Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Spring is Happening

 Spring is happening!

This week many of the birds have been returning to spend the summer here and others are just passing through on their way further north.  Nice to know they are once again in the area. There have been Robins, Redwing Blackbirds, Crows, Eagles, Sandhill Cranes, Chickadees, Doves, Common Blackbirds, Cardinals, Meadow Larks, Purple Finch and others.

 

Here are a couple of photos of some of them.

 




 

A sampling of a sunrise on one of the early Spring days.

Every morning is a “show” here at the shore.

 




Interesting, one day this past week March 13, 2024,

I walked out into the garden and to my surprise there was a raccoon sleeping up in a tree!

I think I woke him up.

 


 





Enjoy your days this time of year as we all get back into our gardens.

 

 

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Memories of what has been – and will be again!

It is still the dead of winter though it has been a rather warm winter in this area.  I miss all the many blooms that happen here in the Spring, Summer, and Autumn.  With that in mind, I took a “memory walk” around the gardens this week while recalling the plants that have been here, and will be retuning again this year.

Stonewater Beach at the gardens.




One of many visitors to the gardens.







Believe it or not, there are hundreds of cultivars in these gardens.  I was amazed when I sat down with my “log of plantings” here and discovered that there are hundreds and hundreds of different cultivars.

 


Concolor Fir and Coneflower



Cecropia Moth



 

My pride and joy are the more than 1000 daylilies I have hybridized that exist nowhere else on Earth except here in the Gardens At Waters East, except for the three home in Guatemala and the four homes in the USA with which I have shared some of the plants.  They are pretty special and unique.

 










Since this year is a leap year and we all get an extra day - - Thursday the 29th of February, I thought we could view a few extra plants from the gardens. 

 

Sunrise over Lake Michigan






Enjoy a few more,  “snapshot” of flowers here.

 

Sunset looking EAST over the lake - reflection/





Who is living in my birdhouse?  When. 

 

 

Thursday, February 15, 2024

One Singular Sensation

 One  Singular  Sensation

Special never before seen photo from

Gardens at Waters East

 

If you enjoy looking at garden photos without many words, here is your chance!!!

 


 Purple Coneflower

 

Saturday, January 27, 2024

Before the Snow

Early Winter – before the Snow

 

Here are twenty-five (25)  close-up photos of a few plants in the Gardens at Waters East taken just days before any snow had fallen. In another posting, once it snows, I will take a few more photos, showing close-ups of the snow on some of the same plants. 


Whitespire Birch
 

Enjoy the details in the plants, amazing even after the blooms have gone.

 

Whitespire Birch 


Sedum Autumn Joy


Milkweed


?

Magnolia bud


Aster


Siberian Iris


Columbine


Siberian Iris


Lichen


?

Goldenrod


Queen Anne


White Aster


Hydrangea


Baptisia Australis 


Cone Flower 


Allium

Tithonia


A. Goyette Fern


Cone Flower

Euonymus

Sedum - Autumn Joy
 
Barbary - Golden Nugget