April 30

Judging by the leaves, I think this may be a geranium.  The yellow color is so fresh and lovely, and the curl of the petals so graceful....  Mary

April 29

Our neighbors, whose garden area borders the sidewalk along my route to the bus, have planted hosta, bluebells, lily of the valley, and bleeding hearts in the shaded space.  The bleeding hearts are one of the ephemerals, those plants like Dutchmen's breeches that bloom with the most amazing flowers and delicate foliage, and then just seem to melt away back into the ground only to appear again the next year....  Mary

Dutchmen's Breeches

April 28

Anne and I went to see Pirates!  Band of Misfits in 3D today.  It was made by Aarman Animations, the folks who brought us Wallace and Grimot and Chicken Run.  The New York Times has a great slide show from behind the scenes of Pirates!  These guys probably have the most fun jobs in the world.

The lovely hyacinth was in a planter outside Anne's apartment building when I went to pick her up for the movie....  Mary

April 27

This is one of the violas that I bought along with the Johnny jump ups.  They are all planted around the tree in the front year amongst the crocus foliage.  The violas can fill in as the crocus greenery dies back.  And there's the added bonus of these being Anne's favorite flowers....  Mary

April 26

Growing up we lived a couple of blocks from a funeral home.  It was a very nice building, but they always had two big planters on either side of the front door with huge ferns growing in them.  Needless to say, I've always had a rather grim opinion of ferns.  With time, however, I have come to appreciate a few varieties like this lovely fiddle head....  Mary

April 25

It's true.  I've never met a blue flower I didn't love:  chicory, blue bells, forget-me-nots, hydrangea, delphinium, morning glories, bachelor buttons....  Mary

April 24

When looking at tulips like this, it's not all that hard to imagine the Tulip Mania that swept the Dutch economy in the 17th century.  Thankfully we have plant geneticists and wonderful bulb sellers like McClure and Zimmerman to bring gorgeous bulbs right to our front door....  Mary

April 23

Tonight on PBS I saw a marvelous film, A Sense of Wonder, depicting the last year of Rachel Carson's life.  It is magnificent.  Please, do yourself a favor and watch it if you get the chance....  Mary

April 22

Rick and I went to Olbrich Botanical Gardens today.  It was chillier than it looked but still a lovely, sunny day.  There are lots of lovely spring flowers, meadow bulbs, and tulips in bloom.   An all time favorite is, of course, Trillium.  They love woodlands and shade and quiet spots among the ferns....  Mary

April 21

Today was the First Annual Wisconsin Grilled Cheese Festival out in Mineral Point.  Rick, Anne, Eileen, and I all went out to volunteer.  Originally the organizers had hoped for perhaps a couple of hundred people tops.  There ending up being over sixty contestants in eight categories (amateur and professional) and nearly 600 visitors from at least six states.  The best part of the whole day was watching everyone from babies to seniors just having plain, old fashioned fun.  Eating, dancing, talking, laughing, it was a very wonderful day....  Mary

April 20

Anne's favorite flower is the Johnny Jump Up.  It is my opinion that they are so named because when you plant them you just don't know where they will jump up next year.  Several years ago, I did bead painting of a Johnny Jump Up for Anne....  Mary

April 19

When we were kids, there were two huge old elm trees in our front yard.  These little seed pods were everywhere.  We could wade through them inches deep on the side walk.  At the Arboretum, I was surprised to see these on a tree.  With all our neighborhood elms long gone, I'd nearly forgotten what the seeds looked like....  Mary

April 18

The hosta are unfurling in our very shaded flower bed in front.  Hosta and impatiens are about all that will really do well there once the bulbs are done....  Mary

April 17

This gorgeous tulip was in a flower bed on my way to the bus this morning....  Mary

April 16

This practice of doing a tiny little watercolor every day for a month is making me pay attention to the coming of Spring.  If I don't keep looking for things in bloom, I will run out of subjects.  Every year I remind myself to not get all caught up in work and life and stuff and miss this magical turning from death and dormancy back to life and greenness.  Every day I am looking for new signs of life.

Today it is the buds on our Korean lilac next to the garage.  Last year we had only one or two sprigs of flowers.  If I remember correctly it was too cool and dry.   It looks like a better turn out this year....  Mary

April 15

The red bud trees are really lovely this year.  The cooler weather has let the flowers last for weeks....  Mary

April 14

The lovely little flowering tree outside our kitchen windows is springing to life.  The flower buds start out bright pink, then pale pink as they begin to open, and finally nearly all white when they are completely open.  Beautiful to watch and sweet, sweet fragrance....  Mary

April 13

I'm pretty sure if there's a Heaven it will smell like lilacs.  And each time you smelled them, it would be just like the first time each spring after a long, cold winter....  Mary

April 12

New flowers just keep popping up every day.  Little daffodils opened up down at the front of the flower bed.  They are only about 6 inches high and their trumpets are much more orange than I was able to pick up in the photo....  Mary

April 11

Japanese bayberry is just a beautiful shrub.  We planted one out in front.  It's small but growing.  Unfortunately, the rabbits just love to nibble on bayberry all winter long.  We covered ours last winter with a goofy green canvas bag.  It did the trick, and the little shrub survived intact.  The plant in the photo is a bayberry at the Arboretum....  Mary

April 10

The two tone tulips opened today.  These are Eileen's favorite, the red with yellow edges....  Mary

April 9

We bought a lovely bouquet of tulips for Easter.  The pink ones opened up today while I was at work....  Mary

April 8

At the Arboretum is a large stand of white pines.  When you walk through it the air is perfumed with scent of the needles.  There's no smell quite so fresh and so cool....  Mary

April 7

In The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor lists seven principles guiding our ability to be happy based on current neuroscience findings.  The last one involves the necessity of social connection to our happiness and well being.  So basically the experts say that JK and I need to meet for coffee every week.  We did today, and it was lovely.  I'm sure we're happier and healthier for it!  Mary

 Magnolia Bud