The Trees of Girtyland

Our yard here in PA has so many trees that I really have no clue what they are.  No slash pines, live oaks or cabbage palms here!  So one day I decided to take a picture of all the big trees and get George to tell me what they all are.  So here they are:

Alaskan Cedar

 Atlas Cedar

 Bald Cypress (Yeah, the only one I knew in the yard!)

 Colorado Spruce

 Contorted White Pine

 Douglas Fir

 Dwarf Alberta Spruce

 Hemlock

 Hoopsi Spruce

Leucodemis Pine

 Mugho Pine

 Silver Locke Fir

 Weeping Norway Spruce

 White Pine

I am still having a hard time telling a spruce from a pine.  To me they're all "Christmas Trees"!  They're all beautiful and quite different.  Some are kind of rare and some are super common.  The biggest trees in our yard are Black Locusts.  No pictures of them.  Right now they all look dead, but soon the leaves will start to pop and before you know it, they'll be all green and pretty again.  They are the slowest trees in the yard to reemerge after winter.

I'll have to take some pictures of all the smaller bushes and odd trees we have and post them soon.  The flowers are starting to pop all around and everything is so pretty!  Just waiting for the peonies and rhodendrons to start blooming.  They are gorgeous!

Can you hear the Angels singing?

I'm back! My brand new HP computer is finally hooked back up to the internet after spending 2 hours on the phone with a Bellsouth rep. OMG, I didn't think we'd ever get it straightened out. Such a PITA, but I hope it will be worth it. The new 'puter is nice, but I'm still getting used to Vista.



The picture above and the one below are of a YELLOW Royal Poinciana! I never knew yellow ones existed, but a friend of mine found a couple of yellow ones and hid a geocache near them to show them off. Awesome! Most of the are red, and right now the whole city seems like it's bathed in red from their flowers all over the tree and all over the streets. They are very pretty.

I pulled out my squash this evening and plan on planting some okra seeds tomorrow...and maybe some cantalope. What else grows good down here in the hot summer months?

Well, now I have to play some more with this computer and see what kinds of mysteries it holds for me. I also need to hook up my old hard drive and see about transferring some of my pictures and files into the new computer.

*Note to Marc and Eliana: I've been following your travels, but haven't been able to post and comments. I will soon. Looks like you guys are having a great time so far. Hope it continues! Let me know if you plan on going through Idaho. I have friends and family there who I'm sure would be more than willing to put you up for a night or two. Just say the word!

More rainbows

This is what my Rainbow eucalyptus tree will look like one day. Isn't it amazing?

This one's located at Fairchild Tropical Gardens in Coral Gables. Since seeing this one, I have only seen 3 others in people's yards. I'm sure there must be more out there, but they're sure not as common as Melaleucas or Brazilian Peppers!

Banyans

Looking through some of my pictures today, I realized I had these that I hadn't posted yet. So here they are...this Banyan is actually one tree. It is supposedly one of the largest in the country.

Geocaching brought us to this tree in Coral Gables. Imagine trying to find a small, camoflauged pill bottle in all these roots!

Well, we did! It took us 3 tries, but we finally found it.

Deep in the middle of all this, the roots form a cavelike space that reminds me of that scene in The Empire Strikes Back, when Luke had to go into that tree to face his dark side...