Tuesday, April 13, 2010

spring flowers

It's such a welcome change when everything starts
blooming again! The "usuals" are in various stages--
some are just coming on, like the crabapple and lilac,
and some are on their way out, like the Bradford pears.
The girl child took photos for us:

grape hyacinth


redbud tree


violets (you can eat the flowers)

(my imaginary friend Tipper has a recipe for violet
jelly--look for the linky in the sidebar of her blog)

lilacs (these smell so good!)


crabapple (the fruit will end up jelly)


These we'd never noticed before. Maybe it was their
first time coming up in this spot, I don't know, but
they're a wildflower, about 3 inches tall:



Aren't they curious looking? They're called Indian
Tobacco, which isn't a very pretty name, or pussytoes,
because they're kind of furry looking, like kitty feet.
They supposedly have some medicinal uses, are an
indication of acidic soil, and, if you are so inclined,
you can dry it and smoke it in a pipe.

(I am NOT so inclined, thank you!)

Is anything beautiful blooming where you live?

4 comments:

Linda B. said...

You HAVE to live in Oklahoma! I promise these pictures could have been taken in my yard - full of violets, hyacinth, one crab apple, lilacs, etc. I had to look twice to make sure I hadn't taken them - gave me the weirdest feeling LOL!
If you put a picture of my house next, I will know I have hit the twilight zone. (I also LOVE Hitchhikers Guide - have it on paper, on audio and video!) :-)
Linda B.

Elizabeth Golden said...

These are glorious pictures! I can smell the fragrance of the flowers as I look at them. Thank you for sharing your spring!

Unknown said...

Love these yummy Spring reminders very colourful

love Dawn xx

Gayle Page-Robak said...

Hi Trish...you asked about my Clare (also spelled Claire) de Lune Peony. As you probably know there are many dozens of types of peonies and many are single petal types. The Claire De Lune is a Japanese type and it can be seen in eithe a white petal with large yellow showy centre (like the one I have) or in a pale yellow with a yellow center. You do not see them too often, at least I haven't. They are fairly pricey and they do not bloom for too long. I have a number of the old fashioned type of peonies and I love them all....except of course if we get a huge rain or high winds when they are in bloom...they can be so messy. I think the old fashioned peonies have a stronger scent, but then there are so many petals on each flower, perhaps that is why. Loved seeing your photos and look forward to returning to your blog. I have always been a gardener and when we relocated a number of years ago to another city I really missed the huge gardens I had and mostly hated to leave my greenhouse behind. It was excellent and had both a heating and a cooling system, running water, etc. so it not only served my love for gardening but for paper making. But, I sure don't miss all the work that went along with it (sigh). Hugs, Gayle. (I thought I was already on your blog list...I saw I was not so have joined you at this time.