White Flower Challenge - Day 15

Ligustrum licidum
Privet

Pink Saturday

I'm joining Beverly at How Sweet The Sound for Pink Saturday. As you may know, I've challenged myself to post a white flower every day this month. Whilst searching for all these white flowers, I've run across some pretty pink ones too! So today's Pink Saturday item is this beautiful mimosa flower.

I took this about 6:30 this morning on my walk. (I am the dorkiest walker; carrying my camera!) The new blooms were just beginning to shoot out their threadlike petals.

This is how they look after everything has straightened out.

The sun looked beautiful through the feathery leaves and puffy flowers.

And even though the leaves aren't pink, look at that beautiful pattern.

White Flower Challenge - Day 14

Lagerstroemia

Crape Myrtle

White Flower Challenge - Day 13

Hydrangea macrophylla

I love hydrangeas and wish I could grow more of them. I have five pink ones; two are doing well, but the three in the back just aren't performing like they should. It's because they are under an oak tree (what isn't in my garden?) and get too much competition and shade. But this white one I found on my way to work looks happy, doesn't it? It's growing in a raised planter in front of some shops. It gets morning sun and total shade the rest of the day. My grandmother had a huge hydrangea that had the same exposure and it always did beautifully. She was quite a gardener; I think that's where I got my love of flowers. Thanks, Granny.

White Flower Challenge - Day 12

Trifolium repens
Trefoil, White clover

Mainly considered a weed when we find it in our lawns, clover is actually a valuable part of our food chain. Clover provides an important source of nectar for honeybees. It is commonly cultivated as fodder because it continues to produce a palatable crop even after repeated mowings or munchings. It also adds nitrogen to the soil so is often used as a cover crop.

A close look at its flower reveals that it is related to peas and beans.

And if whilst inspecting it, you find a four leaf clover it's your lucky day!

White Flower Challenge - Day 11

Dietes grandiflora
Fortnight Lily

Not really a lily, but a member of the iris family, this hardy perennial is from Africa. Its common name, Fortnight Lily, refers to its habit of bloom-bursts every two weeks throughout the year.

White Flower Challenge - Day 10

Galium odoratum

Sweet Woodruff

This ground cover seems to thrive Here Amongst The Oaks, so we have a lot of it growing in the shady spots. It has whorls of leaves every inch or so along its slender stems. It only grows about 6" tall and has tiny white flowers in the summer. The dried leaves and stems can be made into May wine. It isn't too common at the garden centers, but look in the ground cover or herb section. To spread, take cuttings or plugs from your established plants.

White Flower Challenge - Day 9

Agapanthus
Lily of the Nile


Agapanthus reminds me of fireworks they way the stems shoot straight up from the clump of strappy leaves and then send out several little flowers to burst open. It's just starting to bloom around here so it will still be blooming for our Independece Day on July 4th. So if I don't get over to the park to watch the fireworks, I can still see some in my neighborhood. It comes in blue too, now if it just came in red, we'd have a perfectly patriotic display of red, white and blue.

White Flower Challenge - Day 8

Wisteria sinensis alba

Sometimes if I cut all the old flower spurs off of my wisteria, I'll get a second bloom. Here is one of a handful of white blossoms that I've got in my garden now.

Lavender Hollow Farm

I went on a field trip yesterday. I drove southeast through the land of Peaches and Cream. (Hey Miss Jean, I waved and said Howdy when I went by. Did you hear me?) Then I followed Santa Fe Road about as far southeast as I could go without leaving San Joaquin County. I ended up at a wonderful place called Lavender Hollow Farm. They grow and sell lavender and lavender products. You can bring a picnic and enjoy their lawn area or just walk around and admire their lavender. You can purchase all kinds of nice things from their charming shop, and you can cut your own lavender (100 stems for $5). And on Sundays they have teas. Unfortunately all the high teas are booked for this year, but simple tea and scones are available without reservations.

Here is the signs I drove past the first time, but when I turned around I spotted the lavender down in the hollow. Those are the test beds in the foreground. And in the distance is the picnic area and shop.

I had to park in this crummy spot. In the distance are the actual farm fields where they grow the lavender for their products and where folks can cut their own bunches.

The farm fields are well marked which helped me to decide that Royal Velvet was my favorite. It's not as big as Grosso and the flowers are a large deep purple.
The soil in this area of San Joaquin County is sandy and well draining; just right for lavender. They set the plants 3' apart and mulch with gray landscape cloth. They irrigate with black hose (you can see it in the lower right) that has holes every 3'. There were no weeds anywhere and the plants all looked happy and healthy.

In the shop you can buy bunches of lavender, sachets, live plants, and this lavender oil. It is made there using highly sophisticated and mechanized methods. Below is a photo of their oil production area.

Basically they take dried lavender bunches and put them in a still, yep, a still, to make the oil. The lavender is in the towel wrapped thing in the middle, the little burner on the left makes the steam, and the oil collects in the bottle on the right.

In front of the shop they had lots of tall pots with different varieties of lavender for sale. Remember how I liked Royal Velvet best? Well, lookie, lookie, three of them just jumped in a bag for me to take home. I hope they'll be happy living with me Amongst The Oaks.

White Flower Challenge - Day 7

Lonicera japonica

I am traveling further afield now to find white flowers. I found this honeysuckle at the junior college. In elementary school there was a whole fence full of this at the back of the playground. I spent quite a bit of time there in the summer months, enjoying the scent but mainly picking flowers, pulling the stamens out and licking the nectar off. Embarrassing, but true.

on another note...

I went to Home Depot this morning and it was like walking into the Twilight Zone. Soft music was playing, the aisles were neat and tidy, FIVE employees said "Good morning", and TWO of them asked me if they could help me!

Used to be I'd take a Valium before I went and one of the Teens would hold my hand and rub my back and tell me it would be ok. Because it was always a mess, you could never find anyone to help you, and if you did they didn't really help you. Usually rap music was playing. (Was the manager out to lunch and Billy Bob Bozo changed the station?) And the item I wanted was always out of stock with only the little tag on a bare shelf to tease me.

So I'm thinking it's because of the slow down in the economy and the housing mess. Obviously no one has any money for home improvement projects. Too bad for Home Depot, but it's looking good for me Here Amongst The Oaks. And think of the money I'll save on Valium!

White Flower Challenge - Day 6

Acanthus mollis

Acanthus sends up these flower spikes in May. They are tinged with purple and tipped with spines.

The flowers are hidden under bracts. They look like some sort of strange alien to me. Look, it even has a tongue. Weird!