksgiving cactus (Schulmbergera hybrid)

Miniature Dendrobium orchid

 

The other morning when I came downstairs to open the blinds, I saw what looked like a dried leaf in the middle of the foyer.  I went to pick it up, but it moved! Turned out it was a small toad, perfectly camouflaged. He must have come inside in one of the pots when I brought in the houseplants last fall, and has been living in here all winter. By the time I got my phone to take a picture, he'd moved into one of the pots.

 

Toad in a pot.

 

 Thanks for visiting--there will be more flowers next month!

 

Wakulla Springs Jaunt

Wakulla springs late afternoon.

 

We arrived at the Edward Ball Wakulla Springs Lodge around 4:30 in the afternoon, checked in and then I went outside to take some photos. I remembered our first trip here in 2015, and how cold and windy it had been that afternoon... I'd sat on one of the benches in the hotel's garden to paint the lovely scene, and managed to stay there for about an hour before being so thoroughly chilled that I had to come in to thaw out. I was grateful the lodge had a roaring fire going in the fireplace in the lobby.

This time around the afternoon was pleasantly warm and still, and there was no fire in the fireplace--the spring water was crystal clear. Later on Herb and I ordered a bottle of champagne to drink in the lobby before going in to dinner. 

We had reservations to go on the "Jungle Cruise" on the Wakulla river the following morning. We'd done this on our previous trip and it was a joy to be able to do it again. We'd seen so many birds and wildlife on that first trip! This time around our boat tour guide was the "Singing Ranger" the nickname of Collin Johnson, who regaled us with his songs about the Wakulla River and its denizens at the beginning and the end of our tour.

 

Wakulla River bald cypress

I remember photographing this iconic cypress above the previous time we'd taken the Jungle Cruise--it was still standing, a little more weather-beaten, but still so beautiful!. I find these moss-draped bare bald cypresses so romantic... 

 

The brown stuff floating on the surface is burnt Hydrilla, an invasive weed that the park is trying to combat by burning, in order to avoid herbicides that could compromise the rest of the fragile ecosystem.

 

 

More cypresses on the Wakulla

 

Cypresses on the Wakulla

 

 

 

 

There were lots of Anhingas perched on the cypress knees drying their wings, ducks--wood and Hooded Mergansers--Ibises, little white and blue herons, Gallinules, alligators (naturally) and turtles basking along the banks of the river.

 

 

Female Anhinga drying its wings

  

A little white heron

A group of Hooded Merganser ducks

Male Hooded Merganser

The cruise travels only about a mile or so down the river, and then turns back along the far bank to go behind a small island toward a densely wooded area where Sally Ward creek drains into the river. The movie "The Creature from the Black Lagoon" was filmed here in the 1950's. The cruise was coming to an end much too soon, but there were many manatees swimming around the spring. We must have seen at least fifteen, possibly more.

 

 

 

Manatees swim in Wakulla Spring

 

Manatee mothers with their babies

 

 

After the cruise ended, we went up on the observation tower to continue watching the manatees--one seemed to really enjoy rubbing against one of the floats in the roped-off swimming area. Their slow yet graceful movements were so relaxing to watch! They are very sociable mammals, and usually stay in small groups, the mothers with their babies, and often with another yearling nearby.

 

I made this short video as they were swimming away.

 

 

 

 

After our cruise and manatee watch, I went out and painted this small watercolor of the view from the Lodge's garden. The harsh overhead mid-day light isn't my favorite time of the day to paint, but gives a sense of what the scene looked like.

 

 

 

Wakulla Springs Afternoon, watercolor, 6" x 9"

 

 

After finishing my sketch, the afternoon was warm enough for me to dare a quick dip in the spring--I changed into my bathing suit and went out for a swim. The water was a bit chillier than I'd imagined--69 degrees--so I stayed in just long enough to swim to the float and back to the shore. I can now say that I've experienced almost everything that Wakulla Springs has to offer. 

 

The next morning it was time to check out and start the long drive back home. Goodbye Florida, it was nice to get a break from the winter blues for ten days! I hope we get back there again soon, and visit Wakulla Springs!

 

A Winter Jaunt Continued

Sunset from the Ozello house

 

I'd hoped to be able to paddle down the Weeki Wachee River, while we were there, as we had several times before, but sadly, the concessions in the state park had stopped offering the kayaks and canoe rentals with a pick-up downriver, in Rogers Park. If one wanted to go down the Weeki Wachee, one would have to paddle back upstream. We did that fifteen years ago when we rented a house with kayaks right on the Weeki Wachee, but we remember what it was like to paddle upstream with the six-knot current--no, thanks! We're a lot older now.

The same for an outing on the Chassahowitzka River, the current is too strong for both Herb and I at our age. So,  we contented ourselves with walks around the neighborhood and enjoyed the views from the house. Evenings were particularly lovely, as the mangroves lit up with the reddish light of the setting sun. 

 

Sun setting over the mangroves

 

One afternoon we watched an osprey eating his lunch--the bird had caught a large fish in one claw, and perched on a nearby palm tree trunk, he maneuvered to get a better grasp on his struggling catch. After some time, he finally subdued the fish enough to eat it slowly, relishing each bite!

 

The Osprey's lunch

In the afternoons, I painted my plant specimens indoors--a sprig of Spanish moss (Tsillandia usneoides) that I'd collected turned out very nice. I noticed that my specimen had several dried seed pods, and wondered what the flowers looked like and when they might bloom. I found out the yellow, inconspicuous flowers bloom during spring, from April to around June. This member of the Bromeliad family is so intricate, it took me a long time to figure out its growth pattern well enough to draw it credibly.

 

Spanish Moss (Tsillandia usneoides)

Another afternoon I walked over the causeway and met a gentleman who had waded in the chilly inlet to fish, and caught several. His fishing gear included an electrically-aerated tank to keep the fish alive until he got them home. I photographed him with his catch: three nice-size sea bass and a large mullet.

 

Fisherman on the causeway

Fisherman's catch

 I loved some of the yard decorations and gardens in the neighborhood--only in Florida!

 

An Ozello garden

Prickly Pears and driftwood 

Yard decorations

Our time to leave came too soon, but we still had two more days in Wakulla Springs at the Edward Ball Wakulla Springs Lodge. 

 

Florida Coonties (Zamia integrifolia), a Cycad.

Elena on the back deck.

On the drive north to Wakulla Springs we decided to take a short detour to have lunch in Cedar Key, a small island off the west coast. Friends had told us about it when they'd vacationed there years ago, and I wanted to see it. 

What little we saw was charming, another piece of the Old Florida. I would have loved to have had more time there to explore, but our reservation called for us to arrive at Wakulla around 4 PM, and we were still a ways away. The next time, maybe we'll stop there longer, or even stay for a while.

 

Herb in Cedar Key.

To be continued--Wakulla Springs...