Grandiflora Rose – Queen Elizabeth
Grandiflora roses are crosses between Hybrid Tea and Floribunda roses. They combine desirable characteristics of the two lines. Their well-shaped blooms on long stems are inherited from the Hybrid Teas, while their hardiness and repeat blooming come from the Floribunda side.
The Queen Elizabeth rose was the first Grandiflora rose. It was introduced in 1954 to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
The slideshow below follows the development of one bud on our Queen Elizabeth rose this January. This plant has been a hardy bloomer, reliably flowering for over twenty years.
English Rose – Teasing Georgia
Mistletoe
During walks with the dogs through our Louisiana neighborhood in January we noticed irregular balls of green leaves in tall trees that were otherwise barren. We eventually found a clump of this near enough to the ground to take a reasonable picture, and the ‘Picture This’ app identified it as oak mistletoe. Of course we are familiar with mistletoe because of Christmas, but had not realized that it grows locally.
Oak mistletoe (Phoradendron serotinum) is a hemiparasitic plant that generates some food on its own through photosynthesis, but also steals water and nutrients from its host. Heavy infestations of mistletoe can kill host tress.
The white berries of the oak mistletoe are mildly poisonous to humans, but are an important food for some birds. Birds spread mistletoe seeds from tree to tree, the seeds stick in tree branches thanks to a sticky coating called viscin. After germination, a structure known as the haustorium attaches the mistletoe to its host and taps into the resources of the host tree. The haustorium can be seen in the center image below, along with white mistletoe berries.
Sweetgum Balls
The American Sweetgum tree (Liquidambar styraciflua) is the second most common tree in Louisiana forests (the most common is the Loblolly Pine). Sweetgums are also plentiful in our local suburban landscape despite a significant drawback, the spiny seed-carrying balls that fall from their branches by the hundreds this time of year.
The sweetgum is a fast-growing tree that can reach heights up to 100 feet. In summer its plentiful maple-like leaves make it a very effective shade tree. In the 1940’s several cities promoted planting sweetgums as replacements for elms killed by Dutch elm disease. However it has fallen out of favor in landscaping. Because of its leaves and gumballs it is now recognized as one of the messiest trees.
The gumballs are a particular nuisance to large dogs like our greyhound. They are just the right size to be lodged between the pads of his paws. Many times gumballs jammed between his pads have fooled us into thinking he had badly hurt his foot.
Japanese Camellia
The Japanese camellia (Camellia japonica), is one of two camellias commonly used as ornamental shrubs in the southern United States. The other common camellia is the Sasanqua camellia, which has smaller blooms and leaves. In SE Louisiana the Japanese camellia has recently begun blooming in early January, just as the earlier-blooming Sasanquas are finishing flowering.
Japanese camellias originated in east Asia, and were introduced to the southern United States in the early 1800’s. Now there are thousands of Japanese camellia cultivars available to provide color to winter landscapes. Some have been developed that are hardy as far north as Zone 6.
Full Cold Moon
According to the Farmer’s Almanac the full moon in December is known in North America as the Full Cold Moon. Tuesday, December 29 was the day that the Full Cold Moon was at its fullest, but it was still very impressive yesterday (December 30) when these pictures were taken.
The weather was unseasonably warm in SE Louisiana yesterday, so it was comfortable to be outside experimenting with iPhone settings in attempts to get photos that do the scene justice.
The View from the Deck
Sasanqua Camellia
Camellias are evergreen shrubs native to south and eastern Asia. The most economically important species of camellia is Camellia sinensis, the tea plant. Dried leaves of this camelia are very familiar because of their use to brew tea.
Two other species of camelia are common ornamental bushes in warmer regions of the United States. Camellia japonica produces large showy flowers and typically blooms in winter. Camellia sasanqua is similar, blooming with slightly smaller flowers in the fall and winter. In Japan leaves from the sasanqua camellia are used to brew tea, while its seeds are used to make tea seed oil.
In Louisiana this is the time of year that Sasanqua Camellias are in full flower. The pictures below show three sasanqua camellia bushes that are currently blooming in our yard.
Dark Pink
Light Pink / White
White
The seasons are changing again
Late October seems too soon for fall to transition into winter. Nevertheless, this is what 2020 has brought to north-central Minnesota. Beautiful, but couldn’t it have waited for a month?
Autumn Leaves
This post is simply to share fall scenery that we have been enjoying this year in north-central Minnesota. Its title, “Autumn Leaves” might seem familiar, it is a popular song from 1945 that has been covered by 100’s of artists and is considered a jazz standard. For anyone wanting to hear it, I’ve included a link to the song as performed by Frank Sinatra.
