Spring Blooms!

Spring is early this year.

I have been taking advantage of the warm weather

and have been out working in the garden.

 While I get to work,

come along and take a tour of my early spring flowers.

The hyacinth in bloom.

 Vinca minor.

 Flowering pear tree.

 Cornus florida, or Dogwood tree.

 Pink Dogwood.

Due to the drought in 2010, 

neither of the Dogwoods had a single bloom last spring.

 Iberis or candytuft.

Dicentra or Old-fashioned bleeding heart.

 The Canada Red Chokeberry bloom.

This is a very sweet-smelling bloom.

Notice that the leaves start out bright green. 

They will turn purple in a month or so.

Purple leaf sand cherry in bloom.

The Colors of Fall

This autumn has been particularly colorful in Southern Indiana and I have been endeavoring to document its masterpiece.

Berries in a Burning Bush, or winged euonymus.

Another view of the Burning Bush.

A magnificent sugar maple.

*

One day last week I decided on a whim to take my lunch down by the lake.

But first I needed to procure my lunch.

Fortunately, a friend had told me about this little gas station in a little town nearby.

As it happens, this gas has a little restaurant business going and they make a mean breaded pork tenderloin.

What's not to like?

Just for reference, the bun is about six inches across.

And for a mere $5.08 with tax, this sandwich made a nice little lunch.

You just can't beat this ambiance.

It's just too bad that the Army Corp of Engineers decided to pick this day to have their parking lot sealed.

It proved to be a bit inconvenient as I had to park on the side of the road and then traipse across the grass to get to the dam overlook.

But you have to admit that the views overlooking Lake Monroe were worth the little bit of hassle.







I really was surprised to find that there weren't boats out on the lake.

I know that if I had a boat, I would have been out on the lake on a day like this.










I love the colors in the woods overlooking the lake.

And there's that sugar maple again.

Meanwhile, back home the dogwoods and the fothergilla are turning colors.

Fothergilla.

More fothergilla leaves.

Dogwood berries.

These won't last long as the birds will soon devour them.

Sunshine through the Canada Red Chokeberry.

Oh look, after its summer absence, 'my' barn is back.

I have to say that we are lucky to have such pretty views from our back deck.

Very lucky indeed.

Sweet gum in the neighborhood.

Farm in fall.

Autumn fields.

Thanks to the husband for taking this photo for me.

Please enjoy this short Sunday detour.

Bradford Pears in in fall color.

A bright punch of red along the roadside.

Shades of autumn.

Colorful trees all in a row.

Color, color everywhere.

See what I mean?

You can see why Bloomington loves its trees.

Just lovely.

Even against the buildings, these trees are gorgeous.

I still prefer the natural settings.

But that's just me.

Happy Autumn!

After the Rain

It was a dark and stormy night. Really? Night is dark? No wonder that sentence has been voted among the worst opening lines ever for a book.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Yes, it did storm last night, and the evening before that and the afternoon before that. It stormed to the tune of 3-1/2 inches of rain.

Let's go see how my garden fared, shall we?

My azaleas are blooming.

I just love this lichen. Can you tell?

Another azalea is blooming.

The Canada Red Chokeberries are beginning to turn purple.



The Little Kim Lilac is putting on a fine display.




While a Columbine nods nearby.





My Spiderwort, or Tradescantia virginiana L.

Oh goody, the Foxglove (Digitalis) that I planted last spring are blooming this year. Just remember, the heart medicine Digitalin is made from Digitalis, so no part of this plant should ever be ingested. Even a small bite can prove to be fatal.

This Rhododedron is just beginning to bloom.

While its neighbor is already in full bloom.

The Baptisia australis, or False Indigo, is just beginning to bloom.

Up on my deck, the Provence Lavender is coming into flower.

Well, what do we have here? This, uh, interesting specimen is a fungus known as Mutinus elegans, or the Devil's Dipstick. As might be obvious, this is a phallic fungus. While you ponder that bit of information, I'll just say that I was glad that I can't really smell anything right now because this fungus is in the stink horn family.

Really, right there where just anybody can see it!