{"id":369,"date":"2009-02-22T16:39:30","date_gmt":"2009-02-22T16:39:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/?p=369"},"modified":"2009-02-23T20:47:34","modified_gmt":"2009-02-23T20:47:34","slug":"lowe-and-behold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/?p=369","title":{"rendered":"Lowe and Behold"},"content":{"rendered":"

I discussed in an earlier post<\/a> my discovery of the Giant Squill (Scilla peruviana) in England last year. \u00a0It’s probably my own shortsightedness but I had never seen one in the U.S., even though I was raised in California where all kinds of plants prosper. \u00a0So last fall I was delighted to note their presence in the Brent and Becky catalog (with the disclaimer that it was only marginally hardy in zone 7). \u00a0Imagine my surprise when I discovered two racks full of “Carribean Jewels”. \u00a0Now I am a frequent visitor to Lowe’s and Home Depot for other things but their plant offerings are usually mass market stuff and damaged by neglect and exposure after a very short time in the store. \u00a0But every once in a while you can find a real bonus there if you arrive when the plants arrive. \u00a0As it so happens these had clearly just come in the door and one plant will give me an advance viewing of the plants I’m growing from bulb in the garden. \u00a0They, by the way, are continuing to prosper despite the concerns about growing them in Zone 7. \u00a0They show no damage from having their green tips exposed to some very cold weather (we’re headed for 18 degrees tomorrow night so the cold is still with us). \u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Scilla

Scilla peruviana 'Carribean Jewels' from Lowes<\/p><\/div>\n

Outside I’m seeing many, many Daffodil and Tulips raising their green points above the ground. \u00a0Especially nice to see was the Tulip sylvestris which I’m hoping to naturalize at the entrance to the woods. \u00a0And the birds are showing a lot more activity in the yard and in the woods. \u00a0The first Robins have appeared both here and in the neighboring National Parkland. \u00a0This morning the Cardinals were in full force all around the backyard. \u00a0And yesterday, as I was making coffee at the kitchen window a juvenile Cooper’s Hawk flew down to the grass and began hopping about the shrubs, most likely looking for rodents I guess. \u00a0This is one of the smaller Hawks and it tends to hang out around bird feeders (not looking for bird seed). \u00a0As it happened my SLR was hooked to the computer downloading pictures so I grabbed my trusty Canon S2 (the best camera is always the one you have available) and got off a few shots before I decided to try to get the SLR. \u00a0And, of course, the hawk was gone by the time I got back. \u00a0Points out the need to be prepared for the unexpected …<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Sharp-shinned

Juvenile Cooper's Hawk<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I discussed in an earlier post my discovery of the Giant Squill (Scilla peruviana) in England last year. \u00a0It’s probably my own shortsightedness but I had never seen one in the U.S., even though I was raised in California where all kinds of plants prosper. \u00a0So last fall I was delighted to note their presence in the Brent and Becky catalog (with the disclaimer that it was only marginally hardy in zone 7). \u00a0Imagine my surprise when I discovered two racks full of “Carribean Jewels”. \u00a0Now I am a frequent visitor to Lowe’s and Home Depot for other things but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,4,1],"tags":[40,11,38],"class_list":["post-369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birds","category-flowers","category-general","tag-birds","tag-bulbs","tag-flowers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=369"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":374,"href":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369\/revisions\/374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/macgardens.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}