Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, April 12

Spring is Blooming!

For the past couple of weeks, we have had quite a bit of discussion concerning various species of hibiscus, both hardy and tender. See the link at the bottom of the page.

A fair amount of breeding of hardy hibiscus varieties has been done in the USA. Neal in Israel has sent in some photos of new varieties from Israel. They look to me like they might be tender tropicals or subtropical hybrids.

Katy, shalom,

A few weeks ago we visited the Hibiscus Farm in Kfar Warburg.

It's a hibiscus breeding center, produces a number of hibiscus-based products, and also serves as a tourist attraction.

Attached are shots of some of the latest hybrids. Young plants will be available for purchase in the fall.

I've been photographing spring developments in the garden lately. Will send along a few shots sometime soon.

Best regards,
Neal

"Hibiscus-based products" PLUS plants. Interesting. Here are a couple more:

Beautiful. And apparently useful, too!

While on a hike in Israel's Adulam Region

I snapped these pics:

Almond tree blossoms

Cyclamens

You can learn about Israel’s Adulam region, including its biblical history, here

Regards from Jerusalem,

Biden’s Dog

I'm not used to seeing cyclamens growing wild!

And the history is fascinating! Thanks!

Edible Gardening/Putting Things By

No guarantees from me on accuracy of the claims above. Any members of The Horde who keep chickens want to chime in?

Nature in the Garden

Sadly, most of my plant activity is still pretty limited in Central Iowa, at least as far as my trees and such. A couple tulips are just starting to come out, and I have a bunch of vegetable started indoors, but that's about it.

Every spring, a large snapping turtle slowly makes its way from the small creek in our yard to the wealthy neighbor's huge acreage, I assume to hang out in the small pond they have. This year, a young neighborhood kitty, who was very cautious and curious (I guessing she'd never seen a snapper like this before) checked it out and almost got bit. She had quick reflexes, though, and dodged the strike...and gave the turtle plenty of space afterwards.

A nearby running trail has snakes come out to bask throughout the year, and this is the first of the season I've seen. It's a DeKay's Brown, and they are very thin and small. The trail is through the woods, and these snakes blend in perfectly with all the twigs that fall off the trees onto the trail.

Grimmy/Military Moron/Ackbar/Intrepid DU Liaison

Danger!

Puttering

I remember many, many years ago that Mrs. Hessman, the mother of two of my childhood friends, mentioned that she always sent flowers to her friends while they were alive to enjoy them, because they wouldn't get to see them at their funeral! I have never forgotten her words of wisdom.

Teresa in Fort Worth

Bouquets don't have to be big.

Gardens of The Horde

What's growing in your garden? We have some entries left over for next week but we'll take more).

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

If you would like to send photos, stories, links, etc. for the Saturday Gardening Thread, the address is:

ktinthegarden at g mail dot com

Remember to include the nic or name by which you wish to be known at AoSHQ, or let us know if you want to remain a lurker.

Week in Review

What has changed since last week's thread? Gardening, Home and Nature Thread, April 5

Any thoughts or questions?

I closed the comments on this post so you wouldn't get banned for commenting on a week-old post, but don't try it anyway.