Spring color

Spring is cold and rainy this year, but as often happens when spring comes late, the colors are spectacular.

These azaleas are in the backyard. Yesterday fat black and yellow bees were working the white ones.

When we bought our house in 1987, these azaleas were already planted, small tight balls of color, except for the yellow one, the Florida flame azalea, a native.  It has a spicy scent, like the perfume Shalimar.

Last year, two oak trees towering over the house were dying and had to be cut down. After the woodcutters left, I emptied the compost pile on the azaleas, hoping to save them. 

It worked.

The maturing red buckeye tree deepens in color every year. The glider below is unsafe for sitting and is now a trellis for ivy and clematis.  Does this work?  We will see.

The gold creeping Jenny is all that remains of my pond plants after Mike's dog Ace took a liking to the water.

At the entrance to the backyard, the native honeysuckle is still coming into bloom for the hummingbirds.  A Carolina chickadee already has a brood of tiny babies in the blue birdhouse.

Spring in the backyard wildlife habitat.