A Mother's Day Walk

Theo has to work tomorrow, so he and Wally came over today to celebrate Mother's Day. We were lucky that there was a break in the rain and the sun peaked out from among the clouds for our outing. Temperatures were in the low 60s with a gentle breeze blowing. Theo commented that the weather was just about perfect, and we all agreed.

After lunch at a local restaurant, we headed out to my request for the day -  a walk in a local azalea garden. The garden is rimming a reservoir lake that provides water to Washington, D.C. The garden was planted in the 1950s and 1960s and covers 5 acres with over 22,000 azalea bushes among hardwood trees. 

It had been a few years since Ward and I had visited, and Wally and Theo had never been there. The blooms were past their peak, but there were bursts of late bloomers here and there. As we wandered among the bushes, Theo was telling us interesting things about the "intelligence" of plants, including one vine that mimics the leaf shape of whatever it is growing next to. It's always curious and, sometimes, surprising to me to hear things that my kids know about. Theo is not one who is interested in the green world outdoors, so I was surprised that he knew so much about it. 

We had a pleasant walk and then hurried home to beat the rain. And speaking of rain, unfortunately, we won't have a chance to see the rare appearance of the Northern Lights in our area tonight because of rain. But a walk in the woods with my family is almost as good, if not better.

Below are a few pictures of our afternoon. 

You can see that most of the blossoms had faded.

I found this fringe of suckers on this tulip poplar stump interesting. 

Wally, Theo, and Ward

This bush actually had buds on it, promising more blooms.

Unfortunately, we also saw a lot of poison ivy.

After the garden, we walked along the bridge over the dam so Ward could check out its structure.

While he was checking out the workings of the dam, I was watching the geese. :)

Until next time...

Another Walk in the Woods

or The Next in the Series of  

Let's get out of the house.

Last weekend, the rain stayed to the south, and the frost stayed to the north, so we had great weather. We spent Saturday doing outdoor spring chores, so we relaxed on Sunday and went out for our annual (or every five years or so) visit to the Brighton Dam Azalea Gardens. The five acres of gardens feature more than 22,000 azaleas planted in a hardwood forest. Overall, the garden was past its blooming peak, but we still saw many flowers. Once again we didn't have to worry too much about avoiding other people. We only saw four other people on the trails and it was easy to avoid them during our amble through the gardens. Here are a few photos from our outing.

Maintenance dock for the dam

If you ventured from the paths, there was poison ivy waiting for you.

Where there's water, there are usually some geese nearby.

And no visit to a dam is complete without studying its construction. At least with Ward, anyway.

Until next time...

More Spring Colors

Here's what I found this week taking a Second Look around the yard.

The azaleas are blooming now.

Beside the white bush is a pink one.

And dark pink ones are around the other side of the house.

In front of the dark pink azalea bushes, the pansies that I planted last fall are starting to bloom. I like pansies because I can get two seasons of blooms out of them.

While weeding in the pansies, I found this young tree curving around the seed pod that was still attached. It's kind of hard to sort out the picture to see it (follow the brown stem), but it was fun to see in person. I love to find remnants of seeds above the ground. You may remember more than one picture here on the blog showing that. :)

When I went behind the bushes to continue weeding, I flushed out a robin that was sitting on this nest. You might say that we flushed out each other because I jumped out of the bushes as the robin flying past startled me. 

And speaking of nests, the bluebird's nest now has six eggs in it.

The first iris has bloomed. I was happy to see this one because it was from a plant I transplanted last fall.

Tucked in a dark corner along the fence, I found lily of the valley blooming. These were from a friend who helped me plant them when I first moved in. I am trying to create more of these surprise, "hidden" treasures here and there like these lily of the valley. While I enjoy the showy beds, I especially enjoy having things tucked here and there to find. I am working on creating more of these finds by planting things in out of the way places. 

And the rhododendron is blooming. I planted this bush last fall in memory of my mother. I picked a rhododendron because it is the state flower of West Virginia and blooms in her favorite color.

Brighton Dam Azalea Garden

Here's yet another post showing spring flowers, but it's that time of year. We made what has become our annual trip to the Brighton Dam Azalea Garden last Sunday. The blooms were not quite at peak yet, but there were still plenty to enjoy. Here a few pictures from our pleasant afternoon strolling through the gardens.

The gardens are adjacent to the lake formed by the Brighton Dam.

In some areas, the azaleas were just starting to bloom.

In other areas, like where Ward is walking, they were in full bloom.

A close up of one of the bushes above. This pink variety seems to be the earliest bloomer in the garden.

One of the things they do to maintain the gardens is to replant a new section every year.

The gardens are a favorite place for photographers.

Among the azaleas, dogwoods were also blooming.

This was Ward's favorite. He likes how only one petal has pink dots.

Brighton Dam Azalea Garden

As you may have noticed, most of my posts recently involve nature. That is because there are so many amazing things to see and share this time of year. Here's another one.

The azaleas in our yard have just started to bloom, so I thought it was time to check in on the Brighton Dam Azalea Garden which has five acres and over 20,000 azaleas to see. Although the garden was in the beginning stages blooming, there were still several varieties providing a beautiful show. Here are a few of the sights.

One of these pictures is not an azalea. Can you pick which one?

Answer: The lower left white flowers are dogwood blooms.

Brighton Dam Azalea Gardens--week two

Last week, Ward and I visited the Brighton Dam Azalea Garden. I hoped that we could go back in a week because I thought the azaleas would be at their peak then. Well, mission accomplished. Yesterday, Ward, Wally, Theo, and I went back for a picnic and another walk among the azaleas. I was wrong about the flowers being at their peak. Many of the bushes had faded, but there was still plenty to marvel at.

We grilled hot dogs, watched geese, checked out the dam, and walked in the azalea garden. It was a beautiful day and Mother's Day on top of that, so there were plenty of people who joined us at the park. It was fun to watch multi-generations enjoying kids, dogs, and the scenery. However, did I mention it was a windy day? Theo said that it was so windy, that the hot dogs were being moved on the grill. I do know that it was so windy that I had four layers on including Ward's sweatshirt and jacket that he brought along.

Here are a few scenes from our visit.

 

 

 

Brighton Dam Azalea Garden

Ward and I spent a pleasant afternoon visiting the Brighton Dam Azalea Garden yesterday. We discovered the dam and gardens last fall and hoped that we would remember them this spring when the azaleas were in bloom. So as I was thinking that we needed to do some weeding around our azaleas, I remembered the garden.  We hopped into the car and off we went.

The garden has over five acres of azaleas and trees that have nice walking trails and benches among them. About 2/3 of the bushes were in bloom giving a beautiful show. If we can work it into our schedule, I'd like to go back next week when the garden should be at its peak.

As for the weeds around our azaleas? I kind of like the natural look I saw at the gardens yesterday. Maybe I'll leave the weeds alone and see if I can get the same "natural" effect here.  : )

Brighton Dam Azalea Garden