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Spring is Short so Enjoy it Now!

Spring is exceedingly short, a beautiful season that could be cut off by a quick few days of heat. Last week in one of my regular posts of watching paint go slowly onto a canvas, I ended the post with a photo of my yard (“the yard”, “our yard”, the place outside of my home, oops, our home and my studio, etc.) and that photo received the comments. I think I can figure out what you, O Blog Reader, wants to see more than watching wet oil paint land on canvas.

Today we will have a spring fling thing.

These tiny blue flowers have the odd name of Speedwell, or Bird’s Eye Speedwell.
Baby-blue-eyes might be my favorite. You have to know where to look for them, and I do. Every year. They are earlier this year than usual.
These tiny bright spots should be called Magenta Maids, but the real name is Red Maids.
Looks like popcorn, but these are actually the bloom on Miner’s Lettuce.
Miner’s Lettuce and Fiddleneck are the earliest wildflowers in Three Rivers.

Last week Blog Reader Anne asked if I ever sit in the white chairs. Indeed I do, and Tucker often joins me.

But then Pippin butts in.

He’s kind of irresistible.

(Jackson isn’t very social nor is he loving or even friendly. He’s fine—Thanks for your concern.)

The flowers behind the white chairs have the unlovely name of “freeway daisies”. When the nursery owner showed them to me about 25 years ago, I said, “Those leaves are hideous so I bet they’ll do well in my yard.” The leaves without the flowers look sort of spiky, but the prolific flowers and easy propagation have overcome any objections on my part, although they do clash in color with the flowering quince. Since the deer don’t eat either of them and they bloom, I can handle a bit of color clashiness.

A few days ago, a dear friend tiptoed up to the front porch and left this incredible pot of tulips. They don’t grow well around here, so they are a HUGE floral treat.

They look electrified in the morning sun!

Just hanging around the tulips caused me to look for other things to photograph in the yard.

Yeppers, white daffodils.
This guy is early too. It is profuse in the pots by my studio all summer long.

Finally, I saw this freesia in my not-quite-awakened lawn (the one I let grow tall in the summer so Tucker and I can play hide-and-seek in the grass). How did it get there??

I love spring. LOVE IT!! Especially in Three Rivers.

7 Comments

  1. I love seeing all the flowers! In South Carolina so far all that has bloomed here is some azaleas and daylilies, but I have tulip leaves that have come up so I am hoping some tulips arrive soon. The tulips from your friend are gorgeous! What a beautiful color in the sun.

    • Thank you, Marlena! I was wondering where you were from. . . azaleas and daylilies are an interesting blend for now, because around here, those don’t bloom at the same time! I envy you your tulips. . . why do we (me) always want what won’t grow for us (me, again)?

  2. Flowers in barely-March! So pretty! And I learned something today–I didn’t know miner’s lettuce produced flowers! But then again, I only see it up at 8,000 feet in mid-summer.

    Thank you for the colorful tour of your (plural) yard by your (also plural) house. It inspires me to think of what I can grow in a pot on my (singular) concrete porch.

    • Sharon, it is almost miraculous how much flowers lift one’s spirits. Just get a few annuals at a nursery and pop them into that porch pot!

      • You’re right, I really should. What would you suggest for a day of half shade / half full sun in a climate similar to 3R?

        • Marigolds—plentiful, bright, hardy.

          • You said the magic word: “hardy!”

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