I can't believe how lush and colorful it has become this early in the season.
I think one reason everything is growing and blooming so well is that we haven't had any frost this April.
Last year it was almost warmer, earlier but we did have a few nights with hard frost in April.
This year it has been chilly off and on but hasn't gotten below freezing since sometime in March.
I hope we don't have any unusually late frost this year because so much is in bloom. Usually by April 14th we are safe although we've had hard frost in late April occasionally.
To a large extent the weather has been perfect. A few hot days but mostly very moderate weather with chilly evenings.
I'm not in any hurry for hot weather but it is nice having some warmth in the afternoon.
I have so much in bloom at the moment that it's hard to decide which shots to include for Today's Flowers.
Even my azalea wall in the back of my house is blooming and that's usually much later than the others.
I call it an azalea wall because it forms a corner of what I refer to as my secret garden in the back.
I don't think I've ever had roses in bloom this early before. They are a surprise and a treat for me.
For flowers around the world, you can visit the home of Today's Flowers.
The photohunters theme this week is covered. Last fall on a visit to colonial Williamsburg, VA, I saw a covered carriage.
I also saw an uncovered carriage during the same vacation.
My deck wall is currently covered in new spring growth.
For comparison, a short month ago, I took pictures of snow falling one evening in early March and there was almost no cover of plants on the deck wall. The few leaves below are old ones that never fell off but are now covered by new leaves.
Photohunters post their links beginning Saturday mornings at the Photohunters home.
The brown thrashers are a frequent visitor to my bird baths and they are getting rowdier with spring in full force.
The cardinals and robins also enjoy bathing on my deck. The cardinal likes the bath the robin is in.
The robin seemed to notice me shooting through the deck door and moved to another bird bath. The cardinal cautiously ventured into the bath the robin had left.
Butterfly weed is coming up all over my garden which I love to see.
My hostas are starting to emerge. Some are barely starting while others are growing vigorously.
I think the variegated hostas are my favorites as far as the leaves go although the blooms on the solid green ones are my favorite of the hosta blooms.
I'm pleased to see my lavender coming back. I started this lavender from seed over 10 years ago and each spring it comes back.
For other nature enthusiasts, please visit the home of nature notes.
I thought I'd start with a few shots from the North Carolina Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill.
I enjoyed seeing some of the areas in bloom at the garden and also the new shoots emerging which are a ways off from blooming.
I will have to go back in a few months when there is more in bloom but I enjoyed the spring blossoms.
There is a lot blooming at my house. My overgrown azaleas seemed to bloom almost overnight.
The big azaleas on either side of my driveway are so big I may have to cut them back a bit so I can get into the driveway.
I like to let the azaleas grow naturally as opposed to hard pruning.
One of my varieties of tulips has pretty much stopped emerging in the spring but I was glad to see this solitary white one with the purple tinge came up.
I used to have a whole area filled with that tulip variety. The money plant is starting to fill in where the tulips stopped coming up.
I also have quite a few iris in bloom and many more to come later.
Another variety of azaleas is beginning to bloom earlier than normal as this is usually a late one.
I need to cut it back as soon as the birds nesting in the bush leave because it's beginning to block my windows.
For more flowers around the world, you can visit the home of Today's Flowers.
This Thursday I went to the NC Cancer Hospital at UNC for my standard melanoma follow-up. Everything was fine and I had my camera so I took some vertical shots for the photohunters theme.
The shot above is the ground floor garden at the Cancer Hospital and you can see vertical metal in between the windows. The shot below is the second floor garden just off the surgical oncology clinic and in that shot you get a closer view of the vertical window dividers.
After my appointment I went to the NC Botanical garden in search of more vertical photo ops. The bench below has a back rest made of vertical wooden boards.
The trees lining the path to the Paul Green cabin which is in the mountain habitat portion of the garden are vertical.
In the shot below you can see a lattice trellis made of vertical and horizontal wood on the right side of the picture. Later in the growing season there will be plants growing on the lattice, or there has been other times I've been to the garden.
In the last shot there is a gate made of vertical and slanted metal with bird shapes on top. The gate blocks off the staff part of the garden from the visitors.
For more vertical photohunters, you can visit the home of the hunt where participants post their links beginning on Saturday mornings.
