Name of the Flower

Just in case anyone is still wondering, the name of the little flower in my last post is Nemophila maculata — Baby Blue Eyes, Five Spot. Thanks to my friend Deb Stevens for leading me to the answer.

Spring Finally

Photos From my Garden

Spring for a Day

Last week we had over 14 inches of snow on the ground. Then it rained and melted about half of it. But it was a short lived reprieve. It then sleeted, turned to snow and dumped another 12 inches. And to think I used to love winter and the white stuff that comes with it. Three days ago it rained and rained, melting all the white stuff. Yesterday it was a lovely 56 degrees. Today it’s in the 60’s. I had to go tramping along the creek to blow away the winter cobwebs. During my walk, I saw something glorious. Purple, purple everywhere-crocus blossoms turning the dead field to a carpet of beauty. I snapped a few really bad photos with my phone and even stopped to pick a small bouquet to remind me that, if even only for a day, spring has sprung. I’m happy. 🙂

Blog Buddy Friday-A Tramp in the Woods

This one is for all you nature lovers out there. Today we’re taking a walk in the Forest of Dean with Colin over at A Tramp in the Woods. As most of you know there’s not much I enjoy more than a tramp along the creek or through the woods so of course when I found Colin’s blog, I was in love. Not only is his blog filled with phenomenal nature photos and videos, but there’s a wealth of educational information contained in his delightful and often humorous narration. His latest post details a way to raise butterflies to release back to the wild. When you visit be sure to take time to watch the video. It’s awesome. Colin claims to have no area of expertise, but he sure knows his nature.

Taken from Colin’s bio:   “I write about and photograph the nature around me from a little farm in The Forest of Dean. I watch plants, animals, fungi, I don’t have a field of expertise but I do have a field full of Wildflowers and Badgers.”

If you love nature like I do, go visit Colin and take A Tramp in the Woods.

Photo belongs to Colin and is not mine.

Monday Morning

Monday Morning

The beginning of a new week–the beginning of–well, new beginnings. I think I’d like to start this year over. First, I’ve made a decision about my blog buddy posts. A blog is kind of like a big party. You go and meet new people, sometimes it’s an instant attraction and you become life long friends or just friendly acquaintances. Whichever, it’s a satisfying experience for you both. That was my purpose in starting the blog buddy thing. I still like the idea. The problem is I was going to leave myself out of the party. That’s something no good hostess would ever do so I’m reducing the blog buddy posts to every Friday when possible. I hope this will help introduce you to some wonderful new bloggers, as well as show my appreciation for all the hard work you put into your blogs and for the support you’ve given me. My personal, random posting will continue as before. In light of that, I’m posting some sunrise shots I snapped this morning and some shots from Christmas that I’d posted on Facebook, but hadn’t shared here. Eric made an old west gingerbread saloon and a fresh pine wreath for the fence. Click the photos for larger images.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five Acrylic Paintings: Homes and Flowers

More of my paintings:

Home and Garden-1

Home and Garden-2

Home and Garden-3

Home and Garden-4

Flowers

Thanks

Thanks everyone for helping me out with the name of the flower. Those of you who thought it was a hibiscus are right. Thank you, Gary Oldham, for giving me the name of the Texas Star Hibiscus. That’s exactly what it is. Such a lovely plant. Once I had the name I was doing a little searching for more info on it and ran into this interesting little post. http://www.shortnews.com/start.cfm?id=41645 Here’s  pictures of both types of leaves. I guess the leaves do look a little like pot-

pot

Texas star

 

What is This Flower?

My husband took these photos the other day. I don’t recognize the plant.  So of course I came to ask all you fantastic gardeners. Anyone out there know what it is? You can click the images for much larger versions.