Weekly Photo Challenge: Today

Today was good.  Today was fun.  Tomorrow is another one.  ~ Dr. Seuss

Part of my garden….TODAY.

Thanks for visiting TODAY!

Judy

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

Daisies~ Forever Love

Daisy Time

by Marjorie Pickthall

See, the grass is full of stars,
Fallen in their brightness;
Hearts they have of shining gold,
Rays of shining whiteness.

Buttercups have honeyed hearts,
Bees they love the clover,
But I love the daisies’ dance
All the meadow over.

Blow, O blow, you happy winds,
Singing summer’s praises,
Up the field and down the field
A-dancing with the daisies.

Golden daisy.

Flowers don’t worry about how the’re going to bloom.  They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful.  ~Jim Carrey

❤ I dedicate this post to my beautiful friend, who valiantly fought a horribly tough illness for months with an incredible upbeat attitude, but sadly passed away a week ago.   She was elegant and funny, giving and loving, talented and modest, and much more.  I miss her terribly.  My thoughts and prayers are with her family, whose ache is a million times my own.❤

Grace & Peace~

Judy

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

Frederik Meijer Gardens, Grand Rapids, MI.

Hi everyone!

I’ve posted about Frederik Meijer Gardens before;  but we went there in late April, and I wanted to share some of the spring photos.
Frederik Meijer began one of the largest grocery chains in Michigan.   It ultimately grew to serve Illinois, Ohio and Indiana too.   Since Grand Rapids is his home base, he began Frederik Meijer Gardens as a place where the community and visitors from all over the world, can come, relax and enjoy the surroundings.

 A pond in the garden with a simple bench for reading or relaxing.

A pond in the gardens with an inviting bench.

 

A simple shed turns into a magical place with pink dogwood branches making an entrance arch.

A shed is tucked away under spring flowers, like a secret house.

Pretty falls sparkle in the sun; splashing water on the rocks as it tumbles to the bottom.

Cool spring water flows softly down the rocky falls, diving into the pond.

The palace must be her home, she thinks, as this dainty royal purple tulip bows her head.

A heavy water-laden purple tulip bows royally.

After a sleepy winter, the pond awakes with soft colors, mirroring the new buds around its perimeter.

A pond shows off its reflection with new spring buds.

A quick storm blows through and sets off a flurry of activity in the sky.  The clouds form amazing, cotton candy puffs and colors to dazzle the eyes.

The storm is over; the clouds have a party in the sky.

Shades of blue and pink decorate the late evening sky. What a treat!

Thanks for going to Grand Rapids with me!
Judy

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unfocused

Poor Punky Peony….very blurry!

So much for focusing the peony that day!!

Hope your eyes aren’t crossed!

Judy

Trip Teasers!

Hello to my wonderful, loyal blogging friends!  I’m baaaaaaaaack!  
I missed every one of you and I also missed visiting your blogs!

We had a great time exploring and visiting friends and family in this beautiful country of ours.
I have some photos of our trip…..just some teasers so you’ll know the path we took.

Of course, many more will come later!  Let’s see….how many SD cards did I go through?  ;) 

From Michigan, south through the Great Smokey Mountain Park below.

Driving through the Great Smokey Mountains after heavy rain. Love the mist in the mountains.

From the Smokey’s, continuing south, we arrived in St Simons Island, GA., to stay with our college friend below.   St Simons is a barrier island off the coast of GA.  It is lovely with marshes, tons of azaleas, live oaks dripping with spanish moss and wide open beaches.

The charming St Simons lighthouse after sunset.

With our college friend, we made the 2 hour trip north to Savannah.  I love architecture and this was a treat, below.

This is one of the lovely homes we saw on our "trolley" ride around Savannah.

From St Simons Island, we drove north to one of our favorite cities, Charleston, SC.  The next day we drove to my elementary school friend’s home in Pawley’s Island, SC.    Pawley’s Island is beautiful, lush and the home of the original rope hammock, see below.

This rope swing is on top of our friends' marina building. It gives a great view of the surrounding land and the Waccamaw River. (it's also fun to swing in it!)

We continued north.  Can you tell we are doing the “coastal crawl”?? !!  We stopped at Cape Hatteras and Ocean City before arriving at my cousin’s home near Wilmington, Delaware.   Of course the DuPont families are important in Wilmington, and one of my favorites has always been the Winterthur estate.  Winterthur has gorgeous gardens along with the massive mansion.  This time my cousin introduced us to another DuPont estate called Longwood.   The gardens were just outstanding.  Both of these estates should be on a “must see” list if you go to Delaware.

One of my favorite looks: woodland phlox or phlox divaricata, snuggled up against a tree. This photo is from Longwood Gardens.

