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.

A Preview of Spring

Spring is definitely on the horizon here. The pear trees are in full bloom and daffodills everywhere- except here my one clump hasn't bloomed yet. This photo is from a week ago when the weather was warm and these were the first flowers open. This weekend is cold and it has rained continuously keeping me and my camera indoors.

I have been working nonstop between Photoshop and Zazzle. I have added many products and learned new things. What I have not done is much of anything to promote my work( or play as it may be since the promotion would be the work).

Above is an example of a photo that has been altered to look like a painting. Not a dramatic change but what I hope is an improvement. Rudbeckia triloba floats among the foliage of forsythia overshadowed by the seedheads of Eragrostis elliottii, Blue Love Grass.







This is the same planting with a different photo and editing method. With the volume of garden photos in my hard drive and the possibilites of what can be done with them in Photoshop it's no wonder that I can barely pull myself away from the computer. But Spring is on my doorstep and hopefully will return some balance to my world. In the meantime I think I'll do some more uploading...