Friday, March 21, 2008

Blessings Friday: Spring Flowers

I really appreciate the helpful comments about my sewing snafu yesterday. I will eventually conquer this project. It will probably be some simple disconnect between the book and my brain that will make me laugh and have an Oprah “ah hah” moment.

Since yesterday was the first day of Spring, I wandered around our backyard checking out how nature is blessing us this turn of time’s wheel. It’s not all Saguaros and sagebrush in Tucson.

Right away, I’m cheating. These aren’t growing in our yard; I bought them for my dinner table. My friend Kristie came over last night for our monthly dinner/crafting evening. She made a gorgeous ankle bracelet out of beautiful glass beads and little silver Celtic beads. Her jewelry-making skills are amazing. As for me, I was feeling a bit unfocused, so I didn’t work on anything but just watched her and chatted.



Have you heard about the world’s oldest living rose tree? It is a giant Lady Banks Rose (Rosa banksiae) now known as the Tombstone Rose and resides at the Rose Tree Inn in Tombstone, AZ. It is the result of a rooting of "Old White Rose" sent as a house-warming gift from Scotland in the 1800s. This year that one plant will be 123 years old. We have cuttings of this massed around our backyard fence by our pool.



Our Tombstone Roses are blooming like crazy but there are also thousands of buds just waiting to ripen.



I have two other rosebushes in another section of our yard that are budding, too. There is lots of new cane growth and buds are popping out all over the place.



Our honeysuckles are starting to bloom, too. Mortimer, our resident Black-chinned Hummingbird loves these.



Lots of rosemary grows in my yard. We’ve been enjoying their blooms for some time now. It is so wonderful to have fresh rosemary year-round.



This is lantana. It grows like crazy in our yard—the birds love it. The flowers change color as they mature, resulting in inflorescences that are two- or three-colored.



We have giant Oleander trees (yes, trees) growing around our house in the front yard but they aren’t blooming yet. But on my front porch I have a humongous Boston fern and a huge pot of happy red geraniums.

I hope your yards have examples of nature’s blessings—and if you live where the weather is still onerous, buy yourself some Spring flowers to remind you of the hope instilled by this change of season. Have a very blessed Easter weekend!

17 comments:

Rosie's Whimsy said...

Thanks for sharing your corner of Spring!

Wishing you a Glorious Easter Weekend! :-) Rosie

Anonymous said...

June, I don't know whether to thank you for the happy spring pictures or be jealous. Today we are getting 10-15 inches of snow. All my bulbs had just started peaking out of the earth only to be plummeted by winter. OK, can't be jealous of you but I'm irritated with mother nature.

Thimbleanna said...

Your flowers are beautiful June! I can only imagine flowers in the yard in our expecting-some-snow-today world!

rohanknitter said...

Wow, what wonderful pictures - it's a feast for the eyes! Our yard is still pretty dreary looking but I did buy myself an Easter lily to brighten things up inside.

dutchcomfort said...

Wonderful flowers, thanks for sharing June!
Some weeks ago we had warm temperatures (18 degrees) and trees and plants started to have buds. Now we have 3 degrees, hailstone, rain and thunderstorms and all blossom is on the street...
Not much flowers yet. It will be a cold Easter!

Rosemary said...

Love the flower photos!!
You have a wonderful Easter!
Rosemary

Anonymous said...

June your flowers are beautiful.
I'm gealous that you are going into spring and we have to have winter......
Although it doesn't feel anything like Autumn at the moment.
Cooling off this weekend.
We could still be swimming if our pool was up.

Alison Gibbs said...

Thanks for showing us your delightful Spring blooms
Alison

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

Oh June! I'm so jealous! It's is still too cold here in NY for anything to bloom.

In April we'll see some bulbs and flowering trees bloom, and May will be an explosion of trees growing leaves and shrubs flowering.
I've learned never to plant annual flowers or vegetables and herbs in my garden until Mother's Day, as it can still get cold.

I love all the detail you gave about the flowers in your garden in your post -- those vintage roses are wonderful!

I have pictures of some spring flowers --columbine and tulips -- from The Denver Botanical Garden that my daughter-in-law took when we visited it in May a few years ago. It was the only way I could post flowers for a HAPPY SPRING yesterday! :-)

Have a Happy Easter!

Hugs, Pat

Saucy said...

Easter Greetings, June. Your garden looks gorgeous. I bet it smells lovely with all those little rosebuds. Happy day!

a pink-bee said...

What a neat post ~love the old rose bush ~and so lucky that you have a cutting :)
Happy Easter :)
crystal
oxox

Dena Rooney-Berg (SugarShop) said...

Beautiful flowers!

SOINSPIRED said...

I've seen that rose bush in Tombstone. I've been wanting to start one, but I fear that it gets too hot here. Happy Easter!

Gumbo Lily said...

Oh how I enjoyed that, Junie! Is the desert in bloom yet? Your yard is bloomin' beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

We're still dry, brown, gray and waiting for the green to come. The birds are arriving now though! Yippee!

Easter Joy!

Jody

La Tea Dah said...

Oh,the flower pictures are so beautiful! You make me lonesome for Arizona! Dear aunt lives not far from you (well, within a hundred miles) and she loves tulips and daffodils and dahlias. She works very hard to create a magnificent spring garden each year.

Thanks for sharing and HAPPY EASTER!

LaTeaDah

Caleen said...

Beautiful pictures of Spring!! Happy Easter to you!!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful pictures that make me want spring to hurry up and get here.

We had more snow last week-about 10-inches where I live.

Your garden is beautiful!