Maggie and other Beauties that Grace the Yard

Getting dressed for summertime visitors.

February has moved to another year, but March has arrived with songs and colors that break through the chill of winter. Yesterday I worked in the yard, clearing the places where our flowers begin to blossom.

And I think about the colors that will soon be emerging around my house. It's rather early in the season so I am hoping that a freeze won't appear and chill the loveliness of blooms that are forming.

All my feathered friends have already been showing up on the deck looking for those crumbs that I regularly scatter, Blue Jays, Robins, Cardinals, Mocking Birds, Sparrows, and Wrens. At night, on occasion, a 'Possum visits the deck for midnight snacks, but the resident Groundhog lives underneath the outbuilding, close to the fence where he can eat fresh food daily.

Now, I want to introduce you to some of the beauties that grace our yard each spring.

Maggie the fragrant Magnolia, stands out front by the wooden fence, slowly dressing in petals of white and her fragrance, like designer perfume is carried on the gentle breezes to the deck on the back of our house.

But this year:

Maggie had begun to dress in her pure white blooms when old man winter came unexpectedly and scattered flakes of snow over her delicate petals. There will be a few blooms and hopefully enough to send her sweet fragrance around us. She is always eager for the warmth of spring so she can dress in her beauty along with the other flowery exhibits in our yard.

Daphne, of the Daffodil family, in petals of white and yellow, is gracing a smaller garden

in back, near the field where numerous cattle are grazing. Rhoda, her neighbor who wears lovely ornaments of purple, will not be dressed until May.

She is quite a beauty and the Humming Birds adore her presence.

She was a gift from my son many years ago and because of her, I receive an annual gift of flowers for Mother's Day. What joy!

Got a glimpse of Rosie standing in the corner and as a Robin made his early rounds beneath her thorny branches, she seemed to shiver; she is not clothed yet in her pink and white attire. Rosie has been in our family for over 50 years. We have made two moves since we first met her and I have carefully carried her to two new homes. She adapts well to changes. I noticed yesterday that she is showing her age and she needs some extra nutrition.

Rosie had her start in West Virginia

Cynthia the Forsythia! Now she is ahead on the runway of fashion exhibits. Sunny yellow we call her. Like rays of sun that break thru the morning fog, Cynthia cannot contain herself, she spreads delight along the highways as well; we saw that yesterday. She always was the early one.

Spring blooming flowers come to life at this time every year. What a message! It happens to occur around the time we celebrate the Easter resurrection!

Flowers that bloom in spring must spend some time beneath the ground, developing pictures of beauty in the dark room of earth. But when they emerge... wow!

What a picture!.

When the trees and flowers begin to bud, go outside and see what a pallet of colors are being formed in nature...It's stunning to behold!

Time and weather has taken the beauty from a couple of my plants but what remains still brings joy.

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