Lake Fred

Lake Fred is an actual lake located in the flat pinelands of southern New Jersey. It is also one of my knicknames acquired while I was at college. There is (or was) a Lake Fred Folk Festival in the springtime.

Monday, August 28, 2006

Katrina Remembrance



This is the view outside my office window of the top of the Hyatt Hotel, which is located next to the Louisiana Superdome. The white windows are the windows that were damaged by Katrina. Looking down my window, you can see the extent of this damage. These photos were taken on May 3, 2006. It looks the same, today.

Thursday, August 10, 2006

Gold Rain


Here's a hibiscus cultivar that can bloom as both a single and as a double. It tends to bloom as a single in the cooler months. Here is photo taken April 29, 2006 when it is still a single, but trying to be a double. The name comes from the golden yellow spots on the orange red flower petals.

More Evangeline Pictures



The photos posted earlier were from April 2006. I found some photos showing multiple blooms on the bush taken on May 29, 2006, the just a day after the New Orleans Hibiscus show.

Evangeline



One of the first Dupont Hibiscus we bought was the Evangeline cultivar. We planted it in our landscape and it grew into a lovely bush with an occasional bloom, one or two a year. Hurricane Katrina changed all of that when it caused our large pine tree to lean, requiring us to cut down the tree. When that happened, Evangeline started to become a blooming machine when the midday pine tree shade disappeared. It bloomed continuously from Fall through Winter and Spring, stopping only in July when daily high temperatures stayed in the nineties. Of all of my hibiscus varieties, Evangeline makes the best bush when planted in the ground. It makes a short rounded bush with deep green leathery leaves, and with sun, loads of blooms. When the bloom first opens, it is yellow and pink. As the day goes on, the pink fades away to white. Here are pictures of both bloom color phases.