Mardi Gras, meet Plant Nerd

Mardi Gras costume -- Exotic Invasives Woman!
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

I've been accused of being a plant nerd before, but today I'm taking it to a new level.

I'm not in New Orleans this year for Mardi Gras, but that didn't stop me from celebrating in costume. I'm dressed as Exotic Invasives Woman, a superhero who seeks to rid the world (or at least my own backyard!) of exotic invasive species.

New Orleanians often choose costumes that have a humorous, timely, and/or satirical twist. I picked this costume because: A) I work full-time writing about gardening and telling people that they should remove exotic species from their yards; and B) my own yard has at least five different exotic invasive species growing in it (tuberous sword fern, nandina, air potato, elephant ear, and old world climbing fern).

Yes, I know. It's shameful. I've been trying to get rid of them, but it's a tedious process. So anyhow, I hope you get a laugh out of the costume.

You can click on the photo to see notes that include an explanation of each species. Or view the photo large for a closer look at the plants (though they're not 100% botanically accurate since I was stuck with what was available in the silk flowers section of Michael's).

Advance apologies to my co-workers if any parts of my costume fall off and propagate new plants!

February--Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

(Apologies for the weird highlighted words. I accidentally deleted this post and had to recreate it from a cached Google version.)

February--Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

As part of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, here's a run-down of what's blooming in my garden right now. We've had a few hard freezes since my January post, so there isn't as much blooming now.

Initiated by May Dreams Gardens, countless bloggers now participate in Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. They simply create a post on their blog to showcase what's blooming in their gardens and then link it to the current GBBD post at May Dreams Gardens. No rules. No requirements. Just good garden fun.

Camellia

(click photo for larger image)

My two camellia bushes are in the back corner of the yard so I have to remind myself to go check for blooms when the weather starts getting springlike. I headed out recently and lo and behold, the white camellia had started blooming. I brought a few blooms into the house so I could better enjoy them.

'Louis Phillippe' Rose

(click photo for larger image)

My 'Louis Philippe' rose is still blooming its heart out, despite the recent freezes. You gotta love a tough yet beautiful old garden rose like this. 

Azalea

(click photo for larger image)

You may remember that my azaleas started blooming last month. The existing blooms got a bit burned byt he recent freezes. However, new blooms have opened and the plant is looking pretty good. 

Well, that's all that's blooming in my yard for now. The redbud trees are starting to pop around town, but I don't have one in my yard. Yet. I've been coveting the 'Forest Pansy' and 'Hearts of Gold' cultivars. I think I'll add one of these two within the next several years since I'm so ga-ga for them.

Other plants blooming around town include dogwood and Walter's viburnum. You can see photos of Walter's viburnum on Tom's latest blog post. 

Winter's still here

We were forecast to have a low of 16 °F last night. When I got to work this morning, the orchard by my office was again a land of ice.









I don't know about you, but all this ice makes me want to curl up with a cup of hot tea and wait for spring! But hey, at least I don't have to deal with ice on my driveway like those poor people up north. Oh wait, was I gloating? Sorry.