Photo by Okey L. King

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.................Photo by Jonathan King

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..................................Photo by Jonathan King

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This trio of snow crocuses was photographed by Okey L. King. They made the scene on March 14, 2007.

Photo by Okey L. King

...........................................This tinyblue flower blooms in our yard early every year. I don't know what it is.
................................Photo By Okey L. King. .........................................

........... ...........This not very showey but very smelly citizen of spring is wild mint
........Photo by Okey L. King

Most of us have seen forsythia but usually just as a big yellow bush. Here is what the individual flowers are like.
..........................Photo by Olkey L. King.

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.........My wife transplanted this plant from the house down in the hollow. Now it forms a carpet at the top of our drive. If you know what it is,let me know. It blooms all summer.
.........Photo by Okey L. King

I made this photo of a magnolia bloom.

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...........................This is Carolyn's oriental pear. It is just coming out and it is loaded.

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..........The birds brought us the purple plum.

......................This is a weeping cherry but Carolyn didn't know that she had to make it weep.

This is another one of our daffodiles.

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........................This is a dew-kissed quince bloom.

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............This is what part of Carolyn's flower garden looks like in very early Spring.

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.........................I was looking for wildflowers out in the woods and was reclining in the leaves when I spied this log and fungi

.....We had four days of hard freezes. All of the flowers above were burned to a crisp. But, it is not just frozen flowers that makes up the disaster. The sarvis was also in bloom. They were killed as well. In june, sarvis berries (service berries) are a main food staple of the birds. This year, there will be none. Wildlife will have a hard row to how this year. We are well on our way to having our coldest spring in history. It has been psycologically devestating.

.....The cold spell is over and things are trying to recover. There are new quince blooms right beside those that were burnt. The lilacs may make it as well. But, for the redbud, sarvis, and the fruit trees that werre already out, it is over for this year.

.....I was out in the sunshine this morning photographing ordinary things. The number one champion for aroma, the autumolive, is in full bloom. Below is a closeup of the small blooms that brings such a tremendous spicey aroma.

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.....photos by Okey L. King

............Most folks disdane these two humble backyard wildflowers,but, I welcome them. I love to see the yellow carpet of dandilions and buttercups.

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..................This is one of my favorite flowers: the little blue viloet.

My friend Grace says that these little chickweeds are a mess when they get in your formal flower garden, but they are welcome in God's flower garden.

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.....These are sweet williams. We have a carpet of these now.

This is the angel that Jonathon and I got for Carolyn for Mother's day. It guards the entrance to our arch.

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.......These daiseys are a favorite of my wife. They have taken over and are even growing up through our bench. The flower garden does not look much like it did in the upper photo in early spring. My wife has not have time, and she is also recovering from an injury she suffered at work, to really work in her garden to keep it neat. So, it has grown wild on its own. Notice all of the other kinds of plants in the photo.

............................ ............................Although it can be invasive, wild honeysuckle has a beautiful flower as an aroma like no other wild plant. On a soft late spring night, this aroma floats on the air like a invisible cloud.

The second fall photo was made perhaps 25 years ago when we had livestock to mow the vegetation.

Photos by Okey L. King

In a third season photo, a beautiful but dry fall is displayed in the colors of Bennett Hollow on the Koenigsburg.

Photo by Okey L. King

The scarlet is on the oaks and the bright yellow is on one of the lagrest shumac trees that I have seen.

Photo by Okey L. King

This a very late fall or early winter sunset seen through the bare tree branches on the Koenigsberg.

Photo by Okey L. King.

This is a fourth season photo. The norway spruces, as well as the wihite pines and the hardwoods, are covered with a thick blanket of light fluffy snow...the kind of snow that makes for picture postcards. It is pretty stuff, but it makes living on the Koenigsberg harder for old folks. But, spring can not be too far around the corner. Sometimes we even get to set out onions in February.

The wheel of the seasons has turned full circle again.

