Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Balmy Breezes, Shivery Freezes and Rainy Days




The magnificent flowers of Tulip Magnolia (magnolia soulangeana) are sometimes lost to a late frost--but not this year!
                                                  
March never can seem to make up it's mind. It starts out in the morning shivering in a winter coat, and by noon it's shorts and a tee shirt. Two hours later and you're drenched in a sudden downpour, mixed with 3 inches of pea-sized hail and wind that litters the ground with thousands of tiny twigs and branches, usually just after you've just picked  up all of the debris from the last weather snit.Then the sun peeks out; Mother Nature laughing at her own perverse sense of humor (Not Funny, Mom!) and warms your body and soul , kissing you with fresh breezes and hugging you with the delicious scents of fresh flowers and moist earth.

Miniature daffodils
                                                                    
Tritellia, one of my favorite small spring bulbs
                                              
Peppermint stick (clusiana) tulips
                                                                 
The next day, you wake up to a skin of frost all over everything, the daffodils are shivering and the rhododendron leaves are curled up into slim fingers that makes you want to fit them out with mittens!  There's a promise of 70 degrees by Sunday, but.....are the promises going to be kept?

Butterbur (petasites) flowers come up before the leaves
                                    
Vinca minor atropurpurea with white grape hyacinth

Spores on moss

Woodland walk
                    
Hosta montana aureomarginata
                                                       
Lots of promises to keep.

"And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,
And in green underwood and cover
Blossom by blossom the spring begins."
--Swinburne


6 comments:

  1. Now I needed that! A nice spring reminder ... a reminder that we'll eventually get there, even if we are expecting snow tomorrow. Thank you for posting!

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  2. Stop by my blog. You are the recipient of the “Stylish Bloggers Award”. This high honor comes with much responsibility and a nifty emblem. jim

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  3. I love your blog. I came upon it when I was looking for information about building a circular brick patio (which is nearly finished and looks a lot like yours). And now I know the name of the lovely little white and blue bulb flower I featured on my own blog post this week: tritellia. Thank you! My blog is http://myviewfromthegarden.blogspot.com. I would love to share it with you.

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  4. I love the Tulip Magnolia; it's flowers look like satin with that pale pink hue. ~Kate from YourGardenShow

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