The Whirlwind of Spring

Spring is such a rapidly evolving time of year, it's difficult to keep up with all of the changes in the garden. The weeding too! By the time I make the rounds, it's time to begin again.

The first Swallowtails appeared as the last flowers of the
First Breath of Spring were in bloom, about 3 weeks ago.

Many birds have returned as well. I haven't tried out my new lens much, but I did get these pictures of a blue-gray gnatcatcher, a bold little bird that resembles a tiny mockingbird with a white eye-ring and sounds much like a giant mosquito.

I heard a blue grosbeak and a summer tanager last week. I haven't yet heard any indigo buntings or orchard orioles.

Amsonia

Many of the spring stalwarts are in mid-stride: columbines, azaleas, early roses and iris. There's an evergreen azalea that blooms everywhere around here that I would dearly love to know the name of. It's fairly large, 4-6' in height, with large rosy-purple flowers. Definitely not PJM. PJM has more Rhodie type leaves and the flowers are more lavender than the local azaleas.

The butterfly of the flower world, columbine.

The early iris are blooming: 'Crimson King', 'Jesse's Song', and Eva's White. I love purple iris and can't get enough of them.

A mixed-up flock of 'Crimson King'

'Crimson King' with 'Nightfall'

Bud of 'Jesse's Song'

The Baptisias are starting to open up. This beautiful native can have a somewhat strange upright habit, but goes really well with iris, roses, columbine, phlox and Amsonia.

Many of the rugosas and Climbing Old Blush have started to bloom. This is a seedling of 'Therese Bugnet', somewhat of a throwback, but she has retained 'Therese Bugnet's height.

'Climbing Old Blush' is looking good, although she suffered what could have been a real setback this winter. The wind blew the trellis over, heaving up the roots of both roses on each side, along with the big hunks of concrete at the bottom of both side of the trellis. DH put in rebar, poured new footings, stuck the roses back in, and they seemed to be fine.

The prize for the most velvety rose in the garden goes to 'Hansa'.

Piedmont azalea

This is the most golden of my Florida Azaleas; I have others which are much more orange. I love the orange Floriza Azaleas but must take care to keep them away from pink.