The following photos are by Okey L. King.

.....Again the way is led by the little yellow snow crocus. ..........

The daffodils are out doing themselves this year with some blooming that I have never seen bloom before.

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.....Out in the field beyond the house a tree is blooming that must have been planted by the birds.

.....As I was driving down the hill, taking my wife to work, I had a hunch that one of my favorite flowers might be blooming. So, I had her to watch because she can see a lot better than I can. Sure enough, it was my lucky day.
.....The shy bloodroot may bloom only one day a year. It depends on the fickle Spring weather. When I came home, I amde my way up the side of the bank and made these photos. The bloodroot is a colony, and they are like one huge plant.

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.....Many folks do know wat a sarvis is. Actually it is the service Berry, but the old folks pronounced it "sarvis," and that is what I call it. It is one of the first blooming wild trees. It has red fruit that that are a favorite with the birds. That is so much so, that a human seldom gets a chance to taste one. They are sweet and appear on the tree in June. I tried to take a photo of this large tree below our house as the sun was shining through it. I don't know how well I succeeded.

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.....These are not wild things, but the yellow and the brillent white of the pear demanded a photo. There is not any room on the pear for another bloom. I know the name of the yellow, but I prefer calling the "yellow bushes." ....................

.....These daffodils are watching for folks to come up our hill. There footing is a little ragged and uncertain, but I don't believe I have ever seen these bloom before this year.

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.....It is a picture perfect day today on this hill in Greenbrier County, and I enjoyed it by makeing a few photos. We are blessed to have survived two chilly nights in the upper twenties.

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......This handsome little tree came on its own accord...ro ws brought in by birds. It is an Elm-leaf maple. Hanting from it's branches are some home-made wind chimes and a homemade birdfeeder. In the backgrounds sits our answer to the gas crisis. Here a work vehicle also has to be a passanger vehicle as only have one.

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.....The spring green leaves are out on this burning bush and and the tress in the background. Nestled down among the green is an old horse-drawn seed drill.

..... At the left of the photo is a purple leafed plum with its tiny white flowers. This tree was also a gift from the birds. In the lower center, Carolyn's little boy and girl are relaxing with their shining white steed looking over them.

.....We have had a number wild apple trees to make their appearance here. The tree in this photo that is blooming is an example of the wild apples. Of course the green tree at the left is a red cedar. The tree in the middle without leaves is a wild blackcherry and the green leaves below the cherry belong to a lilac. The cherries will bloom around Memorial Day. I am not sure of the name of the wild yellow flower that grows at the side of our road as it tops our hill.

..................More Photos by Okey L. King.

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.....Do you know what this tree is? My wife ordered a weeping cherry and got this instead.

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......From a mile east on Route sixty, there is almost a wall of redbud all the way back to Caldwell.

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......On our hill, an old road vanishes into the Spring Green.

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.....This is another wild tree growing on the Koenigsberg blesses us.

.....This wild mountain flower is the flame azelia. The old folks called it honeysuckle. .......
.......Photos by Okey L. King.

.....This wild geranium is growing in Carolyn's garden.

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.....Two simple dogwood blooms. .....

......The wild phloxs are beautiful as I write this.

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.....Ysterday, August 26th, I took a stroll to see if I could find some late summer wildfloweres. These next three photos contain both flora and fauna as the bees were working the blooms.

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.....Well, the seasons have spun on back to winter again, but, below are the very last of the color of 2008.

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..................A cherry and the oriental pear.

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....................................The Burning bush at the south end of the yard.

.....Well, it's wintertime again and most things are asleep. It has been cold, but there as not been a lot of snow to protect those things that are sleeping. The following photos were made on a rare snowey morning. The snow was light and fluffy and the sky was blue. I was accompanied by my mountain dog Mushey. Mushy is full of life and tough as nails. We are both looking for Spring.

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I looked up one late winter evening and saw the moon after it had risen over the shoulder of Greenbrier Mountain.

