Garden Pic Wednesday: My Holly Tree In Bloom!

-

Today's centerpiece garden photo is my flowering Holly Tree!
It's always bloomed a little, but this year the bloom is massive! Every branch thick with white flowers1 Those will turn into green berries (you can see some) that will turn red.
If I keep watch, maybe I can get a good shot of lots of it full of red berries! (they're edible for birds, so we'll see.)



Here's a closer view of one branch loaded with blossoms!




Even more interesting is the sheer number of Lady Bugs, flies, Bumbles, wasps and assorted other sorts of bees it's attracting! I've never seen so many Lady Bugs!
 (Yellow with black spots)
Here's two on one branch. I've always wanted a way to attract them to my garden as they are considered a beneficial insects as they eat other insects. Both the red and yellow Lady Bugs are common in Florida.



Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for leaving a comment!

Popular posts from this blog

Good Eating Monday: Peach Cobbler Dump Cake!

-
Image
Yes, I tried another new Pinterest recipe and this one is a winner! The primary dictionary definition of a "Dump Cake," is an easily made cobbler in which cake mix is dumped over canned fruit or pie filling.  This recipe was pinned from Del Monte, which means it's been a recipe that's been created & tested in a corporate test kitchen. That's one benefit of all those label, can & box recipes provided by manufacturers on their product packaging. You can even buy cookbooks featuring nothing, but package & label recipes of which many are vintage. The only changes I'd suggest is add one more 15 oz can of fruit. It can be more peaches, cherry fruit cocktail, regular fruit cocktail or whatever you want. (So, I've noted 4 cans of peaches in the recipe.)   It just needs a little more volume on the fruit quantity.  And stir a teaspoon or two of cinnamon into the fruit! Otherwise, this is an excellent, quick dessert you can serve hot with v
Read more

Thursday Writer's Workshop Prompt: Greatest Triumph

-
Image
My Greatest Triumph Many years ago, my husband and I took a 6-week beginner's course in Foil Fencing.  Now foil fencing swords are thin and straight with a protective cover on the tip. It's more of a classic dueling style of swordsmanship. Victory in foil fencing is gained by getting past your opponents sword defense to stick your sword point against their chest.  It's all about stance and form and is tends to be over fairly quickly. I believe our instructor used the 3 touch point method for a match. The fencing stance form generally taught is French: you stand in a sideways position, sword in one hand aimed at opponent while your other arm is held aloft behind you, bent at the elbow. (Think of any Three Musketeer movie you've ever seen---this is their stance.) The general over-all goal of foil fencing is to keep the body area that can be stabbed by the opponent to a minimum. However, it's important to understand, in fencing, it's not about strength but rather a
Read more

Friday Finds: Crystal River, Florida!

-
Image
Todays "find" is a few photos I took in Crystal River, Florida. We recently drove down to Homosassa Springs, Florida to visit Hubby's half brothers & sisters, though our motel was in the adjacent hamlet called Crystal River.   The Days Inn there was a Denny's attached, so it was a great place to stay! We live on the Panhandle and Crystal River/Homosassa Springs are on the western side of the Peninsula south of Gainesville, but north of Clearwater about a 7 hour drive away. The area is small town America, both towns situated around  two large rivers that pour into a delta on the Gulf and are surrounded by State and National wildlife preserves and parks. I took this shot below off a pier looking across the wide expanse of river at boats and residences on the opposite side: This next shot is across a river bayou is typical of the scenery in the area: lots of Live Oak trees draped in Spanish Moss: Here's a view down one street in
Read more

Thursday Writers Prompt: Radio Memories

-
Image
I grew up in the late 60's and early 70's, graduating in 1975 and back then, if you wanted to listen to music, you either bought records or listened to radio. Then, radio was as vital as cellphones are today for staying in touch with news or music. Everyone had one or more at home, and, if out and about, they could carry hand-size portable radios. Of course, everyone had radio in their cars. In was around 1972 that my Dad gave me a used radio he'd repaired. (Fixing electronics was his profession.) It had a boxy shape and played AM and FM. I was coming into my teenage years and started being more interested in listening to popular radio music.  They're rock classics nowadays, but Top 40 Hits of 1972 I remember well include:  Song Sung Blue by Neil Diamond Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress by the Raspberries Knights in White Satin by The Moody Blues A Horse With No Name by America If Lovin' You is Wrong, I Don't Wanna Be Right by Puttin' Game Down American Pie
Read more

Mama Kat Thursday: The Big Win

-
Image
The Mama Kat writing prompt today is, "You won an award sometime in your life...what was it for?" After the military I went to a two-year college to study Commercial Art.  During the course of that study, our instructor presented us with an class project for the Indiana State Fair. They wanted to decorate their Pioneer Building on the State Fair Grounds in Indianapolis with 6 symbolic logos representing topics like Agriculture, Industry, Hoosier Travel and so on. It was a class contest and the State Fair committee would select the winning design. Indiana State Fair Grounds Now the Indiana State Fair is a massive affair. It's huge.  It has two sides with a horse track in the middle. This photo shows the main side that includes the Coliseum, numerous permanent barns for livestock and horses plus the permanent exhibit halls that showcase exhibits, like 4-H projects from clubs all over the state. The other side of the grounds was called the  "Pioneer
Read more