Good Saturday?

I have figured out that my phone does not like taking pictures of purple flowers. I don't know why, but it likes to turn them grey. I hope these turned out okay.

I think if you click on the pictures they will enlarge...

Why is it that poison ivy always grows where blackberries grow?

The plant inside the blue circle is a wild blackberry or dewberry, as they are called here. If you can see the orange circle to the upper left of the blue circle, that is poison ivy. Upper right of the blackberry and the poison ivy is a vine that, near as I can tell, is Virginia Creeper. It, like poison ivy and blackberries, is everywhere. And never blooms.

The apples are blooming, too.

I am losing hope of getting any apples though. Another blog I follow said they have trouble with apples in South Carolina because of humidity. It's too bad because I was really looking forward to growing my own apples. This tree is called Cinnamon Spice, by Stark Brothers.

The back yard before we mowed. I love the wild flowers, but hubby likes a neat mowed yard. I do understand though because we would be taken over if we didn't mow.

The vine with spines is not alone. I found another one in the pasture by a native pecan tree while I was picking blackberries. (A native pecan tree is basically a 'wild' pecan tree. Their pecans are smaller and used to be sought after for pecan oil, but no more.)

The spines (thorns) are clear in this shot.

A Very Blessed Easter to you all! Jesus has risen!

The farm yesterday

Spring is in the air and the pecan trees are waking up. I will share some of the pictures I took yesterday.

Pecan flowers.

Wild dew berries or blackberries. They are related. We only just learned about dew berries and probably have both on the farm.

No telling what happened to the missing branches of this magnolia tree; but we think owls may nest in them. We hear hoot owls a few times a year when all is quiet at night.

The next four pictures are of one of the old Live Oaks on the farm. Hubby used to climb it, using that branch as the starting point, when he was growing up on the farm. You can see more wild berries at the bottom. And of course poison ivy. If it was a cash crop, we'd be rich, with all the poison ivy on the farm.

This old oak tree was hit by lightning at one time. You can see half of it seems dead. Hubby keeps saying he wants to cut it down; but Pileated Woodpeckers like old growth trees. Woodpeckers of all kinds have looked for food on it. And when the pasture grass is tall, owls sit on the bare branches at night to hunt. Besides, half of it is still alive! So for now, it stays.

I want to comment on the last two pictures in this group. Never been able to identify it. It is a vine. It has never flowered. It has leaves, and some of the nastiest thorns! If you click on the pictures, you may be able to see them. We have tried to kill it. Hubby got scratched by it when mowing the other day. When we first got here in 2008, it was so long it was growing into the 'corner oak' and it took a bit for me to realize there was a vine 'biting' me and not a mosquito or some other Southern denizen. I keep telling hubby we should train it along the fence line and it would take a bit of trying for anything o get through.

Hubby's climbing oak.

The gate oak

Corner oak.

And today?

One tornado warning passed. A night of rain predicted.

You all have a blessed week!

Just a quick post

Before I go back to laying floor tiles.
I apologize in advance for the quality. Took the pictures with my phone.

This is a tree of poison ivy.

And before you say anything. Yes, I know it's not a real tree. ;o)
It grew on a crepe myrtle and broke it. Well, something broke it; so it lays against the fence. Those nice, big, green leaves? That's some healthy (!) poison ivy.

And here at the entrance to our property? Better keep your eyes open. Don't just wander in...

Because if you're not careful, this green above the side gate? Yup. That's poison ivy, too.

Am doing my best to catch up, but not quite making it. Sorry.
I do love you all and I think about you all, too.
Have a blessed day! ♥

Poison Ivy

Thought I'd share a few pictures of what I consider to be poison ivy at the farm.

 

This is a fungus on poison ivy. I wish it would just kill it all.

We thought we got all the poison ivy off of the magnolia tree, but as you can see, it is still happily growing on it.

 

This is not poison ivy. There is probably poison ivy there, but this has 5 leaves in a circular pattern I've finally identified it as Virginia Creeper. It likes the same growing conditions as poison ivy and they often grow together.

And all the nice green in this oak tree? You guessed it.

It's a nice healthy batch of poison ivy.
You can click on all of these and should be able to enlarge them.
I had problems with pictures today like a lot of you have had, but I think they'll work.
Anyway. That's just some of the poison ivy we still need to get rid of at the farm. Sometimes I'm not sure we'll ever manage it.

Happy Saturday, everyone! :)