Pictures on the Ides of March

I do have some Spring pictures to contribute today, even though I didn't get it together to take them on the 15th for Bloom Day. Further, J actually took the best of the bunch (I asked him to, as I wasn't able to get good pictures). The weather has been fairly cool here--in fact, we've had morning frost, which is unusual for March here. (It's been a very frosty year generally, punctuated with short periods of unseasonably warm weather.) Plants that would ordinarily be in full bloom are just starting now, and some of the pot plants have either nestled down below ground for a couple more weeks or are, in fact, dead.

It was warm on Thursday, so I took a bunch of pictures. Mercifully, I deleted most of them. The cats welcomed the warm weather by doing what they most enjoy, sleeping in the sun.

The little white flower is from my thyme-leaf rhododendron, which features tiny leaves and tiny, but perfectly formed, rhododendron flowers. J took this picture, posing the plant in front of the deep green foliage he thought would show the flowers to best advantage. Oh yeah, I thought, I could move the plant before taking the picture.

The azaleas are blooming--slowly. Some years they've finished up by the end of February, but this year they started in January, then stopped, and have now begun blooming in earnest. Many years the deciduous azaleas (which are semi-deciduous here) bloom before putting out their new growth which presents me with perfect flowers on a plant that appears half-dead. This year, though, the bloom and new growth have mercifully appeared at the same time.

The cistus above is also blooming, as are the little violas I purchased for annual color. Supposedly, we should be able to plant pansies and violas during the winter, but I've not had success with that for several years, so I just waited until this month to plant them. I've also got a few bulbs, which I'll plant in the front yard once they've bloomed out. I've never been able to get bulbs in pots to rebloom the next year, and don't bother to try anymore. (Hear that, Secretary Geithner. It's okay to give up after a few attempts and just take over the banks.)

And I see all sorts of flower buds forming--on the dianthus, the fuschias, the roses. If the weather warms up a bit, I should be able to get some decent pictures. And if I can't, I can always enlist J in the project.