Bee on Phlox

You never know what might get captured in a snapshot and that is half the fun of taking photographs. 

Yellow Iris

Blooming right now in the back yard.

Prairie Phlox

Prairie phlox are now in bloom along the roadside near our farm.  Their curled edges attest to the chilly weather we’ve experienced lately.

Luminaria

This perennial is in bloom right now.  The blossoms are very small and fragile.

Aquilegia Columbine

Also known as “Clementine Red”, this columbine has sturdy stems and blossoms which hold up well even in cool, windy, rainy conditions.

Lily of the Valley

Very fragrant they are and able to tolerate living and blooming in shady places. 

See you later

Good thing I took that photo of the lilac buds the other day.  Our weather has been so chilly lately that now the lilac flowers and apple blossoms are brown-tinged due to nighttime temperatures dipping into the 30’s.  Therefore, I probably won’t blog until the flowers look more presentable.

Shooting Star

  Delicately blooming right now is this shooting star which I purchased a few years ago for my perennial flower bed.  When I was a kid we’d see shooting stars growing wild along the roadside near our farm.

Lilacs-To-Be

Slowly but surely the lilacs progress toward full bloom…..

Apple Blossom

From last evening around sunset time……

Red Spruce Buds

We have one red spruce tree and right now it is covered with these rosy red buds.

Red Bud

Here’s a maple leaf bud of a different color…..

Announcers

Profusions of tiny green blossoms announce the upcoming annual arrival of leaves to the Norway maple tree.

Confused

Wait a minute…..maybe I’d better check the calendar…..

Is it spring or fall right now?  It seems this maple tree is trying to confuse me.

Seeds To Be

A botanist would surely be able to name the various parts of this conglomeration currently found adorning maple tree branches in our yard.

In yesterday’s blogpost I described the young leaves as being “rosy-tipped”, but it is apparent from the above photo that the rose red color does not belong to the emerging leaves.  It is part of the developing maple seeds, those propeller-like devices that eventually will whirl around and flutter to the ground later on in the spring.  Funny, I never noticed things like this before starting to take photos for the blog.

Leaf Babies

Making their appearance on the springtime stage…...

  ……a soft maple tree’s rosy-tipped fledgling leaves.  

Violet Focus

Thank goodness there was at least one focused blossom in this crowd of violets.

Yesterday, rather than posting a photo I chose to change the color of my blog’s title.  Exciting news for sure and actually it was fun to tentatively try a wild hue or two before deciding on a conservative dark blue. 

Doorway Cat

This black and white cat seemed destined to become part of a black and white photograph.

His habit is to sit in the doorway of one of our farm buildings.  Perhaps he feels he is standing guard over the three litters of baby kittens currently being tended there by their mothers.  Ah, the joys of springtime…..

Lowly Violet

Dependable, predictable, common as can be…..

……rather undesired and certainly uninvited,

the lowly violet returns to the lawn each spring. 

Fragility

I like the delicate character of these daffodil petals.

However, and sometimes sadly, one reality of life is that the usual companion trait of delicate is, naturally, fragile.  Not very long after this daffodil was photographed in relatively pristine condition, wind and rain transformed its appearance to grimy and limp.