Monday, April 21, 2014

The Snowballs and Cherokee Roses are Blooming

Spring continues to unfold so beautifully in our Southern part of the world here in Tallahassee, Florida.  In mid April the Cherokee Roses,  and the very elegant Chinese Snowball Plants began to bloom.    Both of these  beautiful plants continue to bloom for about three weeks in our area.
  
Cherokee Roses

I love how the Cherokee Roses climb all along the wooded areas and along this front fence.  This evergreen climbing shrub can grow to heights of up to 20 feet, dotted all along the way, with beautiful white four inch blossoms.

We recently had a fairly strong morning of thunderstorms with heavy rains, as one more late cold-front arrived to our beautiful Springtime. 


The Cherokee Roses are so hardy they were not at all destroyed by 
the pelting of heavy and continuous rains.


This lovely Cherokee Rose grows nicely in zones 7 through 9.
This flower is a native of China and was introduced to the Southeastern United States in about 1780.
This beautiful climbing Cherokee Rose became the State Flower of Georgia in 1916.


These Cherokee Roses like full sun.  As with every other plant,  a little "Tender Loving Care" makes for a beautiful, healthy plant.  Add a little mulch to the base of the plant,  and a little 10-10-10 fertilizer in early Spring. 


Another beautiful plant blooming at the same time as the Cherokee Rose 
is the very elegant Chinese Snowball plant.

Chinese Snowball

We planted this Chinese Snowball plant many years ago and it has now grown into a tree.


These blossoms are so beautiful in a cut-flower arrangement and last and last.   
They are so pretty in a colorful mixed arrangement as well.



As you can see, they grow from 12 to 20 feet tall and wide and blooms span 6 to 8 inches across.  They survive in full-sun to part-shade.  They need a well-drained, slightly acid soil.  They can be fertilized each year after flowering.


This particular tree survives nicely in it's partial shade conditions,
 since it is surrounded by a wooded area down by our pasture.


But, now, look at the beautiful Chinese Snowball plant/tree in the below photo.  Our friend who lives up in Byron, Georgia sent this amazing photo of his beautiful plant which is blooming now also.  This just shows you the difference in how full and beautiful this tree can be if it gets full-sunlight. 


Yes, Spring continues to delight all of us in our area with so many lovely and beautiful trees and flowers.  I hope you are having a beautiful Springtime also.

Wishing you a lovely Springtime and a happy new week wherever you may be.


2 comments:

  1. Thank you for the lovely pics - wanted to see how the Cherokee roses look like on Google images and came to yoour lovely blog.. Also found this story online - "The story about the roses is known as the Legend of Cherokee Rose. The roses still grow along the route of the “Trail of Tears.” The “Cherokee rose” is the state flower for Georgia. During the Trail of Tears, the Chiefs prayed for a sign to lift the crying mothers’ spirits and give them strength to care for their children. It is said that on that day and ever since, a white rose grows where the tears of the mothers fell. The white peddles on the rose stand for the mothers’ tears. The gold in the center of the rose stands for the gold that was stolen from the Cherokee lands. The seven leaves on the rose represent the seven clans of the Cherokee that made the journey." http://www.coedu.usf.edu/culture/Story/Story_Georgia.htm

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  2. Thank you for visiting Sweet Southern Days and for your sweet comment regarding the pictures. Also thank you for sending the very interesting information about the Legend of Cherokee Roses. Yes, the Trail of Tears was a sad and shameful time in our history. How nice to have such a beautiful flower to pay tribute to the Cherokee people.

    On a personal note: We have a mountain cabin in Robbinsville, North Carolina where the "Trail of Tears" originated. Many Cherokee Indians live in this area. We are told they are the descendants of the people who were able to successfully hide out and not become a part of the "Trail of Tears."

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