All it took was one walk with my dear wife Karen and Ellie B aka Dogamous Pyle to realize that there are things in Cape Cod I don’t get to see in Syracuse.
Karen says there’s an azalea and rhododendron among these, and that we have them right in the front garden of the Little Bitty. I say we have nothing that looks like these babies. And if anybody knows what’s up with that tree/bush, please do tell.
Then we took a drive to stock up on some groceries.
Click in a gallery photo for a description. Click and hold on the bottom photo for an enlarged slide show.
I surely know we have no Shaw’s in Syracuse.
And I’m certain now we don’t have to eat every meal here out. I like the sweet cottage, I do.
And thank you to Good Neighbor Tim and Wonderful Wife Lorraine for keeping an eagle on the Little Bitty while we’re in Cape Cod.
Can you describe these flowers for me? What blooms only in your area? What’s your go-to supermarket?
Mark Bialczak 
I love when you go away and find new places to explore such as plants and grocery stores. 🙂
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I think you’ll like this year, Rachel. 😉
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Gorgeous azaleas and rhodedendrons. I can’t grow them – our soil has too high of a pH. What I have growing now? Cosmos, snapdragons, petunias, roses, vinca, marigolds, liliies, coneflowers, clematis…um, I guess I should share what’s NOT blooming.
Gotta dig a guy who appreciates blooms 🙂
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You are bursting out all over, Michelle. And yes, I appreciate it! 🙂 I can imagine the scents at your place. Nice time of year in Kansas, my friend.
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It is gorgeous right now – lots of rain and that has us more verdant and fertile than usual. That said, we are also overrun with the cicada harvest. Google 17-year cicadas….it’s crazy. There are millions of them!!
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That sound! The noise is the worst part, as I recall, Michelle. Creepy.
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I see all kinds of things when I’m on vacation that I don’t notice at home…… 😀
But even if I saw them, you know I wouldn’t be able to tell you what they were! But I do love the looks of them MBM. 🙂
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Seeing is believing, MBC. Identifying, we an always ask our friends in BloggyVille. ❤
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Yes we can 🙂 MBM!
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Azealas rhododendrons and perhaps a lilac! We have these at the LakeHouse in Pa. May post a picture of a few as well! Have fun with your Dear Wife Karen!
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And you have fun with your sweet, sweet man at the LakeHouse, Nancy. I want to see your habitat in Pa. Your photos always speak volumes, my friend. 🙂
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I will be posting soon. I had to clean and air out the Lake House today! And wifi has a mind of it’s own!
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Put a leash on the WiFi and make it roll over and behave, Nancy. 🙂
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If only it was that easy!
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What’s up with the WiFi, Nance?
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Decides to not work at times and kicks me off. It’s not set up at the Lake House yet. I go to town or use my phone.
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I see. Not of your doing. Using the phone is the hardest way to work with WordPress because of smaller type and harder to work keying. I don’t have a laptop anymore and strictly use my iPad, but have a real keyboard connected by Bluetooth so it’s like a little laptop. In a pinch I use the iPhone. And public WiFi spots always are so finicky! Sorry to hear of your blogging woes, my friend. I know you are so social. ❤
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New places are neat to explore aren’t they Mark? I always like to find the nearest coffee shop first as well. I know of Shaw’s, they’re big in New England and I always found them neat and clean with a good selection. That said, I do know that retail supermarkets have a wide range of store styles , size and sku’s (stock keeping units). They put the big ones where the money is. My point is that there is a lot of money in the Cape, so the store you saw there likely wasn’t typical – it would be more upscale. I worked delivering bread when I was young and spent a lot time in supermarkets all over in various communities in eastern Canada – I love the smell and all the goods from all over the world all neatly lined up on shelves. The stories those cans and boxes and bottles could tell if they could talk. The people it took put them there within our hands’ reach. I bet if you added up every person that touched those products or the equipment that harvested/produced/mixed, packaged, transported , shelved and sold them – it would total millions or hundreds of millions of souls. And all their efforts were concentrated on giving us the choice all in one place. It is a Byzantine and amazing system.
Anyway, I ramble. I hope you, Karen and Ellie are having a great time. Have a lobster for me. Ha!
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It is good business in some ways to put your best foot forward where the big money is to be made, Paul. Agreed. The flip side is that it is also good business to keep consistency throughout your whole chain of stores, for every consumer. Sigh. I think this duality of thought is why I’m one buyer and not somebody making the cash from all the buyers.
