Pretty Little Hellebore

This pretty little hellebore is growing in a pot at the mall.

I really like the little bit of coloring on this one and I keep 

thinking my hellebore collection is really small - 2!
I only have 2!!!

What about you, do you grow hellebore?

A Mossy Place

I love this mossy place, many a beautiful 

thing has been seen here. It is the best place

viewing tiny wildflowers.

 A carpet of wildflowers when the time is right -

mostly now it's mosses but soon there will

be wildflowers again.

I can't wait to see all the tiny flowers that will pop up.

I wonder which flower this will end up being?

 Maybe it is my favorite the chocolate lily?!

Isn't this moss stunning!

I love all the contrasts in this photo.

Random

We had a couple of days of decent weather this week,

which means I went outside. I did try to get some

work done but to be honest I just wanted to enjoy

being outside, I didn't do much.

Here is what I found when I looked around.

Soon there will be flowers, soon!

Growing up in Alaska the lupine was one of the flowers that 

grew wild and it is one of my favorite plants. 

I couldn't miss the bundle of leafs popping up, 

many of them were cupping water.

Picture perfect opportunity!

Saturday's Field Trip

Anacortes is a day-trip kind of place for us

and we love going there.

The entire area has something for

us to enjoy. In the Mt Vernon and 

La Conner area this past month has been great

for snow geese and eagle viewings.
We didn't see as many this time as we have at other

times but any viewing is always a good one.
For more information here is a link to a
Seattle Times article about the Snow Geese.

Make sure to click on the photos to enlarge them, these small

photos don't do the birds justice. 

Did I mention it was raining on us?! 

We saw eagles a couple of times but this was the only one

I was able to get a photo of.

The next set of photos are of the 

native Pacific Madrone tree in Anacortes.

This particular tree is growing in Cap Sante Park,

this is a spot to not be missed with many a hidden treasure. 

Here is a link to some other photos I have taken

of the Madrone in Anacortes. 

The view from the top of Cap Sante is always amazing.

Both of these were taken from the viewpoint looking in different directions. 

If you get the chance to visit the Anacortes area you should do so,

it is a beautiful area.

When the sun shines it is even more amazing and another time

I will post sunny Anacortes photos.

Why I Blog

Summer is beautiful isn't it.

Sadly I need lots of sun to keep my 

spirits up and I don't live in that sunny of

an area. Don't get me wrong - when the sun

shines here it is a stunning area.

I blog to help keep me going in the winter
and I hope what I post brings you some sunshine.

These are my mushrooms, ya know those cement crafts for the

garden that were all the rage awhile back!?

I use them to mark young shrubs that I might otherwise lose.

Snow in summer surrounds a fuzzy plant (pasque flower) starting to pop up.

The honeysuckle is putting on some color

which I find exciting as it's one of my favorite plants.

It was growing down the street on a fence,

the home had been sold and major

construction was on the way so I HAD to save it.

Ah there is one set of flower buds on the whole plant. 

love love love

~

I've said it before and I will say it again; thank you for commenting
as much as you do. I'm hoping that as spring arrives
with it's sunshine I will find my happy mood
again and find my voice again -
it's difficult to comment on all your beautiful
posts when I feeling blue.

~

Pretty Little Buds

The other day I posted a photo of my Mahonia budding up,

this Mahonia grows at the botanical garden and it is

quite different from mine. 

The colors are quite striking don't you think?

~

Color

It's time for some color!
I went searching through the older photos

for some color, we are having lots of rainy/cloudy weather.

A City Planting

We visit the city once in awhile and I always bring
my camera with me, good thing I did as I would
have been upset had I missed this.
A lovely city planting and such pretty color combinations.

Spring is Budding

This is my Oregon Grape aka Mahonia Aquifolium.

I love this plant, those buds will open soon I hope.

This is my green flowering hellebore aka lenten rose.

Yes the flowers are green and as soon as they open

I will show you. 

Enjoy your Weekend

I know I've been posting photos of the area on Saturdays but not this weekend.
We have family visiting and I want to enjoy my time with them.
Enjoy your weekend and see you Monday!

