Our fabled kitchen window camellia has made its 2011 debut, a bit tardy this year. We pruned it far too late in the season. I had great fears that due to the ill-timed butchering, we would see few of the crimson blooms, but the plant fooled me again. So not only is it pretty well bullet-proof from untoward weather, it shrugs off dumb human intervention as well. Thank goodness.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Winter is gasping its last. Here in the second week in March the weather prognosticators are prognosticating 77° F. for the latter part of the week. Those few plants which have thus far resisted the urge to burst forth with new growth will be in all likelihood shortly pushed to the brink and over the edge. They will splatter the landscape with their children.

Unfortunately, this includes the yellow peril in this neck of the woods, oak pollen. Soon the noxious dust will cover the world as we know it. It's called the high price of shade, a precious commodity in July and August.

The forsythia across the street greets me on each trip out the driveway. Fortunately, my green-thumbed neighbor, I believe, could get ball-bearings and marbles to sprout in a few days as opposed to my dismal gardening disabilities. It is mine to record the results of skilled gardening, not to contaminate the process and impede growth with bumbling horticultural efforts.

We love the shade, but grumble about the pollen.

We love the spring, but grumble about wind, thunderstorms, and other weather dramas endemic to the season.

We love winter wonderlands, warm fires, and hot chocolate, but grumble about slush and bone-chilling cold.

We love summer cookouts, baseball, picnics, outdoor concerts, and going barefoot, but grumble about stifling heat and humidity.

We love the earthy colors and mild days of fall, but grumble about knee deep leaves and mold, and fear the first frost.

Seems we have this need to grumble. On the bright side, we can be grateful we have something to grumble about.

N O T E S:  
Nikon D300, ISO 200. Tripod mount, AF S Nikkor 18-200mm f3.5-5.6 VR, both shots. Camellia 1/200@f7.1; forsythia 1/125@f5.6. Post processed with Perfect Resize Pro and Photoshop CS5 Extended.

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Most of the time, there is more to the Photo of the Week story than can be told in an essay. And most of the time there are more pictures to be seen. Presuming that some folk will enjoy being privy to this trove of information, I have created a blog, “Weekly Grist for the Eyes and Mind,” where I am showing and telling “the rest of the story." There are also some blatantly commercial mentions of some of the things we do to earn our beans and taters. Click on the Weekly Grist logo and go to the blog.  — J. D.