I like imagining how the products must be harvested, packaged and hauled to all of those chains, indeed. And still sold at a reasonable enough price to be afforded. Amazing, it is, my friend.
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I’m sad to say that the only choice for shopping we have right now is a horrible Walmart. Even that is 25 mins. away from us. On a positive note we will know in a weeks time if we get to move out of here(Northern crappy Alberta) and back to British Columbia. Fingers crossed!
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Oh, my, Gibberina. You live north of nowhere! Twenty-five minutes to the only supermarket. Blech! And I mean no harm to my friends in greater Canada who love their cities. I hope you get to move back to British Columbia.
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We do. You have to see what it’s like up here to believe it. Not nice in any way people or otherwise sadly. We lived in BC for two years before we came up here and although it’s not my home province it’s where my heart is. 😉
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Fingers crossed that you can get back to B.C., my friend.
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Thank you. Toes too. 😉
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Great photos! Here in the High Desert of California we have Yucca trees aka Joshua trees. Ugly things but they’re protected, you can’t get rid of them!
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Well, if you’re stuck with them, Damien, learn to appreciate their beauty? Do they have any? 🙂
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🙂 Yes they are a local treasure so we like them. People have to get permits and wait for court approval to move them off lots. They’re kind of like sacred cows roaming around certain parts of India.
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Nice post! Try as I might I am not able to grow azaleas, neither in Sydney or jhb. Include frangipanis, agapanthus and lemon trees to the list. No gardener am I, even though I would love to be! I love the smell of jasmine in springtime!
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I haven’t heard of frangipani or agapanthus, but I will say a song my father played all the time when I was growing up by a singer named Trini Lopez was titled ‘Lemon Tree.’ And I liked it, Vonita. 🙂 Jasmine in the springtime sounds lovely.
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http://movingtowardsthelight.com/2014/12/22/fireworks-in-flowers/
http://movingtowardsthelight.com/2014/12/08/explosion-of-color/
And a new one!
http://movingtowardsthelight.com/2015/06/08/agapanthus/
I will have to do a frangipani one 🙂
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they are all so bright and lush, i hope you look at them first thing each day – have a wonderful time )
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Thanks, Beth. We are enjoying it to the max. 🙂
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Beautiful blooms. Everything seems to be taking it’s time blossoming here, though everywhere is beginning to look very, very green. A big pleasure in visiting somewhere else is to try out the unfamiliar local stores, especially as every high street in the UK seems to resemble every other town’s high street. One of the plaes I look forward to visiting when I head up to Cumbria is Booth’s – http://www.booths.co.uk/ – who offer something different from what I can get round here. But they are spreading southward and I will soon be able to call in on the way back from Martin Mere. Not sure if that is a good thing or not?
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It’ll be good for a bit, Roy, and then Booth’s will become just like all the other places. Sigh.
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Gorgeous colors. Looks like you are having a great time! Enjoy! ❤
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It’s a colorful place when you know where to look, Colleen. 🙂 We are having a great time. Thanks so much. ❤
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I see azaleas, rhododendron, wisteria. We presently have Angel Trumpet blooming, Trumpet Vine, Oleanders, roses and plumbago, along with Day Lillies. Beautiful photos!!! Looks so nice up there. As far as the grocery stores we go to Target and Whole Foods, and in a pinch Savemart (which is really a misnomer because there is nothing cheap in there). Cape Cod is still pretty chilly isn’t it?
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It was chilly the first night and most of the first day, SD. Today, though, it’s sunny and the temp climbed into the hight 60s. It feels just about perfect to me. We took a walk in the pretty village of Chatham and ate a late lunch in an outdoor patio. NIce, indeed.
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Sounds like you are having a wonderful time!!! It’s 104 here today! Our winter – everyone hibernates inside.
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Our winter is Syracuse, I only go outside when I mjust, SD. 🙂
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Daily Musings is right about what the plants are. You can grow all these things in Syracuse. Yours might be babies now, but they’ll grow. Azaleas (the red) both love and hate humidity. They’re finicky about where they’ll thrive. They need good air circulation so they don’t get moldy and sick, but they love the humidity in the air, which is why they’re found more in coastal areas. They’ll grow well over your head and wider than a smart car in the right place. They make wonderful foliage, so even when they’re not in bloom, they’re lovely. They come in a ton of colors, but I do like the red you’ve captured here. I don’t have azaleas at this house.
