A Month of Love: Flowers

Black/Blue Salvia

Armisted salvia

We’ve have some very warm temperatures recently and I see the signs of spring. My violets are profusely blooming as is my rosemary. The distinctive aroma of Daphne fills the air when I step out on my porch.

New growth from the mint along the fence is visible. It won’t be long before I’m loading geraniums and fuchsias into the trunk of my car. And I’ll be looking for my Armistad and Black & Blue Salvia to sprout.

Fuchsias and Geraniums

Clematis

I will also be looking for one or maybe two new clematis plants. There was a mix-up and some “kill it dead” spray meant for my neighbor’s laurel hedge that didn’t quite get taken all the way out (at least not on my side of the fence she put up) drifted on to at least one if not both of my prized clematis.

Why prized? Because while I love this plant I’ve not been particularly successful in growing them.

Sitting at my computer, looking into my yard with the hummingbirds flitting around the plants is inspiring. I love the color against the carport storage area and fence.

In summer our days have gotten so hot, I do not spend time on my back decks enjoying the yard up close and personal but through my windows I have a panorama of visual delight.

When you read my books you’ll see I include flowers and gardens.

In Lily, she looks out over the view from Eleanor’s windows at the winter garden and the tall Douglas fir beyond. While the garden itself is a figment of my imagination, from my office windows I see the Douglas firs a couple blocks away.

Fuchsias are featured in Elizabeth. One of my fondest memories of driving around Ireland were the plethora of one of my favorite flowers growing wild along the roads.

I’ve included pictures from my garden.

Enjoy!!!

And, to get you started

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© 2018 Judith Ashley

My Favorite Thing About Spring!

Judith is the author of The Sacred Women’s Circle series, romantic fiction that honors spiritual practices that nourish the soul and celebrates the journey from relationship to romance.

You may not have noticed but I choose a theme for my monthly blog posts. Last month I posted on the change in seasons or the turning of the wheel of the year to spring. This month I’m sharing a few of my favorite things.

One of the joys in my life is watching the change in the seasons from my office window. Even though my yard is mainly low maintenance, I do get my share of birds including hummingbirds when my Armistad salvia, geraniums and fuchsia are in bloom.

Note gnarly, rough textures.

Starting to needle out - so soft!

Currently I’m engaged in watching my dwarf Diana larch come back. Larch are needled but they drop their needles in the fall. Winter finds their gnarly branches framed against the snowy landscape or the grey sky. This time of year, the needles grow back. As far as I know it is the only needled tree that is not an ‘evergreen’. This winter I lost a couple of branches so my original plan to “raise” the tree (prune the lower branches) has been postponed.

The honeysuckle that I planted over forty years ago is still going strong. It does need to be heavily pruned back (missed my chance during the winter because of the snows, etc.) because it is going to grow into the siding on the house. Not a good thing.

Along my driveway I have a planting bed with one of my favorite flowers—clematis. This year the two plants are thriving even with the harsh winter! New growth appears to be leaping into the world—an inch or two or more each day.

Oh, and I didn’t mention my Daphne. The short trip to my front door is wrapped in the fragrance of Daphne Odora.

There is much more I could include. Violets, hyacinths in the spring, fuchsia, geraniums in the summer and salvia in the fall. Seeing the seasons change through the flowers in my yard, the birds (robins are already here as are the scrub jays) and other critters. Sighted a raccoon yesterday morning. (It is mating season for them so they are out and about day or night and more aggressive than usual). My yard is regularly visited by flickers, woodpeckers and hummingbirds. And the occasional peregrine falcon or bald eagle can be sighted floating overhead looking for a tasty unsuspecting treat.

Sometimes it’s hard to believe I live in the middle of the city! Oh, and coyotes are sighted every now and then. Not sure we’ll see them so often if the chickens across the street are moved.

Sophia reflects my love of the land, the tracking of the seasons through my yard.

And you can still get a FREE copy of Lily if you sign up for Connections, my newsletter.

What is your favorite thing about Spring?

Learn more about The Sacred Women’s Circle series on her website.

Follow Judith on Twitter: @JudithAshley19

Check out Judith’s Windtree Press author page.

You can also find Judith on FB!

© 2017 Judith Ashley