Three Magnolias

     This week the weather door creaked open, and we experienced glimpses of early summer, with  several days in the 70's, all the way to 80 yesterday. Open windows in late February is not the norm. Friday was an exception. It barely made to 50 with cold, dank air. It never really rained, but a mist fell all day, and I never could seem to get warm. However, it made for some good photo ops on the early blooming magnolias at work. Deciduous magnolias are lovely trees, but not every year is a good one. Often they open early, only to have winter make a comeback, turning their delicate petals brown. I wish I had a garden large enough to allow space for tree that big that only blooms for a long week under the best of circumstances.

Magnolia x 'Todd Gresham'

Magnolia denudata

Magnolia × loebneri 'Leonard Messel'

     No matter the weather you may be experiencing, I do hope you will consider participating in my 2018 Winter Walk-Off. 

Out to Lunch

     I've been trying to keep my camera close for the past few weeks, hoping to be inspired by the unfolding spring. Although we have had some beautiful weather lately, I just haven't been able to enjoy the season like I thought I would. I am sure being under the weather probably has had something to do with it. Today that changed, and it wasn't blue skies that brought me out of my funk; it was fog. Late this morning it began rolling in from the water, thick enough that fog horns were sounding on the bay. I grabbed my camera and spent the first part of my lunch in the Flowering Arboretum at work; my hungry stomach had to wait.

     Although not the most colorful tree in the garden, the most prolific blooms today came from the Yoshino cherry (Prunus x yedoensis).

     The other major players today were various magnolias and crabapples, which normally don't bloom at the same time, but this winter's lingering cold has delayed the magnolias.

Killing Time

I start working a 6 day schedule next week, so nagging little mundane tasks that I have been putting off must be attended to. One of which was to get the slow leak fixed in one of my tires. The unusually pleasant people at Firestone said it would take about an hour. So to kill time and to get some exercise I took a power walk downtown. Heading down Granby I stopped at the Federal Building. They had these concrete planters out front that went up within a year of the Oklahoma bombing to prevent a repeat performance in Norfolk. You would never know they were there for security, you would think they were just planters. Each was planted with several Magnolias whose cultivar I did not immediately recognize underplanted with Vinca minor. I would have liked to have spent more time here but there was a very loud man trying to get me to heed his warning of the impending Apocalypse about to befall all of us.

Today the Federal Building is a sedate off-white and blue green, but when I first came to Norfolk the building was red-orange brick with lots of bright orange glossy trim. It really stuck out from the surrounding buildings, and I kind of liked it, but I think I was in the minority. I remember that there was once a plaque that said it was the Jimmy Carter Federal Building, (not the James Earl, but Jimmy). In the 90's the bold red brick starting peeling off of the face and the entire exterior had to be rebuilt, even thought it was less than 20 years old. When it was rebuilt the look was completely changed.

This afternoon on the back side of the building were three brave souls protesting the detainment of prisoners at Guantanamo. When I was making my return trip they were replaced by a man wearing a sandwich board advertising the final close out sale for a nearby jewelery store. I thought that this was such a timely transition from mucking up overseas to economic meltdown.

The farthest point of my walk found me in the churchyard at St. Paul's. Built in 1739, this church is the oldest building in Norfolk, and today is a green oasis in the middle of the city. It was the only building to survive the bombardment and torching of Norfolk during the Revolutionary War. There is a cannonball fired by Lord Dunmore in 1776 embedded in the brickwork. This is considered precious metal around here. The entrance also happened to be marked by the same Magnolias.

Here is a postcard photo showing what St. Paul's looked like at the turn of the last century.

This leather postcard was sent by great grandfather in 1907 when he was courting my great grandmother. He was one of the only relatives I had who was not from the Eastern Shore and I have about 4 more of these postcards showing the beach and harbor. Apparently his efforts worked.

Next on the mundane task list, laundry and get the Liriope cut back. I'll spare you the photos.