Rhododendron (the purple) is much the same. They’ll thrive in humidity, too, but they don’t flower all summer. Mine have already bloomed and fallen. They last longer than peonies, but not by much. They do alright in shade or sun if they get enough water. They make great use of space and will grow into whatever space you allow them, make an interesting woody shrub-like texture all year.
The purple bush by the lamp post is a lilac. They can be bushes or trees, very fragrant. One of my favorite smells. Mine is a one-time blooming tree, but there are many variations, so you can get repeated blooms, or dwarf varieties, or ones that are easier to groom into trees.
The other bush, with the hanging purple/blue flowers is wisteria. Wisteria is also finicky, but when it begins to thrive, it takes over. Much like clematis, once it’s happy, it just goes and goes and doesn’t require much maintenance. People often baby it to get it to grow it up a trellis or over a pergola. You’ll get more blooms and they’ll last longer if you don’t have high winds.
And that concludes today’s gardening lesson 🙂
Glad to see you’re enjoying your vacation!
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This is a wonderful lesson, Joey. I’m convinced our little rhodo will be onto great things in our hourglass garden. This is just it’s third year. I thing it’s a smaller variety; I know its a purple flowered genus.
Our azalea I now think is in an area too cloistered, next to the house and the front steps. From what you described, it doesn’t get enough air circulation there. I think it needs to be moved to an open spot.
So that’s wisteria. Now I know. Thank you so very, very much my friend. Yes, a great time was had today, a sunny and warm Sunday. 🙂
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I’m not very good at identifying flowers but those are beautiful. I have never been to the Cape but it is on my bucket list.
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Yes, lovely, Amy. You should make sure to check this place out. 🙂
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I just love all Flowers indigenous to Florida, there are so many. I love Magnolia Trees in bloom. Variety of Palm trees, so on. Have fun in Cape Cod and glad to see the sunshine reached you!
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I’m actually amazed how many names of flowers I do not know Mark, so I’m afraid I won’t be of any help. So glad you’re still enjoying yourself at Cap Cod. ❤
Diana xo
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I am learning slowly, Diana. I’m glad you come along for the photos anyway. We are havig a good time, thank you!
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Ahh…you are making me miss my home state! Shaw’s was a great place to shop. I am a fan of Publix supermarket here in Georgia. Thanks for the great photos and memories Mark!
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I’m glad to bring yu back home, Kim!
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Oh gosh, so hopelessly clueless when it comes to botany. Oh wait…here’s one…uh, palm trees??
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No palms in this Cape. I can read your palm. Nope, not a nursery girl, my Marissa. -)
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Yes, a last ditch effort at faking it. Still qualifies though!!
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You never, ever fail to come in with something of substance, my friend. 🙂 You are Marissa!
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Oh Mark, you’re too kind.
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Great colorful plants mate, beautiful to see them in great condition and so vibrant.
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They pop out at my eyes, Ian. Great holiday sight. 🙂
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Oh wow, Mark, this is gorgeous!! It takes a lot of WORK to get a garden to grow like this. I’ve been going like a steam roller and soon I will be taking pics like this one. Maybe you and your dear wife Karen can get ideas from me? I also will be posting soon about my Peonies and what hubby and I do to keep them standing up. Don’t miss that one, cuz!!! Good morning and good Sunday to you!!! Love, cuz from the west ❤
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Thanks, Amy Rose. We do give our plants a lot of love and care. 🙂 I think our azalea is in a bad spot, and the rhodo is only two years old. We shall see, and I will read all of your helpful hints, of course! Karen thinks she may transplant the azalea. 🙂
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The bright pinkish/red is an azalea bush, the purple is a rhododendron and the large one with the hanging purple looks like lilac. It’s lilac if it gives off a wonderful scent.(well at least I think it’s a wonderful scent!)
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You seconded MDW Karen that we have the red and purple in our yard. Now we have to get them to flourish like these, somehow. Thanks, Lisa!
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My azaleas bloomed already but maybe because you are farther North and the winter was so harsh they are blooming later. The Rhodies are just starting to bloom in my area- so yours may be later too!
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Yes, I think we are a bit later than you, Lisa, with the few hours geo north. 🙂 This Cape Cod location is more due north of you and east of us, so maybe it’s the warmth of the ocean. ?!
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oh that’s an interesting point- maybe that is the case!
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