flowers | The Showers of Blessings

Category Archives: flowers

Thursday Doors – Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden

Posted on May 18, 2023 by Miriam Hurdle 78 comments

The Thursday Doors is a weekly challenge at Dan Antion’s site No Facility for people who love doors and architecture to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos, drawings, or other images or stories from around the world. If you’d like to join us, simply create your own Thursday Doors post and then share a link to your post in the comments in Dan’s post.

I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day with your mothers in the family last Sunday. We wanted to have Mother’s Day brunch, but many restaurants didn’t accept reservations for Sunday. Just showing up and waiting for several hours wasn’t what we wanted to do. So, we had Mother’s Day dinner on Saturday. On Sunday, we spent the morning visiting Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden. It was a delightful trip admiring the beautiful flowers and sceneries there.

I didn’t find any doors at Crystal Springs. So, I borrowed two photos from their neighbors, Reed College and Eastmoreland Golf Course, with doors.

Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden is a botanical garden located between Reed College and the Eastmoreland Golf course in southeastern Portland, Oregon in the US. The Garden covers 9.49 acres. The first rhododendron show was held in 1956. In 1964, the Garden was officially named Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, for the numerous springs within the Garden.

The original garden was designed by Ruth Hansen, a landscape architect, and a Portland Chapter member. The portion of the garden known as the Peninsula was designed by Wallace K. Huntington and was dedicated in 1977. The rocks used to build the waterfalls and other features were gathered from Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams.

Shortly after entering the Garden, we’re welcomed by an arched wooden bridge over a pond with waterfowl and water creatures. The garden is home to over 100 types of birds and other wildlife.

There are over 2,500 rhododendrons, azaleas, and companion plants in the garden. They are donated by volunteers and interested individuals or purchased with specially donated funds. Rhododendrons typically bloom from late February through July, and peak in late April to early May. The well-maintained Garden is a relaxing place to visit year-round.

Resources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Springs_Rhododendron_Garden

https://www.portland.gov/parks/crystal-springs-rhododendron-garden

I fell in love with the gorgeous rhododendrons and azaleas. I bought seven varieties and different colors of these beautiful flowers. So far, I planted two azaleas and one rhododendron in my front yard. I’ll plant the other four in the backyard soon.

Check out more Thursday Doors posts by clicking the following link.

Thursday Doors – Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden

Thursday Doors – Tulip Festival

Posted on May 5, 2023 by Miriam Hurdle 93 comments

I have two doors in this post. One is the door of the windmill and the other is the door of the Berry-go-round in the kids’ area in the Tulip Farm. The rest of the photos are the tulips that I wanted to share with you.

We had a family outing to visit the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival on Sunday, April 23. This was my first time being there. I had been looking forward to this trip for quite a few years. I missed it one year because the weather was cold, and the flowers were not blooming.

Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm is 40 acres of land with over 100 varieties of tulips, a windmill, and a view of Mt. Hood on a clear day. The owners have been growing tulips since 1974. The farm has expanded beyond the beautiful tulips and added a gift shop, food, and family-friendly fun in the kids’ area, train rides, and pony rides. Visitors can purchase fresh-cut flowers and potted tulips, or tulip bulbs for fall planting.

Two days prior to the trip, my daughter checked the Daily Field Report. She reminded me to wear boots because the field was muddy. I was glad she thought of reminding me. Wearing my rain boots made me walk freely in the soft mud. We didn’t see Mt Hood because it was cloudy, but at least it wasn’t raining.

We spent almost two hours walking and taking photos of the tulips and admiring the stream trucks. After a light lunch, we took our granddaughters on rides in the kids’ area.

We all had a wonderful and fun day. I hope you liked my selection of the tulips I shared.

Thursday Doors – Tulip Festival

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Summer Vibes

Posted on July 19, 2022 by Miriam Hurdle 66 comments

Andre is the guest host for the Lens-Artists Photo Challenge this week. His theme is Summer Vibes. He posted some biking, mountain climbing, hiking, swimming, diving, sailing, surfing, kitesurfing, and beach sailing photos.

He said, when it comes to the style of spending this most valuable time of the year, wishes would differ following their personal preferences.

I spend a lot of my summer in my garden

I love the cheerful sunflowers. The bees like them as well.

This baby grasshopper stayed on the African lily long enough for me to take a few photos. It’s the size of a grain of rice.

