Today is My Birthday

Today is my Birthday!

So I am taking some time to smell the roses.

Talk to you later!

peacesojourner

Lilac Festival, Rochester, New York

May 11 to May 20, 2012

The Rochester Lilac Festival takes place every May in Highland Park

In 1892 under direction of the new superintendent of parks Calvin C. Laney, horticulturist John Dunbar began the park's lilac collection with 20 varieties, some of which were descendants of native plants brought over by early settlers.

Overseeing the parks design was Frederick L Olmstead (of Central Park fame),

his goal was to give the park a random and natural feel.

The festival is celebrating 114 years of welcoming visitors to view the lilacs

Many varieties of tulips and other spring flowers are also

blooming

There are over 500 different varieties of lilacs on display

In the late 1800's people started gathering at the park when the lilacs would bloom and in 1898, Rochester held it's first official Lilac Festival for a crowd of around three thousand. Today over half of a million people visit the 1,200 specimens that make up about 500 different varieties of lilacs covering over 20 of the parks now 155 acres.

This Festival is known worldwide and people travel from many states and countries to view.

The official activities come to a close this weekend, but don't be dismayed, if you haven't visited yet. You can still visit the park after that date, the lilacs have been there for over 100 years and they are not going anywhere. Just try to visit before the blooms finish.

When I visit and take in the sweet aroma of the lilacs I feel renewed energy and increased wonder at the amazing gifts that we are given by Mother Nature.

If you do stop by take some time and drive along the banks of Lake Ontario it is a beautiful scenic ride.

*****

photos by peacesojourner

If It Is Thursday It's Going Green - Lawn Care and Gardening.

Remember the 4 R’s: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repair

LAWN-CARE & GARDENING: Because of the high cost of gasoline and people feeling the drastic affects of the economy, many families are electing to stay at home during vacation time. This is a good time to concentrate more time on your gardens. As an avid gardener I find working outside to be good for the mind, body and spirit. It is good exercise and gives me peace of mind as I tend to Mother Nature’s gifts to us.

When you plan your garden try to use plants and flowers that are native to your area because they are already adapted to the soil and water conditions, you won't have to use as much fertilizer and water to get them to grow. Also, try to select drought-tolerant plants. Together, these varieties can help you limit the amount of watering you’ll do this summer. For more information and lists of regional plants, go to plantnative.org.

Don’t forget to support the local farmers and buy local gardening products if you can. Plants sold in large chain stores are not tended by loving hands and have usually been neglected. Go to a local nursery where the plants did not travel thousands of miles in trucks to get to you.

No Pesticide Pest Prevention - Interplant flowers and herbs for a chemical free organic garden that reduces insects.

THE MINT FAMILY: helps to keep the bugs away with a pleasant, yet bug reducing aroma.GARLIC: offends Japanese beetles, vegetable weevils and spider mites. CELERY: deters the white moth that lays the eggs that become caterpillars, and then eat your cabbage and broccoli.MARIGOLDS: with their strong scent, are a great deterrent to damaging pests. Plant marigold near vegetables like tomatoes, and bugs will go elsewhere. NASTURTIUMS: repel whiteflies and squash bugs and will protect your sage from the whiteflies if you plant some nearby. NICOTINA: is also known as flowering tobacco and is useful in keeping the pests away from not the garden, but the gardener. These plants repel mosquitoes.

In addition, some of the herbs and flowers that deter the pests will also encourage the beneficial insects that plants need to thrive and pollinate. Your garden will have a pleasing, natural look.

There’s no need to resort to commercial herbicides to get rid of weeds awakened by warmer weather. Squirt them with lemon juice or vinegar, or scald them with boiling water. (The toughest ones may need two applications.)

One way to reduce the amount of water you give to your lawn is to adjust your lawnmower to cut grass no shorter than three inches. Taller grass encourages deeper roots and shades the soil to reduce moisture loss.

It’s best to water your lawn or garden before 8 a.m. Doing so at midday sacrifices as much as 30 percent of your water to evaporation. Watering at night can promote mold and disease. Avoid watering on windy days, and break your watering into short segments. Try for one inch of water (including rainfall) per week in the growing season. Lawns absorb water better in three ten-minute spells than in one half-hour stretch. Use an empty tuna can to track volume.

A manual reel mower saves your share of the fuel Americans consume each year in cutting their lawns. It provides a little workout every time you use it, and reduces neighborhood noise pollution as well.

Fifty-four million Americans mow their lawns each weekend. They use 800 million gallons of gasoline annually, producing 5 percent of the nation’s air pollution. With your reel mower, you can keep 80 pounds of CO2 out of the air each year.

If you follow some of these suggestions you will be helping to reduce gas consumption, conserve water, and prevent harmful chemicals from entering the environment while improving the quality of life for yourself and the community.

Don’t forget, together we can make a difference.

Sunday Reflection - Consider the Lilies of the Field

Do not worry about your life, what you will eat;

nor about the body, what you will put on. . .

Consider the ravens,

for they neither sow nor reap,

which have neither storehouse nor barn;

and God feeds them.

Of how much more value are you than the birds? . . . .

Consider the lilies, how they grow:

they neither toil nor spin;

and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory

was not arrayed like one of these.

If then God so clothes the grass,

which today is in the field

and tomorrow is thrown into the oven,

how much more you, O you of little faith?

And do not seek what you should eat

or what you should drink,

nor have an anxious mind.

For all these things the nations of the world seek after,

and your Father knows that you need these things.

But seek the Kingdom of God,

and all these things shall be added to you.

--Jesus Christ (Luke 12:22, 30-31)

You are invited to Buffalo Garden Walk

Good Morning!