.....It is time for the trird spin of the seasons since I began this page. It is the 10th daay of March, 2009 and we have one snow crocus, one large blue crocus. Scattered around the front yard, there are a number of what we call "little bluebells. At last, a good sign of Spring. I will be looking for wild flowers to photgraph that I do not already have on this page. I will be looking for a trillum. I may have to go out of bounds a little and go up the next hollow to find them.. I would like tofind a hapatica. I haven't seen one of those for awhile. I don't know where they went. Also, I want to get a trout lilly which grows on the other side of the hill but still on this property. Thank you Lord for bringing us through another winter.

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.....The little bluebells and croscus are with us again. The little blue flowers have gone wild and have spread all over the yard.

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......I made these photos in the morning with the sun shining.

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.....This clump oc crocuses are reaching toward the spring sun.

The cold dry winter appears to have its affect, but this magnolia is a cloud of bloom. This bush was throuwn away by the local nursely. But, we retrieved it from the dump and it has done very well.

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.....I have never been able to find the name for this delicate will wildflower. This is the first time in three springs that I have been able to find it.

.....While I am waiting for the trilliums to bloom this year, I am inserting the photos below that are about 25 years old. I made them with my old Practica SLR. In addition to being old, you cansee the difference between these and the digital photos.

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..........Photo by Okey L. King dated about 1982
< .....I made this trillium photo in the next hollow up from the one to the east of us. I had close attachments and i would go around on my hands and knees looking for flowers to photgraph.

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...................Photo by Okey l. King<
.....These hepaticas once bloomed on the hill behind the house. I don't know what happened to them. Also, little fawn lillies bloom there. I would like to go look for them, but I don't want to go alone. We have plenty of bears, and I have a fear of them. Also, a mountain lion killed a neighbor's dog not long ago. So, as I am never armed, I don't feel comfortable alone.

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.........................Photo by Okey L. King
.....You can see where the hepaticas bloomed. This one is huddled up agains the root of a large tree.

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..............Photo by Okey L. King
.....These delicate flowers are crowsfoot violets. They bloom across the valley on the hillside. I had transfered some to our yard whenthis photo was made. But, like many wild things, they did not appreciate being moved and chose not to live in our yard.

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.......Photo by Okey L. King
.....It is more than probable tht you don't know what this is because very few people see it. This is ginsing with berry. I made this photo in the Tuckahoe Valley in front of my deacon Woody Cox's house. His father Hillman, now deceased, planted it just to see if it would grow.

.....The flowers below are rare.

photos by Okey L. King about made 25 years ago.

.....Here is the trillium that I have been waiting for. But, I only found two and they were small.

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.....This is the 24th of April, 2009. My wife went to work early. When I had dropped her off at work, gone to the post offoce, and had turned into our road, I decided that I would park and walk up the railway to see if the trilliums were blooming. As I said, I only found two and they were small. I didn't enjoy walking along the track so I decided that I would climb the steep bank and go back through the woods.
.....But, before I could get started up the bank, I heard a train round the bend and blow at the crossing. I decided that I would wait, so I sat down on the bole of a large downed tree. I made this photo as the locomotive came into sight.

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......With the aid of a walking stick, I made my way up the bank to this old road.

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.....I walked the road back to our road and then walked back down to the truck. One the way, I made another redbud photo. As you see, it is that time of year again.

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.....We are now in the last third of Spring and the later things are blooming. For the first time in many years, the locust are blooming on the Koenigsburg. If people still had bees, it would be a good honey year.

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,,,,,This is one of Carolyn's clematis blooms. The plant is full of blooms.

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.....We had a beautiful pink rose that was killed in the big freeze a couple of years ago. The bush came back, but it now has these old-fashoned red roses.

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.....This part of what might be a wild blackberry cobbler. The wild blackberries are blooming now. I do not know if there will be rasberries this year.

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