Harbingers of Spring

The pussywillows have run their cycle and are at the ugly-fuzzy-yellow-pollen-almost-a-leaf stage.   The forsythia is in full yellow riot.  My quince bush is in the tight bud phase, ready to burst forth with myriad pink flowers.  And the lilacs are beginning to leaf out.

The crabgrass in the gravel driveway has begun to grow like the weed it is. The moss on trees and fenceposts has turned a violent green.  Trees are sending up suckers like shooting stars.  And the birds are getting noisier and noisier as the boys practice their rusty mating calls.  And the other day I saw a robin fly by with nest-building material in its mouth.

I am so ready for spring!  These signs of greenery and new life are glad tidings to my winter-weary heart!

Spring Flowers

Pat Rice posted a picture of her lovely clematis on her blog site, and lamented the fact commenters couldn't leave pictures of their own in the comments section. I agree. I would love to see other people's flower pictures! I love looking at (and smelling) flowers, so I decided to post a few of my own here. I hope you enjoy them!

The yellow picture is a perennial called Basket O' Gold that is one of the first things to bloom in the spring. It cascades over the railroad ties in my landscaping in wild abandon. Their bright yellow flowers are so cheerful. This is a hardy plant that thrives on neglect.

The purple picture is the clematis of a friend. I love how the ruffled edges of the flower remind me of the ruffle on the hem of a Regency debutante's dress.

The green picture isn't of flowers, but of bracken ferns. I liked the pattern of the ferns as well as the bright green color. In case you couldn't tell, I like doing close-ups. *g*

The single flower in the next picture is a columbine, another cheerful little perennial that is blooming in my whiskey planter tub right now.

And the last picture is yet another hardy and determined little flower, the first harbinger of spring: a primrose. These primroses have survived hail, snow, sleet, and driving rain, and don't seem adversely affected by any of it.

Oh, wait, I have one more picture to post. The pink rose is the only rose plant in my garden. I call it my Rose Stick Plant, because it is just one single stalk that sticks out of the ground and it never branches out, nor does it produce more than one single pink rose each year. Originally, it produced a single blue rose, a hybrid I bought through mail order and which I highly prized for its rarity. Then one year the goat I used to own ate the rose down below the graft point, and now all I get is the pink rose, since the stalk the blue rose was grafted to was for a pink rose. Alas.

So these are just a few of my flower pictures.

Beautiful Bounty of Flowers

This will be a short and sweet post, but I couldn't let the day go by without showing you a picture of my bouquet of lilacs and pink rhododendrens. Isn't it a pretty bouquet? (Even if I did jump the gun and pick the lilacs and rhodies before they were fully open!) I love flowers, and I'm grateful that lilacs bloom so early. This bouquet is sitting on my desk as we speak, and the scent is filling the room. Bliss. Pure bliss!

Same Rose, Different View

I guess you could say I love my camera. After taking over 100 pictures of the same rose, I ended up with perhaps 5 really good pictures. Those of you who are photographers will understand.

Here's a picture that I particularly liked. Of course, it helps that I love the color pink.

A Rose by Another Name . . .

. . . is still a rose. Or however that saying goes.

Yesterday I took over 100 pictures of a rose. That's one of the shots on the left. It's from a rose plant, one that consists of a single stem and one rose. I planted the rose in my garden years ago, and it has never grown taller than two feet. It has no branches--it's still a two-foot tall stick. And it has never produced more than one one perfect rose each year.

I love the velvet texture of roses, and their scent is divine. A rose is Mother Nature's gift to mankind.

Up Your Nose!

Gross!!! Yesterday I picked a gorgeous spray of flowers from my rhododendron. It's a rare scented rhodie with a lovely, sweet smell. As I walked to the house, I buried my nose in the flowers and took a deep sniff. And came away with a hideous black garden slug on my nose and upper lip.

I'm not a freak-out person, but that got me good! I slapped it off my lip and hurried to the house with my upper lip stuck out so as not to contaminate my lower lip. I wiped it off with tissue, then soaped up a sponge and scrubbed my nose and lip.

Ahhhhh, nature. Sometimes, I think Mother Nature is a practical joker. Have you ever had anything unexpected happen to you as a result of Mother Nature?