Vicious Weed

While I truly LOVE to eat blackberries and
I don't even mind picking them, carefully -

They are a vicious weed.

Super thorny and they are bent on taking over

my corner of the world. 

First off take a look a that root - it is a stem tip that 

rooted in my compost pile. Look closely and you

will see all the shoots it was getting ready

to send out and take over that compost pile.

Here is a leaf from those blackberries - what is that black-spot?!

It looks bad and I don't think my plants need to be exposed to it!

The underside of the black-spot is soft and smudgy, the top 

is dried out looking. 

I should mention this is the himalayan blackberry that isn't native

to our area, the native blackberry isn't a bully like this one.

What Am I?

Beautiful don't you think? I love that color.

I could take a guess at what it is, I thought maybe

a magnolia but not sure - what do you think?
Probably should have taken a photo of the bark

to help me id it!

Camellia again and again!

We've visited these same camellias in the past and

most likely we will visit them again.
It's not my fault, they are just too pretty and heck

they flower in WINTER!!!! 

Beautiful close up but from the next photo you can see

they aren't as stunning when you back up.

The entrance way to the Visitor Center has this beautiful
 pink camellia on one side and a stunningly tall but slender evergreen

on the other side (you can tell I am much more enamored with

the camellia as there is no photo of the evergreen).

The hummingbirds visit it year round, a sight to see for certain!

Looking up.

Contrasts

Found this combo at the Gardens we visited.
I know Black Mondo Grass but I've no idea what the other

one is, what a stunning contrast though.

Do you know what the other plant is?

A New Daphne and some Flowers

I'd been feeling rather mopey lately.
It's normal, it happens.

Plants, yes that's the ticket to cheer me up!!!

Not too long ago we painted our house which

required me to move some plants.
You would have thought I would have planned

ahead and moved them at the proper time.

Maybe I was hoping I wouldn't have to move

my full size rescued  from the trash Daphne.
I did have to move it and I killed it.

NOT HAPPY

Today was the day for a new one.

I am being pouty though and I miss my BIG one, 

this one is rather small but it will still pack

a powerful scent and fill in it's space just fine.

The Daphne had 2 tags on it, hmmm which one is it! 

The Daphne empty spot!

They all look really small and eventually they may be too close together-

That will take years so I am not going to worry about the

spacing for now. 

Since we are having fantastic weather, including sunshine I decided

the yard needed some color. I also happened to notice

the hummingbird was in the yard the other day and there

wasn't anything blooming - that was a situation

that needed to be remedied right away.

While I was out I found these tiny hummingbird 

feeders, they came with the little wire hook, perfect for

hanging baskets.

I've yet to see the hummingbird come back and the
amount of fluid in the feeder hasn't changed.
It has been cooler and rainy since I put these out
so hopefully the hummer has another place
it's eating at.

Ballard Locks

We spent a day last weekend driving around,

yes we had a destination - Ballard Locks.

We still drove around, stopping at Golden Gardens

a beach park - the view of the Olympic Mt range was stunning

along with the sailboats putting on a show.

Some of the photos are repetitive but I wanted to

show you the various captures, had to take more

then one ya know!

First stop was breakfast and next to where we parked

were these trees covered in fruit, apparently

someone decided this tree was theirs for the decorating.

I neglected to take photos of the walk way over the locks

allowing people to cross over the waterway, watching

the locks fill and empty. On one side is the Gardens

and the other side is the fish ladder.

Here I am standing midway across.

\

The boat would have come out on this side alas

I didn't get photos of that!

This shows the 2 sides, the calm water is the before the water comes through

the other side obviously is where it comes out at!

Every time we go to the locks I end up watching for the Kingfisher

and usually I'm rewarded - here it is sitting over the rushing water.

This building faces the locks.

I didn't take any photos of the fish ladder but here is

some of the artwork outside the building.

We saw one fish in the viewing area - there are

windows that allow visitors to watch the fish going

in the fish ladder.

Can you see the lone fish?!

Here is the link for more information regarding the Locks,

the Fish Ladder and the Gardens.