Spring awakenings

 A photo from our trip to SW US in 2011.  This is after we had toured Death Valley, camped a Hrumph and were on our way to Las Vegas.  I think that is the Colorado River under a stormy sky.

 A common blue morpho in the Victoria Butterfly gardens.  There were some huge giant blue morphos flitting about.  I did not manage to capture one of them.  They are spectacular!

a paper kite

 This is the magnolia in the front garden with its huge petals decorating the driveway on a rainy day in April. 

 The woodland in April.  I used the hdr merge for this one.  Looking back at other years I see I have other photos composed much like this one of the old sidewalk into the woodland.  Tulips, poyanthus, grape hyacinths in bloom..  That fern is huge.  It was there when we moved into the house.  Maybe I should move some of it to under the deck to reestablish the privacy hedge that the neighbors have damaged beyond repair.  I have a fairly well established black bamboo but it is not yet thick enough to screen out very much of the view of all their cement parking lot.

This is my favourite shot of the woodland for the month.  A tulip and dames rocket that self seeds in magenta, blue, and white.  I wonderful plant for the woodland. 

I was to Cannor this week and quite easily came home with $75 worth of plants and 6 new little goldfish.  The goldfish did not seem to be stressed at all when I put them into the pond.  They are surviving nicely and appear at the top of the water where I can actually see them.  The water fall is running and I skim of the petals, etc. that falls from the plum tree.  The water hawthorn is in full bloom and so is the marsh marigold.  The moss on the waterfall is filling in and is still green from all the rain we have had.  The moss garden is coming along nicely and extending under the deck.  I have been thinking of leveling out the sitting area under there.  I need some block to make a retaining wall for the dirt that I will need to move to make the sitting area into something attractive.  And then some gravel or chipped rock to cover the floor of the sitting area.  Although I saw plastic square foot blocks at Cannor that looked good for a 'flooring'.  They look like stone.  I shall measure the area that I want to cover and get some of these blocks, I think.  Perhaps plastic or cedar troughs for the retaining walls.  The skimmia bush under the deck is pathetic looking and I think I will remove it.  I need to get rid of the scruffy wild bush that is in the one corner, also.  I might be able to make a set of filmy curtains to hang from the deck along that side to pull closed when I am out there.  I should be able to grow hellebores and lily of the valley, hostas, dicentra, ferns and get the moss growing to make it like a rainforest.  Next week perhaps. 
I have started to weed the rectangles at the front of the garden and the strip along in front of them.  I have finished the hedging.  The burning bush is putting out a lot of new red growth on my side.  The other side of it had branches ripped right off of it.... but the sight of their garbage cans from my front door is getting screened out again.  For earth day on the 22nd she sloped bleach all over her cement and washed this stuff off her cement into my flower beds and off her driveway to the street and into the storm sewer that is marked as fish habitat.  We have the Colquitz River running on both sides of our property.  The frogs no longer sing and haven't since that house was built. 

I transplanted the 3 oriental lily bulbs into a pot and put them by the Iceberg rose by the front step.  Hope they give a good show.  They were on sale at half price and had leaves formed on all three bulbs.  I have a few more glads to put into the cutting garden.  The ones from last year are coming up.  I have a dahlia for that area, a 6 pack of cosmos, a blue veronica, a blue delphinium, a red hollyhock.  I have planted a row of dill seed and hope it does better this year.  The top part of the garden is shielded from rain by the tall cedars I have along that side.  The vegetables do not do well because of all the tree roots, I think.  The rhubarb is looking not too bad this year, but still kinda spindly compared to what rhubarb really could be.  I shall keep feeding it. The strawberries are in bloom. The birds always get the berries as I have not devised a cover for them yet. There are mallows self seeded into this area, but must not let them get out of hand.  They do not really make good cut flowers.  The irises are doing well.  I may need to thin them out this year.  The lilac has buds.  The rhodos and azaleas have buds and will soon be out. I have heliotrope and tomatoes for deck pots and geraniums. and little blue african daisies and 2 fuschias.  This should complete the pots on the deck.  Perfect gardening weather to day.. I have to get out there!