Today in My Garden

Much cooler weather has slowed things down in the garden. Three-plus inches of rain over the weekend washed blossoms from plants that were blooming last week. Consequently, there's not a lot going on.

Camellia season is drawing to a close, at least in my garden. I've had better years. The unusually cold weather in December took out most the buds on my biggest tree. 'Victory White' (below) is still blooming.

All over Athens the earliest azaleas are already blooming. Mine are just getting started. Here you can see the blossoms of this Kurume hybrid just starting to open. I have a red one, too but it's still too small to make much of an impression.

Dogwoods are at peak bloom all over Athens, too. I lost a couple of mature dogwoods during the drought years. I need to start watching more closely for the seedlings.

The queen of the garden this week is my tree peony. Unlike the peonies you are familiar with, tree peonies don't die back to the ground over the winter. The flowers are huge!

With the weather warming and all the rain we've had, things should really take off over the next few days. I'll keep you posted, right here on...

The Crotchety Old Man