Blooming Friday~ Good Friday too

After the sixth coldest winter recorded at RDU Airport Spring is moving along at a rapid pace. In two weeks we went from buds to blooms to almost fully leafed out on the Weeping Cherry trees.



This pink dogwood tree is planted very close to the house on the north side. The flowers are just opening~ this is our Easter tree since it's almost always in bloom on Easter no matter when it falls on the calendar. The shady location makes it really hard to get good photos but I try and try again.

The Red Maple is in bloom. This tree is young enough to be able to see them closeup.

The epimediums are also hard to capture because of their small size and location- I backed right into all kinds of limbs while getting these shots.

This is the fullest display that I've ever had from the Veronica 'Georgia Blue'. It was moved here a couple of years ago and was hidden under the Muhly grass pretty much until this year.

I've never seen a display like this on from my young Loropetalum. It must have enjoyed all of the rain.

The hellebore is winding down but has a very good year.

I've done alot of organizing over at Little Wing Photography & Design. I'd love for you to visit!

This is the last Bloomimg Friday to be hosted by Katarina at Roses and Stuff. Be sure to visit and bookmark her beautiful blog.

Happy Easter!

Blooming Friday ~ Trees!

It really feels like Spring when the trees start flowering. Last Friday I posted pics of Weeping Cherry and Bradford Pear flower buds. The next day was very warm and both trees started blooming.



The graceful cherry





The hellebore still has blooms and plenty of plump flower buds waiting their turn.




Lorapetalum 'Ruby' has the most bloom buds this year that I've ever seen. A couple of flowers were open deep in the foliage. I'm not sure if the flowers will open in procession or all at once.



Our hostess Katarina at Roses and Stuff asked if we were enjoying anything pink. I guess the last two bloom pics were pinkish so~ yes. The pink that I've enjoyed the most this week though did not come from blooms. I broke my shades probably a month ago and since it has been so gloomy I had not bothered to replace them until our beautiful sunny day last Saturday. I have to say that the world really does look better through rose colored glasses:)

Blooming and Almost Blooming Friday~the late, late edition

It has been a beautiful day in my part of North Carolina, the kind of Friday that you dream of having off from work. Alas to work I went after taking photos up until the last minute before dressing to leave. I've finally stole enough time to share them here for my first Blooming Friday of 2010.

Katarina at roses and stuff asks us this Friday what photo means Summer the most to us. This picture from June 2008 in my garden is one of my favorite summer images~ Daylily 'Twister Time' with liatris and Salvia 'Black and Blue' in the background.





Presently I have nothing new blooming since my last post. The hybrid hellebore is still blooming. I was blocking the sun in this first shot so I decided to give it a glow to brighten it up a bit.




Same hellebore backlit.



The Forsythia is in full on bloom.






and the Helleborus foetidus is still hanging in there.



For the ~almost blooming~ part I have Prunus subhirtella, Weeping Cherry...







and daffs in the shade(!)...



and the ubiquitous 'Bradford' Callery Pear.




This last blossom is maturing at an alarming rate~ at least it seems that way to her caretaker;) Meike is starting to look like a little Pom instead of a fur ball. Here she is on the deck this morning, on the move...



and looking out at the garden that she is just learning her way around...



Happy Blooming Friday- well almost, I think I may have missed it by a smidge,lol.

Bloom Day~ March 2010

I'm very happy to be participating once again in the Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. I don't have many different blooms but I'll gladly share them. We've had some great mild days and the garden is coming alive again~ like Phoenix rising from the ashes since I haven't finished Spring cleaning yet.

Helleborus foetidus is still sporting her green bells with raspberry trim. The foliage is a beautiful contrasting dark green. This is not your typical cottage garden plant but I find it beautiful nonetheless.



The foliage can be seen in this photo.




This Forsythia was grown from cuttings from the bush that has grown at my Mom's house since sometime in the 1970's. Forsythia is very easy to root from softwood cuttings- probably the reason for a fellow garden blogger's "Hedge". This first photo is of the handsome fall foliage.





Can't you just feel how beautiful it was on Saturday?





The hybrid hellebore has made its grand opening. This is a passalong and probably not a named cultivar or strain~ if so I'm unaware of it. I do like the dramatic dark mauve blooms.







To see what's blooming in gardens near and far visit Carol at
May Dreams Gardens.

Flowers in February~ Hellebores

I've never been much of a winter gardener. The cold air and wind makes my nose run and my head ache. It is nice however to have a plant or two with something going on when the mood strikes to take a brief walk with the camera. This is the first year that I've had flowers on my Bear Claw Hellebore- Helleborus foetidus. It was planted in 2008~ a swap plant~ and I really enjoyed the foliage in its own right. The large bloom stalk began forming in the fall and these flowers may have been here for a while before I discovered them. This first photo was taken last Saturday...





...and these yesterday.










My one mature Helleborus x hybridus is still in bud.






I found some really cool scripts for my PSPX2 yesterday. I thought this one was pretty cool on the Hens and Chicks.



Our dogs are rather spoiled by being able to do their business indoors on p-p-pads and so they don't spend alot of time outdoors during the week either. I let them out of the back door onto the deck all of the time because Chewy will not go down the steps into the yard and so far Meike too~ knock on wood. Here are a few shots of the duo from yesterday.









My mom lost her best friend to ovarian cancer yesterday. This is in honor of Gail ~ she will be greatly missed.