Yes Tulip Poplar, Liriodendron tulipifera this is the flowers our honey bees make most of their honey with. Normally one can not see the buds or the flowers because they are high up in the trees. Our ponds edge has poplar saplings with buds so we can watch them develop.
Tulip Poplar bud, I knew they were starting budding this morning because the porch had lots of those leaves at the bottom of the buds on it. My guess is another one to two weeks before the bees get to enjoy them.
I saw my first blackberry bloom today, they can be a great food source for bees as well. The recent rains has helped the white clover bloom profusely along the roads around here as well. Of course the bees were very busy today.
Today Meg and I worked on the garden. Yesterday we went to Big Bloomers and bought a lot of new plants! A lot of them got planted today. My favorite is the 'Elizabeth' Ginger saw it at Duke Gardens and had to get it. Planted Moon Flower Vines and Cardinal Climbers to cover one end of the screened porch. We bought 4 kinds of ornamental sweet potatoes too, entirely new to the garden. Since we thought these would go great in pots, back to Ollie's to get some of those earthenware they are selling for cheap. We picked out 6 big pots for $75. The big blue ones I bought last time were gone..
Meg was again in a panic about mice in the house. For weeks she has had 3 doors open to the outside all day. So either the mice wander in or Valentine (on top of our cloths line) brings them in alive and lets them go. Anyway Meg found a mouse in our pantry, it hid in a box of home made pickles. I carried the box out of the house, she got Valentine. She held her over the box and she got scratched, Valentines does not like to be told what to do. The mouse jumped out of the box, Valentine assumed a play chase and shortly after waltz away with it in her mouth.
Dr Ruppel a full two weeks ahead of schedule.