We turned left from Delaware and continued west into Pennsylvania.  We had tour tickets for Kentuck Knob and Fallingwater.  If you know me, you know I’m a Frank Lloyd Wright design freak!  So this was a treat.  We’ve been to several others, but Fallingwater has always been on my bucket list.  Below you will see the smaller home, Kentuck Knob, a delightful gem, just 7 miles from Fallingwater.  The chimes in the surrounding landscape are great sculptures and also provide sound when the wind blows.  

One of the chimes at Kentuck Knob, and the corner of the low, wide-overhanging roofline...typical of FLW homes.

Alas, every good vacation must come to an end.  At this time of year, it’s fun to see what changed in the gardens while we were gone.  (mostly weeds!)   Home again, home again, jiggedy jig……

Home.

Thank you for hanging in there while I was gone.  I hope to see you soon.  I’ll have photos to share on each stop we made.
I’m even thinking of a wild and wooly post called “PHOTOS at 70 mph”  as I took many riding down the highway!  haha.

Peace and hugs….
Judy
All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

Ancient Artifact? or ?

Is this an ancient artifact?

An ancient Greek Sun symbol?

Or is it something else?

An ancient artifact? !!

Actually I can’t fool any of you!  This is sort of ancient…er um….it’s from last  summer’s garden!  Now can you guess?
As near as I can tell, it’s a Purple Coneflower.  We have them in the area where I found this cool specimen.  It makes such a great photo subject.  And….as you can see below, I had fun playing on PhotoShop with it too. 

Dried Purple Coneflower with the "Dry Brush" effect from PhotoShop.

 

Thanks for viewing my Coneflower!

Judy

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

Helleborus, or Lenten Rose

The Lenten Rose, or Helleborus (commonly known as Hellebore) is an early blooming species.  There are many varieties of Hellebores.   The one I have blooms in March.  It’s an evergreen plant with flowers of deep purple.  The Lenten Rose is a lovely addition to a garden and a special treat when snow is still on the ground!

Read more about Lenten Roses from Wiki here.

Lenten rose.

The center of the flower has the most interesting "folded" green area.

Even the bud is cool looking!

The blooms sometimes hang down like bells.

I love the intricate center of the flowers.

Thanks for viewing my Lenten Rose!  I hope you enjoyed it!

Judy

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

 

Bloomin’ Blues!

The Blues are here!  The miniature Blue Snow Iris just bloomed today.  My last post showed the miniature Purple Snow Iris.   Our temperatures reached 80 today and buds were popping open everywhere.

Here are a few photos of our Early Spring…… 

mini Blue Snow Iris

I love that blue color!!!

Pink Viburnum...blooming about 6 weeks early.

Daffodils almost ready to pop!

A chorus of Blues~

Where flowers bloom, so does Hope.   ~Lady Bird Johnson

Thanks for visiting.

Judy

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

Spring’s Purple Frenzy!

Purple Snow Iris...

I should name this post: The Dance of the Purple Snow Iris, for the tiny flowers sway and shudder in the slightest breeze.  It makes it very hard to get a sharp image of them!
I found the setting sun in perfect alignment with the irises this evening, so I had fun trying to capture the evening light through the petals.
They may not be purple, but we have a few very early Viburnum buds that have opened into their second stage of growth.
We are enjoying temperatures in the 60-70F range this week.  An early gift of spring….but what could April bring???

Bread feeds the body indeed, but the flowers also feed the soul.
-  The Koran

Snow Iris petals backlit by the setting sun.

Snow Iris.

A viburnum bud that has opened into the pre-flower stage. This usually happens in early May.

 

Thanks for visiting my garden.  Come back again!

Judy

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.

Too early!

  Even though the Dwarf Snow Iris is an early spring bloomer, February is far too early for it to bloom in the north!

 …..

February is much too early even for the classy Snow Iris,
Who often blooms amidst pockets of snow.
But this year has been different.
She slept soundly under the snow blanket
During the sub zero weather and the freezing
Temperatures that sent subliminal messages
Telling her to stay low, it’s not time yet.
But then something curious happened.
The sun began to shine more often
Than is usual in these parts during
The cold winters.
The sun warmed the earth and sent
A message to the Snow Iris that it was time
To awaken, and start the struggle to emerge.
When she finally made it to the surface,
Exhausted, what was there to greet her?
It was none other than wind, rain, snow
And freezing temperatures!
Now, what was the Snow Iris to do?
She is not one to balk, wilt or give up.
She stands tall against the message
That came too early.
Giving us all Hope that we, too, can
Weather the storms of life.

 

 

........

 

Good night friends….

Judy 

All text and images are copyright © 2002-2012 and are the exclusive property of Judy Johnson (unless otherwise indicated). All Rights Reserved. All Images are protected under United States and International copyright laws. None of the images on this site are in the Public Domain.