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The 2024 Garden Year

January 19, 2024 January Our year started with snow, ice and frigid temperatures in mid-January. Our temperatures stayed below freezing for almost a week. I think it was the most consistent cold that we've experienced since moving here. Fortunately, it was a dry snow so there wasn't too much damage. Once again, we almost lost the azara and I'm afraid there would have been some breakage if I had not kept knocking the ice off. February 14, 2024 February In past years, it seems that inclement weather seems to hit around Michael's birthday in mid-February. After the January snow and ice, this month was actually quite tame. Nothing exciting to report - mostly birdwatching . Early flowers like hellebores, cyclamen and crocus begin to bloom in mid month. March 3, 2024 March I got into a walking routine which I'm happy to report I am continuing this year. You get to the point where you feel guilty if you miss a day. I do miss days occasionally but I'm learning that ...

Country roads



A few weekends ago, my brother and I drove around the rural backroads of Franklin County. This is where I grew up. Fall is a beautiful time of year here. The trees haven't changed color yet (that will happen in early-mid November) but autumn is definately in the air. 

Rural Franklin County, Alabama
The pastures and roadsides are covered with Goldenrod, Swamp Sunflowers and various wildflowers.

Rural Franklin County, Alabama

Rural Franklin County, Alabama

Rural Franklin County, Alabama

Rural Franklin County, Alabama  


Rural Franklin County, Alabama  


Rural Franklin County, Alabama
One of my favorite autumn plants is the Sumac. It is just beginning to change color and will take on much fierier hues as the season progresses.


Rural Franklin County, Alabama
Haystacks and turkeys


Rural Franklin County, Alabama
This is Dog Fennel (thanks Sweetbay! It grows in huge drifts with feathery foliage.



Rural Franklin County, Alabama
I caught a glimpse of flowers in a pasture and pulled over to get a better look. This looks like Ageratum.


Rural Franklin County, Alabama
Another wildflower I'm unsure about.


Rural Franklin County, Alabama

Rural Franklin County, Alabama

Rural Franklin County, Alabama
Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy

Comments

  1. The white cloud, which is also in our creek bottom, could possibly be Ageratina altissima, aka white snakeroot? Ours is happy with its buddy New York ironweed, Vernonia noveboracensis, and good old goldenrod.

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  2. What a delightful drive through the outback. Lovely wild flowers. I don't know the names of all of them but there are a lot of the same blooming around here.

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  3. Terrific pictures! I had forgotten how pretty it is here on back roads.

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  4. I love this post and your photos of the country. I, too, love to drive back roads. My parents always took us on Sunday drives in the country although we always lived in suburbia. Your pretty pictures bring back some good memories.

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  5. The pumpkin face really makes me smile! Great pictures.
    --Emily

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  6. So beautiful! It looks like the more rural parts of VA. :o)

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  7. I haven't actually seen swamp sunflower growing in the wild, those big stands of it are beautiful. The plant with the feathery foliage is dog fennel.

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  8. Beautiful, beautiful pictures. Thanks so much for sharing. Have a great week!

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  9. While I dearly love a cultivated garden, this has to be one of my favorite posts. I just love rural countrysides and wild meadows. This looks so much like the Ohio countryside where I live. I dearly love this quiet kind of beauty.

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  10. Gorgeous. Don't you just love fall? It's starting to look similar here too, but we're a bit colder, and further along by about three weeks. Have a great week!~~Dee

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  11. That's lovely. Back roads are best--"blue highways", someone called them.

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  12. I had a chance to head west yesterday towards Williamsburg. It looks exactly like the pictures you have shown.

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