Spring Rushes in With Kindly Magnificence

So many beautiful blooms are bursting forth in my garden this week!  The season Spring brings with it renewed hope, springing from the knowledge that the garden did indeed survive Old Man Winter, despite all the fretting and despair...knowledge that we were once more victor over last year's nagging pestilence... knowledge that, yes, those little bulbs grew larger and multiplied, the trees eked out a few more inches, and Gardener gained a whole lot more insight.  There is only one direction the garden can head over the next year...toward magnificence!  We are sure of it.  Such is the hope of spring.  Oh, how I love spring!

Fall Floats In

No, I am not blind.  I peruse the Garden Blogworld daily, and I have not missed those brazen displays of autumn glory out there...the pumpkins, the scarecrows, and worst of all, the changing leaves.  There is something about growing up in the Deep South that makes one feel as though they are missing out on something in the fall.  I know some folk who get downright depressed over it.  Those Floridians who have time and money to burn will be found journeying northward these next few weeks to witness the splendor of this changing of the seasons.  Those who don't...well...they will feel a little empty, even if they can't quite put their finger on the reason.  Perhaps we would have never noticed if shops and schools and restaurants in town were not festooned in leafy garlands and pumpkin displays.  This decoration is surely the inspiration of northern transplants missing their homeland: a Florida native would scarcely even know of such things as changing seasons were we not under such influences.

Distractions

I wasn't planning to post today, but yesterday, there was such a flurry of activity about the firebushes that I marched out there with camera in hand determined to capture a shot.  Literally, there must have been twenty or so hummingbirds flitting in and out of the area, perching in the bottlebrush now, then in the bunya-bunya, and later in a crape myrtle.  What a delight to watch!  Much fighting seemed to be going on among the males, yes, those beautiful males with their flaming throats.  Then the lot of them would flit off into the nearby oak trees.  And back again!  There I stood, for easily an hour, hidden behind a couple of huge Florida cracker roses, trying to get that blasted camera to focus and shoot. 

Confessions of a Photo Faddist

I have a teenage son who is a very picky eater.  What makes things even tougher is that he gets caught up on these "food fads."  He absolutely loves eating a certain food for lunch everyday for two months, then suddenly won't touch it.  Never mind that I just bought a month's supply, and no one else in the house wants the stuff.  Then we're off on a new food fad.  It really drives me crazy.  Don't get me wrong, we don't spoil him.  Most nights, he must sit down and eat what the family's having for dinner.  (Though in his younger days, many a tear was shed over broccoli.)   But for breakfast, lunch, and snacks, we pretty much just grab stuff from the kitchen.

My Favorites...This Month (May 2010)

I'm joining in with Susan of Simply Susan! to post My Favorites...This Month.  Pop on over if you'd like to join in.  May was a really hard month to narrow down favorites, but here are a few.  Click on the collage to enlarge.

Dewdrop Distortions

In the garden this morning, I was drawn to furled foliage rising in the center of the Hawaiian ti plants. 

The Magnificent Magnolia

The month of May has entered in magnificent glory!  Landscapes all over Central Florida are being graced right now with the glorious blooms of the Southern Magnolia (M. grandiflora).