Miss Me?

Whew, two weeks without blogging feels like forever! I was away for 8 days in Dallas visiting a friend and attending the annual Garden Writers meeting. After that, its been a whirlwind of activities from the National Agricultural Library heritage apple festival to Children's Day at Brookside Gardens to holding the Silver Spring Garden Club's first ever plant swap. Things should be settling down a bit now. Still a bit of unpacking to do and lots of sample plants to get into the ground from both the Dallas meeting and the plant swap.

Here are some photos albums of those recent events that I put up on FaceBook for you all to enjoy:

~ Dallas Area Gardens

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=213258&id=711064260&l=581496540a

and

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=213040&id=711064260&l=38a153d204

and

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=213026&id=711064260&l=95fef0f1c7

~ Natl Ag Library (USDA-ARS) Apple Fest:
http://www.facebook.com/WashingtonGardenerMagazine#!/album.php?aid=43912&id=145383542145752&ref=mf
~ Brookside's Childrens Day
http://www.facebook.com/WashingtonGardenerMagazine#!/album.php?aid=43891&id=145383542145752&ref=mf

Since I totally missed Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, I thought I'd post a picture at top here of a flower I saw in every garden we visited in Dallas-Ft Worth, TX. They call it "Turk's Cap," which shows you how useless common names are as THIS (pictured at left) is what we call a "Turk's Cap" here in the Mid-Atlantic. It is Lilium superbum and is a Lily relative that is native to the Eastern US. It likes wet spots like pond edges.
   The Texas one is a Hibiscus relative and is native to that state. The Latin name is Malvaviscus drummondii (M. arboreus var. drummondii). It prefers dry situations. Both clearly resemble their common namesake and are easy to grow, perennial natives that bloom in late summer. Viva la difference!