THE GARDEN IS STARTING TO SHOW OFF

Slowly Spring is starting to show up around here.  The flowers are all ready to burst open with their full colors and smells in our garden.

A few have already showed up and I thought I would share them with you.

Our white roses are opening up and are full of buds.  They are going to put on quite a show in a short while.

We have a lot of different Hydrangeas in both the front and back gardens.  They actually have hundreds of buds growing on them but, so far, this is the only pink one that started to open up. 

I love when these all are full of the flowers and we can cut some to come inside and still have big pops of colors in the garden.

The Azaleas are about ready to go to sleep for awhile.  They provide us with some color in the cooler months.  I think the deep pink flowers are lovely.

My pink rose bush has come alive for the season.  This was my first rose bush I ever got and I love it.  The roses are so different.  So pretty.

Most of our flowers are pink or white.  But these daisy flowers are a nice blend of both.  Sometimes they even look like they are violet.

I know some people don't care for Geraniums but I love them.  They remind me of the olden days.

 Did you know some have wonderful smells.  Even chocolate smells.  Some smell like citrus.

The Victorian women used to love the smelling geraniums because as they walked by them, their long dresses would brush up against them and release the smell. 

I used to have some smelling geraniums but I don't any more.  I think I'm going to pick up some the next time I'm at Rogers Gardens.

This little white Hydrangea is peeking up from way down below.  Even though its a white Hydrangea, most of the flowers have a touch of a light lime green color to them. 

I planted some tomatoes in pots this year.  I've not done this before so I don't know how they will turn out.  But, they are starting to have lots of little yellow flowers, which means tomatoes should be growing soon.

Here are some more tomato plants and they have flowers too.  I think I should get a lot of tomatoes this year. 

Well, that's about all that is blooming so far in my gardens.  How about yours?  Are they in full bloom yet?

SPRING IS VERY NEAR

I love Spring time when all the flowers come out. One of the most lovely flowers that shouts Spring time, to me are, Tulips.

They come in so many colors and all look a bit different.

I fell in love with these red ones. Mostly because of the pretty inside they have.

They almost look fake. It just goes to show you what a beautiful artist God really is.

We have them our my kitchen. Our kitchen is red, black and white so they go perfect in there.

I actually bought them and gave them to my sister. She isn't feeling well today so I wanted to brighten up her day.

So, if you are longing for Spring as much as I am, just run to the store and buy yourself a pretty bunch of Tulips to hold you over until Spring actually makes it here.

IT'S STARTING TO LOOK PRETTY AROUND HERE

Spring is always such a pretty time of year with all the flowers blooming. I thought I would share a bit of what it is starting to look like at my place.

I planted the above several years ago. Being in CA means it never gets to cold to kill most plants. Most people have to plant these type of flowers every year but not us. They come back pretty every Spring and last almost all year long.

When my sister, Patty, was in the hospital several years ago she got a pretty Azalea plant. When it finally stopped producing flowers she planted in the front and now it just gets bigger and bigger every year.

It's now full of buds ready to pop open. This is going to be one beautiful plant this Spring. I just love the hot pink color.

We have several Hydrangeas around our house, both in the front and the back. But this is the only one that has this type of a flower.

I think the pink with white tips are just lovely. Don't you?

We have several hanging baskets full of different flowers. This one is hanging in the back garden.

These Carnations don't normally produce a lot of flowers. I think all the rain we had really woke them up.

I know a lot of people don't care for this type of flower but it was my Mom's favorite flower and whenever I see them I think of her.

This big flowering bush took on a life of it's own. It has little pink and yellow flowers that are so pretty.

We have one in another part of the garden but this one planted it's self. Most likely with the help of a bird.

Another hanging basket.

The white Impatiens are getting really big. We have these planted in an urn next to our garage.

The pretty pink Geraniums were first planted in our neighbors yard but ended up creeping over onto our side. We started to water them and now they are doing great here but have all died off over on our neighbors side.

The white roses are blooming. Lot's of buds waiting to open up. I'm hoping to have some pretty white rose bouquets inside pretty soon.

The Petunias are so petty with the light violet outside and the deep dark purple inside. I love the dark purple veins.

Well, that's about it for now but soon the whole place is going to be present flowers in every size and color. I can't wait.

