This month’s Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day falls upon my mother’s birthday — her 100th birthday, something very worth celebrating.  She has always loved flowers and we shared many moments of picking flowers and harvesting fruit.

And though her body is slowly losing the capabilities it once had, as recently as 18 month ago (pre-covid) we could still share humor and memories.

So as I look around our garden today, I know that I owe a lot my appreciation for gardens and gardening to my parents and grandparents.  Today is also my father’s birthday (though he died more than 20 years ago) and their wedding anniversary.  They were married at the start of World War II and this courtship poem that he sent from his barracks is an example of the many poems my father wrote during their life together

Meanwhile back here on the hillside we are harvesting gallons of peas and strawberries.  Last night we pitted many of the wild cherries that yield every year without spraying or special care.

We’re thinking we should at least plant the seeds

The birds are happy to help out but they mostly work on the cherries that are beyond our reach.

Meanwhile the blueberries are starting to come in and they combine well with cherry juice.

But wait.  There are still flowers worth mentioning.  A lot of lilies are making their annual appearance.

But also some special additional items worth noting.

In the herb garden the perennials are making quite a statement as encouragement to the hummingbirds.

In the greenhouse there are many Zephyranthes popping up, but they don’t seem to follow any respect for my attempts at labeling.

I peeked in and saw this Hymenocallis blooming the other day (if you don’t catch it quickly it’s gone)

Before leaving this rather long post I do need to mention the Stewartia malacodendron.  We have grown Stewartia japonica for years and it’s a wonderful tree with beautiful flowers and bark.  It’s just about to come into bloom.  But its cousin S. malacondendron bloomed about two weeks ago and it has truly remarkable flowers, well worth the time invested in getting to grow outside of its North Carolina origins.