“Trail Side – Setting Sun” – Summer 2013 – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA – I love this photo… It just came out right… Take note of the tiny black flower in the middle of the cluster… I talk about it below…
“A Plant a Day till Spring” will highlight one plant a day, starting on the winter solstice (December 21, 2013)… And ending on the vernal equinox (March 20, 2014)… If all goes to plan I will be starting with old Snowdrop photos from 2013… And ending with new photos of Snowdrops in 2014…
My last few posts have been of wildflowers… I’m sorry… My head has been in the woods… I wasn’t expecting a snow pack this winter… Our last few Winters were mild and although I was predicting a nasty winter… I was not expecting this… I was photographing Skunk Cabbage blossoms at this time last year… This year we have had snow on the ground for what seems like weeks… And snow is predicted every day for the next week…
I want to hike… I want to go fly fishing… But I need to work in my garden… I am starting to consider busting out the Torpedo Heater and thaw out the backyard manually… I wonder if that would work?..
Trail Side – Trail Fade” – Summer 2013 – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA
Queen Anne’s Lace is what I consider a “borderline” plant… Meaning… Although this plant is considered a beneficial to many people because of its beneficial attracting/pest repelling qualities… It is also considered an invasive/noxious weed to others… QAL is in fact banned in many states… Not only does it create hundreds… If not thousands of viable seeds… These seeds often persist for years sprouting long after you thing you have eliminated the last one…
On the other end of the spectrum… This member of the carrot family is a highly beneficial plant worthy of any plant guild… QAL has long been considered an essential companion to tomatoes… I have sat and observed wasps first visit QAL… Then zip over to the tomatoes to feast on some white flies…
Last summer I had a bit of an issue with an alley cat… I noticed it would walk all through my garden beds… Well… It did more than just walk through them… Anyway… It avoided the QAL… Often going out of its way to avoid coming anywhere close to the plant… These are just preliminary findings… And believe me I intend to experiment further this summer… But I will go as far as saying QAL is a candidate to be considered one of my cat repellant plants…
“Trail Side – Sun by my Side” – Summer 2013 – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA – All of the photographs from this post were shot on a single walk in the park… It was one of those days… Every shot I took was a keeper…
So I am in the process of writing my spring resolution… Given the fact that I am not really big on the actual New Years holiday… I decided it would be more appropriate to do my resolution on the first day of spring… After all… I am a gardener… And I think it will be a great way for me to start the spring off right…
plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello
If you want some science – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daucus_carota
These “Plant a Day Till Spring” posts are simply intended to kill time until spring when I start writing more… My source (where applicable) is Wikipedia.org… The photography is all my own… And I am adding my own information…
This website and all of the information presented within is provided free by the author… Me… It is my sole opinion and is not representative of anyone other than myself… You can contact me directly with questions at – c.condello@hotmail.com
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chriscondello 
Just now had a closer look at the little black flower. How’s that for a mandala?
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I’ll consider QAL for the aphids that attacked my celery no end. Just about killed the plants. All five of them. We’ve had some serious rain here, in the last three months probably had about 14 days of sunshine. Unusual for where we are. But not complaining. The fern tree, a Brownie, is growing lusciously, even harvested an unseasonal pumpkin, stuck some seeds in a tray, no idea what they are but they’re growing and shooting the tiniest weeny little flowers, each plant about 5cm high (just a flower of some sort); grass is growing so my lawnmowever has a hard time keeping up and so am I. Dandelions are prolific. Having a bit of a break from the internet so will comment imtermittently.
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