Rita's Garden

These miniature irises are growing in my friend Rita's garden.  Their colour is just so rich.

 Rita has a lovely collection of Hellebore plants.

 Some have very delicate leaves and colours.

 Others are darker and richer coloured.

 The contrast against the green leaves is lovely.

 Here tree peony is putting forth new growth.

 If you look closely you can see the first robin of Spring flying away, it didn't want it's picture taken.

 The witch hazel is showing signs of Spring growth.

 These almost look waxy in their appearance.

  A crocus blown over by the wind off the Fraser River.

 Pink and purple with a dash of green, traditional Spring colours coming out to visit.

Spring forward tonight with the time change!

Valentine Flowers

On Valentine's Day I took a walk over to my friend Rita's to have coffee.  What a delight to see some early signs of Spring pushing their way into view.  It was interesting to see more yellow crocuses than blue or white out in bloom this early in the season.

 Snowdrops were making an appearance also.

 This plain yellow crocus was doing battle with some mulch.

 In Rita's Garden there were a few snowdrops in full bloom.

 This ones petals looked a bit worse for wear, but an interesting shape.

 Her Hellebore were coming out to put on a fine show.

 I love how this one looks like an umbrella with the pretty stamens below.

 What an interesting wave design on this cyclamen.

 Rita cheated with a forced daffodil, but had one that was almost ready to break into bloom elsewhere in her garden.

 More Hellebore blossoms and buds.

 A wild looking pincushion daisy along the walk home.

 This fiery red one caught my eye.

 The Rhododendrons are coming into full bloom.

 Some snowdrops in a neighbour's garden beside my entry door.

14 pictures of flowers for Valentine's Day!

Canadian Ground hogs predict an early Spring!

February 2nd was Ground hog day and our Canadian Ground hogs, Wiarton Willie in Ontario and Nova Scotia's Scubenacadie Sam predict an early Spring.  As you can see here in New Westminster along the Fraser River Spring is showing it's colourful designs.

 The yellow Witch Hazel is looking bright and cheery.

 The orange Witch Hazel always looks like orange Spider Crabs to me.

 A few Snowdrops are out in full bloom

 Winter Cabbage is looking very full alongside some Kale.

 Rhododendrons are starting to bloom and it is only February 5th!

 These blossoms are on the sunny side of the plant, but get a lot of wind from along the river.

 The pink Winter Flowering Forsythia is putting forth a lot of lovely blossoms.

 I like the background of this shot.

 The blossoms are so tiny and delicate and come out well before any leaves.

 They look like little trumpets waiting to be blown by the fairies.

 You can see the buds forming for the leaves on the far branch.

 Yesterday I went up to West 10th to the Cloth Shop for my Saturday Sisters Block of the month.  This garden shop has such a whimsical sign.

 The Black Goat shop sells cashmere, I love their logo.

May Spring come to your corner of the world soon, in the meantime I hope you enjoy mine!

Spring Flowers putting on a lovely show!

The snowdrops and crocuses in my neighbour's garden are looking just lovely.  I love the contrast of the white and green against the purple and yellow in the afternoon sun.

 The crocuses look so delicate against the bare ground.

 This snowdrop looks to be putting on a ballet solo.

 How vibrant is this yellow!  Makes one think of Spring is just around the corner.

 This rhododendron always puts forth blossoms in February.

 More delicate white and yellow crocuses.

 One of my favourites, the pink flowering winter forsythia looks spectacular against the blue winter sky.

 Some of the delicate blossoms in a fuller bloom.

 Reaching out towards that beautiful sky.

 One last crocus battling to show off it's colour.

2010 Vancouver Olympic non-sporting winner! This Polish gentleman has been building inuksuit for the past 6 days! It is amazing to see all the different ones he has made. Some of them are small.

Some are quite complex in their design.

Some beautiful touches of an early Spring.

These Rhododendrons like to put on an early show.

Purple crocuses with bright yellow centres having an early visitor.

Softer lilac coloured ones.

Such intensity of colour found in nature!