FLORA WALK

Yesterday afternoon it was beautiful here.  A nice temp of 72F with a light breeze blowing in.  A perfect day for a little walk to look at the flora blooming around my homestead.  Many of the blogs I follow are having the worst weather imaginable.  There is snow, tornadoes, copious amounts of rain, hail, high damaging winds and even ice storms.  My hope is in showing these photos, you will know that spring is coming with much better weather.

Let's see what is blooming around my neighborhood.

My first stop on my walk was just a half a block away from my home.  The photo on the right is the buds and the ones on the left are the actual flower of the orchid tree.  It will bloom for about a month and then be nothing other than green leaves the rest of the year.  It never looses it leaves, even in the winter.

This is a sweet acacia tree.  The photo at the top of the page is a close up of the little yellow fuzz balls on the tree.  Those yellow fuzz balls carry the strongest odor every.  It is a pungent sweet smell.  As soon as these trees are done blooming the citrus trees take over.  So our air here is filled with sweet smells from now until the end of March.

I am not 100% sure but I do think this is an evergreen pear tree.  It blooms for about a week or two and then is just a green tree the rest of the year.  It is such a gorgeous tree when in bloom.  It does offer lovely shade after the blooming is complete.  If anyone knows, for sure, what this tree is, I am happy to have you let me know.  

Although, this is not a blooming plant of any kind, I thought you would like to know, not all palm trees are 50-60 feet tall.  This is a dwarf palm.  Well, it is several dwarf palms planted close together.  This will be about as tall as it will get.  They are quite expensive and are quite susceptible to frost bite when they are young.

These are wild flowers.  There used to be many homes in the neighborhood that spread these seeds all over and it was so pretty this time of year.

Imagine waking up each morning to see this in your front yard.  Yes, this is a front yard in a home about 4 blocks from me.  I love seeing this kind of nature in the neighborhood.  The blooms will last for over a month and then die out.  The nasty part is, they turn brown and do not 'blow' away once dead.  They need to be pulled or hoed out of the yard.  But never fear, when they die, they spread their seeds all over the yard again and will germinate for the next year.

Yellow is the biggest color here in the spring time.  This is a Feathery Cassia.  It makes a lovely color spot in a yard and is quite hardy and drought resistant.  Notice once again, the yellow color of the blossoms.

Then there are the rebels.  On top is my neighbor's lantana and on the bottom is my lantana.  This plant comes in so many colors.  Yes, it comes in yellow too (lemon verbena) but I wanted purple (my favorite color).  This stuff grows like crazy and we have to trim it back every 3-4 months.  Right now it is growing over it's 15 foot by 3 foot planter and is creeping into our driveway.  We will wait until we are sure there will be no more frosts and then trim it back.  Probably around the 1st of March.

And finally, my pet peeve.  The photo on the left is the alley behind the houses at the end of our alley.  That is pig weed, rag weed and several other nasty weeds.  As soon as the rains stop that will all dry up and become a huge fire hazard.  It is the property owners responsibility to keep the alley clear of debris.  The photo on the right is the area behind our house and the house next door to us.  Notice what 5 minutes every couple of months can do.  All it takes is some basic weed killer sprayed out there and "POOF", it is all nice and clean.  We also spray the neighbor behind as she is disabled and has a hard time doing many things in her yard.

It has been raining since last night and it very soggy out today.  I will not be doing a walk outside today but will use my teeter instead.  Tomorrow I should be able to walk outside again and this time, I will be at my son's house a few miles away.  His dog and I will do a little tour of their neighborhood to see what they have blooming over there.

For the rest of today, I will be finishing up laundry for the week and working on the prayer shawl (after I finish my teeter time).  There is also a dishwasher to empty (again) and another 15 minutes of decluttering to do somewhere in the house.  What are you up to today?

Until next time....................happy crafting!