First Poppy of the Season

Syracuse Poppy

Poppies start blooming here in the first few weeks of May.  This was taken a couple weeks ago!  I need to do a lot of work in the garden.  It has become overgrown and I'm not sure the flowerbeds are at the point where they can be weeded, they will have to be taken out and started over, or at least most of the plants will have to go.  I've also got some baby trees growing by the house that will need to be removed before they get big and cause foundation problems.  

I wanted to start on this months ago.  It seems like I'm always so busy and I go out in the yard in the evening and do a half hour or so of weeding and you couldn't tell I did anything.

I have contractors who do yard work for me at the property management company but they have been busy doing clients yards.  Yesterday was the first time I had someone come and do my own yard.  As a property manager it's kind of embarrassing to have a yard that is a jungle, a driveway with potholes and steps that need painting.  I decided to make sure that my house was being kept up too.  

Someone bought the foreclosure two-family house across the street and it turned out to be a local investor who did a great job rehabbing it.  He was going to keep it and rent it but someone ended up buying it who will be an owner occupant on the top unit and rent the bottom unit.  I was very happy.

That was the house that had the really bad neighbors who had the parties and fights.  I was worried some out of town investor would buy it, do the minimum amount of work and rent it to awful tenants.

Chinese Lantern Flowers out in Pompey

I took this out in the country, at our listing in Pompey, NY. It's a 5 bedroom 3.5 bath house on three levels! The lot is set back away from the road and is surrounded by woods on three sides. That is a good feature in an area where a lot of the houses are close to the road on busy roads. People want to go out to the country for peace and quiet and they end up with traffic noise instead! In addition to being away from the road, Cemetery Road is pretty quiet.

In the yard there's this huge patch of black eyed susans and Chinese Lanterns. They are the orange pod-shaped flowers like papery balloons. I have never seen them growing before, just at the florist.

The house is about a half hour drive from Syracuse.

It looks small from the photos, but it actually is three stories - it's on a slight hillside so the lower level is walkout and has big windows.

It's $129,777. It is a short sale, so the property will take longer to close.
Update: 
Property has an offer on it and is now pending!  

Tiger Lilies - easy to grow in Syracuse

These are Tiger Lilies - they grow almost like a weed here! Right now they are in season and all over.

These are in my yard. I'm not showing you a photo of the whole yard as I've sadly neglected it and it looks like a jungle! I truly meant to do a lot of gardening this year but I have been so busy with real estate, art, and working with Spay and Neuter Syracuse that the whole gardening thing just dropped out.

Oh well, I have someone coming to help me clear away a lot of the overgrowth and I'll make sure to find time to plant bulbs this fall.

It's Lilac Time

Every May, the Lilacs bloom for 3-4 weeks and it's just beautiful. I took this photo while I was taking pictures of an apartment building. Sometimes I go to buildings that have been abandoned or neglected as part of my job and they will have these wild overgrown gardens and I can tell someone really loved the property at one time and took good care of it. It's kind of bittersweet.

Arty Spring Tulips

I was struck by the contrast of these bright tulips next to the black wall in my neighbor's yard. Sadly all the photos came out blurry, so I played around with it in an editing program.

Thistles

Along the Erie Canal. I like way the black smooth fence contrasts with the spiky light colored flowers.

Roses up against my window

I love the way these roses press up against my window.

Snowdrops - first flowers of spring

Snowdrops, originally uploaded by Melsky.

We have had a few days of springlike weather, and now these flowers are growing in my yard. We will probably get a lot more snow before the season is over though.

Flowers from my garden

These are all in my garden. The house I bought has a garden already, with perennials and self seeding annuals. I don't really have to do anything except weed. The bad thing is there's no room for planing anything else unless I dig up more areas, which I haven't been motivated to do. I probably would have preferred a house where the gardens had some room for annuals though.

The first poppy of the season

It's just beautiful.

One of the things I like about living in a place with such distinct seasons is that the flowers all follow a schedule. Early in the spring you get these first tiny bulbs which come up, I think they are snowdrops. Then it's the daffodils and tulips, then the forsythia is the first flowering shrub. Then it's lilac season in early May, they all seem to bloom at once and it's lovely. Late May/June you get poppies. We just took a walk yesterday and many people had planted their spring gardens.

Wildflowers

Wildflowers, originally uploaded by Melsky.

This is an arrangement of wildflowers, also known as weeds! I love the way their stems curve.

I think I'm going to do a series of Syracuse wildflower photos.