living history

Dr. Johannes Jones and Francis Ida Jones give a short discourse to visitors to the Jones family plot at Mansfield Cemetery May 24 as part of the living history event.

flower update; spiderwort

one more iris picture

I had to share this variety of iris that started blooming today.

catching up on flowers

The tree peony in my garden has been blooming for over a week. This is the peony you see in Chinese paintings...it has a woody stem and isn't cut back in the fall. The first iris bloomed yesterday and the first poppies opened up this morning.

columbine

This one single plant showed up in the little mint patch in my yard. I should have been clueless what it was, but something in my brain said "columbine", and that's what it apparently is.

wild geraniums

The wild geraniums are blooming along the north side of my house. The Vaneff daughter Antina who grew up in the house says her father brought them back from a trip to the old country (Macedonia). She says the girls in Macedonia would crush the leaves and rub them behind their ears for the perfume aroma.

historic wood windows

The National Trust tip sheet on Historic Wood Windows is a must read if you are thinking about window replacement, especially for windows made before the 1940s. Could you be reaping a net loss over the life span of the replacement window? How hard is it to repair and maintain your original windows? How does the combination of a restored single pane window and a storm window compare to a modern vinyl double pane window?

historic landscape presentation

I gave a presentation last Friday at the Historical Society membership meeting about the historic landscape study that was done in 1982/83 at Oak Hill. You can view it here.

lilacs

My lilacs are in bloom. These are original to the grounds of Oak Hill and will be used to restore the bushes that used to be around the cottage. The mock orange bushes are just barely beginning to get leaves.