Another Day in Lucedale

Can y’all take one more group of photos?  I don’t ever recall spring fever being so persuasive as it is this year.  I wanted to work outside today, but five minutes after I got comfortable, a sheen of pollen was very evident on my laptop…so back inside I went.  Not only that, but my allergies are horrible – and I hate taking Benadryl because it makes me so drowsy – never a good idea when clients are waiting.  At any rate, I did hang outside for a little while, even if I didn’t get any work finished.  Take a look at the gorgeous colors, courtesy of Mother Nature.

Here’s the Wisteria I’ve been waiting on.  My friend Jessica had said she was considering Wisteria – as you can see, it climbs and is growing up oak trees that are 40′ high.

I didn’t realize there were so many different Camellias blooming.  Not that it matters, regardless of which variety it is, it’s still one of my favorite flowers:

 

I still can’t believe all of this grows in my yard!

Azaleas!!

This was yesterday…

And this is today…

And this is sort of behind the house and closer to the road – two colors of Azaleas:

 

Ponderosa!

I love words that are fun to say! Ponderosa is one of those sing-song words that I never get tired of saying (even when I drive everyone around me crazy….probably why I’m divorced).  But that’s not the topic of this post; not really.  Actually, it’s about spring! I had tons of deadlines today, mostly because I opted to steer clear of the computer this weekend, which I only partially succeeded in doing.  Still, despite the deadlines, I couldn’t resist being outside.  The wisteria’s still not bloomed, but I made my way to my neighbor’s greenhouse.  It’s closer to my house than theirs and they’re so good – they give me free rein, which is good considering everything from bananas to tomatoes to strawberries to okra grows out in that field and in the greenhouse.  They’ve not yet taken the heavy plastic off the frame from the winter and when you walk into it, you’re hit with this heavenly citric scent that draws you in and really makes it hard to leave. It’s like a wonderland to me because I’ve never seen anything like it.  We always had gardens, of course, but this is different. Their grandchildren love being out there too – I imagine it’s a hide and go seek paradise for them.  So, take a look at a few of the photos.

There are about five or six different varieties of bananas growing. The trees are growing about 20 foot high. Here’s a stalk of green bananas.

These are ponderosa lemons. They’re HUGE! Perfect for pies and I have two on my kitchen table right now. I think I’m gonna try to bake some pies!

The Greenhouse.

More bananas.

Green lemons that haven’t ripened. I thought they were limes at first.

Another look down the length of the greenhouse.

The pears from this tree are so good!

New growth on the fig trees in the back yard. Mom makes the BEST strawberry-fig jam!

Gonna do my best to stick to deadlines tomorrow, but temptation is a powerful force!

 

All This Going on in My Front Yard…

OK…so I couldn’t wait for the wisteria to bloom.  Here are some pictures – minus the pretty purple flowers that wisteria presents – of my yard.  And folks wonder why I could never see myself building a life anywhere else!

This is the lorapellum that blooms so beautifully this time of year. On the right is a huge camellia tree and in the background is my house.

These are tiny little huckleberry blooms waiting to burst open (they’ve already begun).  The magic in this is that it grows up in the center of a huge camellia. The reds and whites are just amazing! Can’t wait for them both to be in full bloom!

This is right outside my sliding glass door. This cedar tree, along with a huge live oak on the other side of the house, keeps my back yard very well shaded.  The pink camellia in the left side of the shot stands about 12 ft. high.  Just beautiful!

Another shot of the pink camellia.  The vines that you see are the wisteria that’s yet to bloom.  I can’t even describe how amazing these two look together when they’re both in bloom.

Another shot of the lorapellum with two red camellias in the background.

This, up until two weeks ago, was a pond that was sort of to the south of my house. I’m SO glad my neighbor filled it in. Hopefully, it’ll keep the snakes and mosquitoes at bay this year.  I see he’s already planted fruit trees.  Trixie is in the bottom of the shot.  She’s always right there next to me, along with Little One.

This shot was taken standing in front of my neighbor and bestie, Kristy’s house.  These are apple mayhaw trees. In the background is another pond that was filled in.  Now, there’s this huge plot between us that we can actually cross instead of having to walk all the around.  ***OK…..so the bestie knows her plants better than I do.  These aren’t apple trees…they’re mayhaw trees.  Go figure!  Thanks Kristy!

I’m actually standing in what was a pond a couple of weeks ago!

So there it is – the reason why there’s no better place in the world.  This Mississippi girl ain’t goin’ nowhere!!