The monarchs have been doing very well this summer. I’ve raised about 50. There are still two chrysalises and one caterpillar. Then I’ll be done for this year because I’ll be away quite a bit the rest of the summer.

I also take summer trips with my husband and family

Hubby Lynton dived in Great Barrier Reef, Australia.

Our family went on a whale-watching trip at Huntington Beach.

Photo on the left, Lynton and I went hiking at Waimoku Falls in Haleakala National Park. Photo on the right, we watched the crashing waves on Makena Beach, Maui, Hawaii

I love to watch my granddaughters having fun in the summer

Autumn and Nora were building sandcastles at the beach in Three Creek Lake Campground, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon.

Autumn is getting good at paddle boarding at Three Creek Lake, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon.

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Summer Vibes

What are your favorite summer activities?

Happy Spring

Posted on March 22, 2022 by Miriam Hurdle 92 comments

This is the 3rd day of spring.

My granddaughter Nora turns 2 today. Two years ago this week, California started the lockdown. I canceled my flight to be with my daughter for her giving birth to Nora. We waited and waited. It was her first birthday when we finally got to see her. Her 2nd birthday party will be the first indoor party we’ve had since the pandemic. It’s very exciting. We look forward to spending time with both Autumn and Nora.

My spring garden would like to sing to you.

“The first bloom of spring always makes my heart sing.” – S. Brown

“To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.” – Audrey Hepburn

“Every spring is the only spring, a perpetual astonishment.” – Ellis Peters

“It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot, and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.” – Charles Dickens

“An optimist is the human personification of spring.” – Susan Bissonette

“No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow.” – English Proverb

Happy Spring to You!

SoCS – If I Had a Bigger Garden

Posted on October 17, 2021 by Miriam Hurdle 89 comments

The Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “if.” Linda invited us to start our post with the word “If.”

~ ~ ~

If I had a bigger garden, I would plant more fruit trees and vegetables.

I have a good size garden and am grateful for all the flowers in my garden. My picture folder showed my garden was barren in 2003. I planted the flowers and trees a few at a time for the last eighteen years. I set a mental budget for gardening and didn’t spend too much money each year. Probably I spent the most this summer when I replaced many annual to perennial flowers.

Flowers in My Garden

I also tried to see what grows well in my garden. Some part of my garden gets full sun all day, while other part gets either the morning sun or evening sun. After we planted the Cypress trees in the backyard, they block the sun in the winter as the earth tilted.

Another factor about gardening is the soil and watering system. Hubby is in charge of the sprinkler system. He also takes care of the lawn while I take care of the flowers. He installed the sprinklers according to the needs of the lawn. As a result, some flowers get too much water, and some don’t get enough water. Well, I have to improvise and make change now and then. I don’t mind doing that. What I did was to plant the flowers that need more water in the areas that have more sprinkler heads and planted the flowers that don’t need so much water in the areas further from the sprinkler heads. Of course, I could ask him to add sprinkler heads in some areas.

I started with one patch of Lily of the Nile (African Lily). African lily can withstand drought because of its large, fleshy roots. Roots spread and fresh shoots grow. I transplant them on several spots and the sixty feet wide slopes in the back yard behind the retaining wall, spaced them every eight feet in eight patches. The photo below is in the front yard.

When we renovated the front yard, I bought ten rose bushes, and they turned out to be in different shades of pink. Then I felt in love with the white iceberg roses and bought ten bushes.

Throughout the years, I planted different flowers. As mentioned above, I experimented with the kinds that do well in my garden. The flowers above and below included in this post are what I currently have.

Year-round: Geranium, Hibiscus, Pentas, Periwinkle (Vinca) Lantana, and Snapdragon

Spring: Freesia (yellow and purple) and Clover

Summer: Daylily and Sunflower

Winter: Cyclamen and Camelia

I have planted the bulbs for Daffodil and Iris, hope to see the flowers next year.

I took the photo of Daffodils from my daughter’s neighbor

Fruit Trees

So far, I have two plum trees, one apple tree, and one orange tree. We hope to plant a dwarf lemon tree, blackberries and raspberries. Berries are invasive, so I need more planning before planting them.

Vegetables

I planted kale, orange and green bell pepper, and squash. They are not ready to harvest yet. I love to grow more vegetables if I had a bigger garden.