Pride of Mobile

Our house has a long row of azaleas along the east side... right outside the window over the kitchen sink and the bay window in the breakfast room.  I love looking out on them all year round, but especially in spring when they are blooming.  Ours are a dark pinkish-red color.. more red than pink.. called President Clay. (Here is a photo of a President Clay.. not ours.. Pres Clay Azalea )

These azaleas were planted long before we moved into this house (21 years ago this summer!) and they are lovely, but I would really love some true pink azaleas.  I love the soft pink ones like a George Tabor or a brighter pink like a Judge Solomon... add some white azaleas in with those and WOW you have a gorgeous display in spring.

My mother's house has pink azaleas.. Pride of Mobile.. a southern classic.  Again, these were there long before she moved up here with my dad in 1995. She has one plant that is huge!  Because my brothers and I are spaced out (19 year span) my mother's grandchildren range from 40 down to 19.  There is a bit of a gap between the first 8 and the last 3.  My 2 and my youngest nephew were always called "the little kids" and each year we had an Easter Egg hunt at my parents home here and there was always a photo taken of "the little kids" in front of the big azalea.. which was almost always in full bloom at Easter.

Well blooms came early this year and will surely be gone by Easter.. and "the little kids" are now young adults... so no egg hunts or photos for a while... but that big ole azalea still explodes with color every spring.

Still Winter????

So technically it is still winter and while it is not unusual for us to have warm days .. really all year long down here!... we are definitely having a burst of Spring Fever!  The grass is growing and green (my fellas mowed for the first time this season today!)... buds are poppin' out on plants... flowers are blooming... birds are out looking for homes... I really am feeling like it is mid to late March not February.

I love the weather we are having ... everything is feeling fresh and new and at the same time wonderfully familiar...

Our winter pansies were basically dead... not any more! And yes, that hummingbird feeder is full as it the other one in our yard. The finches love to drink from them and we will probably have hummers here within a month.

The daylillies are waking up....

but the Iris' are ahead of them... 

It may be difficult to see the new growth on that Spirea, but check out that daisy.. yep that is a dead bloom which means some time in the last week we had an open bloom!  I hate that I missed it!

And look at the mint!  So green... and what a smell!

The Nandinas are still full of color and berries...

The neighbors plum is blooming and that bluebird house was cleaned out last week... just in time for the beautiful male I saw scouting it out today!  Cannot wait for the bluebirds to set up house... one of my favorite parts of Spring here...

And yes... despite the fact that it is February and still Winter as far as the calendar goes.. and actually still rather cool.. our Azaleas have decided they are ready to wake up and brighten our day!  One end of our house is covered with these bushes and they provide a lovely view from the breakfast room and kitchen.  

Some are saying that plants have been fooled into thinking it is Spring... I say God knew we needed the rebirth of Spring early this year.  A reminder of His grace and glory!

Makes me think of the hymn.... For the beauty of the earth.... For the glory of the skies...

Azaleas in Bloom

Our regular Azaleas bloomed several weeks ago, but alas I was unable to get photos of them.  We have a mass of them along the East side of our house... Henry Clay variety which produce a red that is muted and more like red clay than bright red.  In the backyard, we planted some more red azaleas. These plants stay smaller, but have large blooms like regular azaleas. They bloom a few weeks later in the spring and again the fall.  Truly lovely... what Southern Girl doesn't love Azaleas... they symbolize home!

Flowers!

I live in the deep South... so fall is a stranger to me. I love the pictures I see of autumn... I love the thought of it and the little teasing hints we get in October... but it is a rare treat here to have all that glorious fall color.  But what we lack in the fall, we make up for in the Spring!  Here are a few shots of the things blooming and growing at my house.

Our regular azaleas bloomed several weeks ago (didn't get any pix!) but we have some late bloomers in the back yard.. in fact, these bloom several times a year.  The buds have just started teasing us with color this week. I am hopeful that next week they will be full of red blooms!

My husband fell in love with Foxgloves when we were walking through the nurseries over the past few weeks, so we now have several planted in pots around the yard with yellow lantana and white and purple petunias.  The flowers on the foxgloves are so delicate and fragile looking to me.

Here is a bit of the yellow lantana... a nice punch of color!

I adore Petunias! 

                                                       Hubby loves salvia...
















We both like verbena... I chose PINK this year (my friends know why!  LOL!)... it looks really great with the bright green sweet potato vine leaves!

Or with a bit of sunshine lighting it up...

Take time to stop and enjoy the flowers in your life today!