LET'S CHECK OUT THE BACK GARDEN

Do you remember when I planted the bird cage I found at the thrift store? The plants inside have been growing like crazy.

I planted several different kinds of flowers in there. I used mostly moss but also some potting soil.

Everything was planted down at the bottom of the cage. Nothing on the sides or top.

Can you see the Pansies? I have never seen such long stems on Pansies. These Pansies go all the way to the top of the cage.

Also, the Lobela (not sure how you spell that) and more pansies are blooming outside the cage.

It looks so pretty with the whole cage full of flowers. I'm just shocked at how tall they got.

I saw a post over at An Enchanted Garden where she used bird baths as a pedestal for holding plants. They were so pretty.

So, I "borrowed" that idea and went out to Lowe's where I bought this pink and white plant.

I really like the way it looks there.

I'm not sure what kind of flowers these are. I know they are in the Lilly family. They are showing off right now, blooms everywhere.

In person the pops of purples and yellows are much brighter then this photo is showing.

The pink rose bush I bought last year is on it's 2ND bloom this year.

This rose bush just makes me smile every time I look at it. It's a special rose bush as it's my first rose bush I've ever owned.

Isn't it pretty?

I have no idea what kind of flowers these are either. They died off last year and I thought perhaps they were just a one season plant.

So it was exciting when it started to grow again and now the little purple flowers are starting to come up everywhere.

The Lavender and Petunias came back too. Again, they were a surprise as I didn't expect them to re-bloom this year.

I'm not sure what these are either. But I like them.

I always buy flowers and then I forget what the name of them are. Do you do that or are you the type that knows the name of every flower in your garden?

The Heather is also blooming. This plant grows like wild fire. We keep trimming it back but it just grows and grows.

The Gardenia flowers are sharring their wonderful smell with us right now.

At night you really can smell them. Yummmmm.

We really do need to plant some more flowers around. We are slowly getting the yards back to the pretty Spring gardens that we love.

Soon it will be BBQ time and the pool will be in use once again. So of course the yard needs to be as pretty as it can be.

SPRING TIME IN THE GARDEN

We have had lovely Spring days here in Southern California. It's days like these that make me happy to live here.

I thought I would go take a walk out in the garden and show you what is going on out there. It's still pretty early but several flowers are blooming.

Come on, I'll show you.

I am a big lover of flowers. Yet, I'm not good at knowing the names of most of them. So you will have to excuse me for not sharing what these flowers are called.

This is my first rose bush I've ever owned. I got it last year. I was worried it wasn't going to bloom again this year as I had no idea what to do help it along.

Though it's clear Mother Nature did. I'm getting these beautiful big blossoms now. There are so many buds waiting to pop open. I'm going to have lots of pretty bouquets inside this year.

These flowers are such a lovely pale yellow. Again, no idea what they are called.

I do think they are an off shoot of a different plant. They are in a pot that has pink and purple flowers. I planted them last year. They are the same type as these yellow ones but I never planted yellow flowers. I do like them though.

Maybe I should call them my ghost flowers.

I was lucky this year. The Petunias came back all on their own. Normally we pull these out at the end of the year and plant new ones each Spring. This plant never completely died off so we left it planted. Now it's full of flowers again.

Oh, I have another Petunia in the front yard that is all white. It did the same as these and this year they came back bigger then last year.

This is a Geranium plant that is a mix of a few different plants. I love the different color leaves.

This is a Double Impatient. It's another one that held up over the Winter and is now back to blooming.

I like that so many of our flowers came back this year. Saves money for more flowers to be added.

We have many Hydrangea bushes but this is the first one to bloom this year. I can't wait for them all to.

We have several pinks, three whites and one purple one.

Even though several are the same color they are all different looking.

The Azaleas usually start to die off around this time of year but they are still in full bloom.

I think our strange weather we have had has confused our flowers this year. We went from hot days to cold and raining days over and over again. Poor flowers didn't know what to do.

I hope that doesn't mean we will have a short Spring season this year.

I don't know what these flowers are. I think they are from the Daisy family. I adore the petals though. They are so different looking.

This are also from the Daisy family. They are white with pale purple edges.

There are a few more plants blooming but I thought I would hold off showing those until later.

Hope your garden is blooming for you too.