Today I want to let you know about an event in Buffalo that is not to be missed.

The Annual Garden Walk is taking place in

Buffalo, New York this weekend.

Garden Walk Buffalo

is a free, self-guided tour of more than 350 Buffalo gardens, one of the largest garden tours in America. Held annually on the last weekend of July, this year it will be Saturday and Sunday, July 24 and 25.

Garden Walk has become one of Western New York’s most anticipated summer happenings. Tens of thousands of visitors join us each year, as we show off our city’s beautiful homes and gardens. You will leave refreshed, entertained, and inspired!

Saturday and Sunday, July 24 and 25, 2010

10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

See you there!

Sunday Reflection - Consider the Lilies of the Field

These flowers are currently blooming in my garden - they have survived heavy rain storms and they continue to thrive. Nature is just amazing and I am in awe at their beauty.

*****

Luke 12:27 - Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not neither do they spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed like one of these.

*****

photos by peacesojourner

Happy News -The Story Behind the Olympic Flowers

There's quite a story behind the Olympic flowers

By Trey Kerby

2/17/20

After every Olympic event, rather than receiving their medals, athletes are given a bouquet of flowers. At the Beijing Olympics, roses dominated the bouquets. In Turin, it was rhododendrons, azaleas, and camellias. This year, it's green mums and hypericum berries.

The bouquets come from Just Beginnings Flowers and Margitta's Flowers in Surrey, British Columbia. Their entry was chosen from 58 contending florists. June Strandberg, the bouquet designer and owner of Just Beginnings, teaches floristry to women who have left prison, are recovering from addiction, or have been victims of violence. It's a pretty amazing program, and Strandberg has even taken it behind bars, where she educates convicts. She believes it's her work with these correctional programs that secured the Olympic contract.

For the Vancouver Olympics the florists made 1,800 bouquets, 1,707 of which will be given to medal-winning athletes in the Olympics and Paralympics. The flowers are grown locally, but they aren't in season during February, so additional supplies were flown in from Ecuador.

The flowers were chosen to represent British Columbia and Canada, and are intended as keepsakes for the athletes. There are even strict regulations for the bouquets presented at the flower ceremonies. Per IOC protocol, bouquets must be 20 to 30 centimeters tall and about 25 centimeters across.

Though these flowers might look like something you give your mom at a homecoming football game, a lot of thought and planning goes into choosing and making these bouquets. When you consider the societal benefits behind these flowers, it almost makes the bouquets as valuable as the medals.

Exbury Gardens, Hampshire, England

Exbury Gardens and Steam Railway

Located in the New Forest, Exbury Gardens in Hampshire, England, belongs to a

 branch of the Rothschild family. 

It is situated just to the East of Beaulieu. 

Primroses (Primula vulgaris)

We traveled to the gardens  in the morning, myself, my sister and a childhood friend.

Our first order of the day was to have lunch in the Tea Garden - then off we went to explore the gardens. As we entered the grounds it was immediately obvious that the views are spectacular.

Exbury House

Once again, as we walked, we became immersed in the ancient history of the area. The first recorded reference to Exbury is in the Doomsday Book of 1086 where the village is noted down as being called Teocrabrae. There is very little recorded until the purchase of the estate in 1726 by William Mitford. One of his first acts was to plant the cedars of Lebanon near his farm (later to become Exbury House) plus many avenues of trees radiating out from the House. 

The house is still occupied from time to time by the de Rothschild family, and is not open to the public

Yellow Rhododendron - named after 'Naomi Rothschild'

The Gardens are a spectacular 200-acre site, world-famous for the Rothschild Collection of rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias and rare trees and shrubs. Lionel Nathan de Rothschild purchased the Exbury estate in 1919 and soon set to creating a garden on an ambitious scale  It is often considered the finest garden of its type in the United Kingdom.

The Azalea Bowl  

The evergreen azaleas and rhododendrons are gorgeous. We opted to ride on the Head Gardener's motorized Buggy around the grounds.He was an excellent tour guide with a great sense of  'British' humor.We were so busy taking photos of every flower that we could see that I have just realized we didn't take his photo, but I am sure he would understand :-)

.

Lovers Lane leads towards the Beaulieu River, flanked on both sides 

with  banks of deciduous azaleas. The blooms are deliciously scented.

A wonderful flowering season for the Rothschild Collection of rhododendrons and azaleas. 

Yes, there were others visiting on the same day. 

In actual fact,  there are more than  100,000 annual  visitors from all corners of the

 world who come to  enjoy the Exbury legacy.

The Top Pond is the largest in a series of three concrete-lined, ornamental ponds created by Lionel de Rothschild and fed by a natural spring. A full display of Exbury deciduous azaleas surrounds the pond with fiery colors; primulas and iris fringe the water’s edge; and giant carp and golden orfe can be seen swimming lazily.

The Exbury Gardens Steam Railway Station

I realize, once again, that I didn't take a photo of the train. Just too busy looking at the flowers. Those of you who know me well are aware that  I am totally addicted to flowers and the wonderful gifts provided to us by Mother Nature. :-)

Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non scipta) 

Providing a carpet of blue at the entrance to The Glade.

One of the most magnificent sights in England at springtime are the 

carpets of of bluebells in the woodlands.

Once again, we were reminded of the centuries of recorded history that is available to us. In the 1700's the economy of Exbury was based on sheep, general crops and a two-pan salt works. When the latter closed Exbury opened a brickworks, which operated up until the First World War. The Mitfords built the current Exbury village using the characteristic yellow bricks made in this area.

Another wonderful day. 

Good company and beautiful scenery - all is right with the world!

What more could a woman want in life?