Notes about the Birds and Blooms
Webmasters are frequent night owls. What we are here to do is best done when the Internet is a little less busy. It also gives many of us time to think - and to dream. Looking at CarolinaNow with its rigid adherence to a common design and format (but for very good reasons, I'm told) I just had to demand that I be allowed to make one or two of the pages a little more different.
My wife is a flower nut - and she can grow most anything. She suggested using the blooms on the North Carolina Region Lists (as you have just seen). Sounded like a great idea. But I'm not an artist. So I had her make up a list of flowers I should search for and then went looking on the Internet. Lots of pretty pictures but very few small enough to be inserted into the little spots allocated to my 'spruce-up project'. Hey, in the military if you haven't got you make do; so you have seen what I did.
Then another problem. Not enough tiny pictures of blossoms to fill twenty spots. Why not add some birds? Well, we did find a few. Still there weren't enough of these micro-pictures so we had to use a few twice. Where's the Cardinal? Couldn't find a tiny picture. Also couldn't find a tiny picture of North Carolina's state flower: the Yellow Jessamine. Hope you don't mind.
The moral of this story (if there is one) is that Carolina is a beautiful place, - not just to visit but to live. We do hope you'll come join us - somewhere in Carolina. (see also: Wildflowers of Carolina)This micro-art rendition makes this Zinnia (Zinnia elegans) look small; it's not. The blossoms can be 4 inches in diameter. Zinnias will grow in the mountains if you do everything just right (and my wife does). They do best, however, in the Southern Heartland where it is HOT and SUNNY most of the time. You do have to be very careful of the soil no matter where you try to grow them. Depending upon where you live, Zinnias start blooming in June and allow us to enjoy their beauty well into September. No, they're not a wild flower and, no, I don't expect to see the Department of Transportation plant them along the Carolina highways and byways. It is included in the top spot because it is my favorite.
Always a welcome visitor to one's garden, the Ruby-throated Hummingbird is a frequent sight around Carolina flowers - especially the red blossoms. In fact, this busy feathered friend is so attracted to the color red that it will try to sip nectar from a bright red hair ribbon.
Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) is a tall (3 to 5 foot), bright red beacon to hummingbirds. A giant sized coxcombe (though unrelated), my kids used to call it the bottle brush (not related to the tree, either). Seen throughout the Southeast, it grows in the shade, in the sun or anywhere in between. It is best propagated from cuttings - then takes up to two years to share its beauty with us. It is a very welcome addition to the rear of a garden and blooms all summer.
The White-winged Crossbill is a winter guest. Normally resident up north, they come to enjoy the mild Carolina winter - like our other friends from up north.
This is supposed to be a Coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria) which, though thought of as a desert country bloomer, has done quite well in Carolina. The real thing has eight petals and has a dark rust bulls-eye in the center - and is very unmistakable when seen along our highways; it stands about 3 feet tall. Sun loving, it grows like a weed, blooms all summer, and is a super magnet for butterflies.
Note: Just a few days after we published these pages we received an e-mail from someone who thought this 'picture' looks more like a Fivefingers (Potentilla canadensis). Sorry, but Fivefingers is a more bland yellow and without the darker center. But, be on the lookout for Fivefingers (also called Cinquefoil) which is usually seen on grassy knolls.The American Goldfinch is a blessed visitor to anyone's garden especially in the Heartland of Carolina. These black-winged, yellow birds are sometimes called wild canaries because they resemble and sound so similar. The American Goldfinch is a seed eater. Folks like to feed them but, unfortunately, the Goldfinch is a timid chap and easily gets aced out of the feeders by other, more aggressive birds.
You'll see our Hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla) all over Carolina but they look different because they are very affected by the soil pH. In the mountains where our soil tends to be acidic, these shrubs produce blossoms which range in color from purple to blue. In the Piedmont where the soil tends to be much sweeter, the blossoms are red to pink. Gardeners sometimes add a 'bluing powder' to their watering cans to force the 'blueness'. Hey, what's wrong with pink?
Among our very welcome winter visitors is the tiny Ruby-crowned Kinglet. A connoisseur of bugs, you will see these little birds wherever you see Carolina Pines. While this tiny picture can't reveal the true marking of this Kinglet, just look for any tiny bird similar to our picture - and the one sure sign; the Ruby-crowned Kinglet is always flicking its wings. Nervous?
This horse mint (Monarda citriodora) is also an immigrant. Originally (we think) a product of the western, alkali soils, it doesn't need much water. It usually stands about two feet tall so makes a good backdrop plant. The deep purple ones (shown here) fluoresce in the sun and can be guilty of hypnotizing the unwary. Some of the American Native cultures are said to have prized the leaves for some kind of medicine (heard this when I was a kid) but I haven't been able to get any information about this. Blooms all summer and is another great attractant of birds and butterflies.
The Canadian Goose, like so many of our other Canadian visitors, seems to love wintering in Carolina. Preferring the wetlands, we've even had them in lakes and ponds - as long as there is some marshy area around to nest in. Some have been observed in our Coastal area during the summer; they really like Carolina!