Daylily

It is not growing like a tree

in bulk doth make man better be;

Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,

To fall a log at last, dry, bald, and sere,

A lily of a day

is fairer in May

Although it fall and die that night,

It was the plant of flower and light,

In small proportions we just beauties see;

And in short measures, life may perfect be.

– Benjamin Johnson

Linking to Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday

The Rainy Day texture was used on the photo above.

A Photo Tour Of This Past Week

"I used to visit and revisit it a dozen times a day, and stand in deep contemplation over my vegetable progeny with a love that nobody could share or conceive of who had never taken part in the process of creation. It was one of the most bewitching sights in the world to observe a hill of beans thrusting aside the soil, or a rose of early peas just peeping forth sufficiently to trace a line of delicate green."

~Nathaniel Hawthorne, Mosses from an Old Manse

Who's Been Eating My Currants?

Last of the Allium

Naturalized Iris in Poison Ivy

Rogue Iris - The only one of it's kind and the first time it's bloomed.  Where did it come from?

Henny Penny and the girls taking shelter from gnats

Planning My "Everlasting" Garden

There are no spring flowers here...yet.

I tentatively slipped and slided out to feed the chickens this morning.  Yesterday's thaw froze overnight into a vast ice rink.  It will thaw again today, but snow is forecast for tomorrow.  I can take comfort in knowing that it is March and the snow won't last long and the ice rink will become smaller and smaller each day.

Until the weather warms, the ice melts and the spring flowers bloom, I am enjoying the flowers that I dried last summer.

A rose, baby's breath, and purple statice bouquet has graced one of the bathrooms the past few months.

A small spray of lavender was twist tied to a kitchen cabinet.

Soon they'll be sent to the compost pile and will be replaced with fresh cut flowers and herbs from the garden.

Today, I plan this year's "Everlasting" Garden.  Everlasting flowers are flowers which dry well.  They hold their colors and shape beautifully when turned into everlasting bouquets, which will last me through the next winter.

Roses, hydrangea, peonies, larkspur, statice in a rainbow of shades, strawflowers, cockscomb celosia, sunflowers, lavender, bergamot, baby's breath, chinese lanterns, globe amaranth, love in a mist and yarrow. 

 All beautiful while in the garden.  All beautiful dried.

Linking to Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday

I used the following textures:

On the Lavender Spray:  Partings

On the two Dried Flower Bouquet Photos:  0703 from the Times 2 Collection

My apologies for not having any from "above" shots.

Redbuds and Note Cards

We have a redbud tree outside our guest bedroom window.  

It was truly spectacular this year;  the most beautiful I've ever seen it.

I use the room as a craft/paint studio and this was inspiring to look out upon.

I took a couple of close ups.

I can see myself sending this as a card to someone with a little note inside.

I spied this little sprig of buds shooting forth from the trunk and had to shoot it.

I love the contrast of textures and colors.

In keeping with this spring flower theme, I am borrowing an apple blossom photo from last week's WW post, as my final note card, because I like the quote I used on it.

It says:  "What if you have seen it before, ten thousand times over?  An apple tree in full blossom is like a message, sent fresh from heaven to earth, of purity and beauty."  ~ Henry Ward Beecher

Linking to A Haven For Vee's May Note Card Party

Wordless Wednesday - Apple Blossoms

"What if you have seen it before, ten thousand times over?  An apple tree in full blossom is like a message, sent fresh from heaven to earth, of purity and beauty."  ~ Henry Ward Beecher

Linking to:

Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday, The Pop Edition.  Textures used were Cora (top and bottom photos) and Return (middle and bottom photos).

and to: