Day 357

Though the weather is getting colder, there are still a few flowers alive.

This large azalea bush is by the entrance to our neighborhood.

I noticed this tree, though bare of most leaves, still had a few flowers blooming on it's limbs.

Day 351

The cold weather is setting in, but these hardly azaleas are still alive.

Day 202

I noticed that one of the azalea bushes had bloomed again, so I took close up photos to study it.

Day 168

A lot of early spring plants are dying shortly after they bloomed. However, there are new plants blooming and growing. There were lots of creatures today.

I found this tiny butterfly while taking flower photos

The white azaleas in our yard are wilting. They have had lots of rain and sun, but it's their nature to die quickly.

The dogwood blooms have mostly dropped off all at once, regardless of variety or when they bloomed. Very odd.

These are dying pink azaleas.

These flowers have grown paler overall, in color.

The center has changed in this flower.

This bush has recently grown new leaves.

This bush in our yard, has sprouted pink buds.

This chipmunk stood still for a while.

I took a step forward and it ran into this hole. I waited patiently and it poked back out of the hole.

There have been major storms in the area, but we have had light sporadic rain. Since we have a sky of thick clouds and clear sky, when the sun set, the clouds turned pink and purple.

John found this little frog for me. I tried to take clear photos without flash, but they weren't clear. I had to use flash, to pick up it's details, like the warts and blue spots.

Day 165

Today, I took photos of new plants along the main path.

I think these are some type of rose.

These came from the pine trees.

We have lots of caterpillars and inchworms who have been busy chewing on leaves

This weed like plant has a very long stem. I'm trying to convince my neighbor not to cut it down, just in case it has beautiful flowers.

These are vivid red azaleas

Pink and white azaleas

My white azalea is already losing it's blooms. This bee was taking advantage of the pollen in this one. You can see that a petal of this one has a hole in it. That might be from caterpillars or inchworms.

This is from a tulip tree. Tulip trees are tall  like oaks and maples, so it's hard to see their blooms way up high, to see which of the trees is a tulip tree. I will try to find the tree though.

The rhododendron started opening up it's blooms. I walked around to the back of the bush and was greeted by two large bees. They were so big that the clusters shook when they entered the flowers. It was amusing to watch them from a safe distance, as they gathered and dropped pollen.

This the second bee. It looks like a weird little alien.

Day 164 - Easter

Today is Easter.

I started the morning with a blazing sunrise through the trees.

For brunch, we went to John's parents' house. While the girls were making us look for Easter eggs, I took some photos of plants around their house.

Dandelions

Silver maple tree seeds

Purple pansies

These green blooms had lots of tiny red insects on them, and for a bit, this fly.

This vine with purple flowers creeps up the light pole.

They have a huge bush beside their house. It's covered in red blooms that in various states of decay. John's mom said it's a camellia bush. It's definitely a different variety than ours.

For linner (lunch/dinner) and to celebrate my younger brother's b-day, we went to my parents' house.

This tiny purple butterfly was resting on the soil beside our car.

A healthy hibiscus plant is blooming on their back porch.

The sun was beating down on the back porch.

In the front yard, was a patch of clover.

This azalea still has healthy blooms.

The sun was so bright, that the leaves were a bright green.

Day 155

I'm overly fascinated with the different varieties of azaleas in our neighborhood. If you all get bored of them, I don't blame you. Today's azaleas all have pink spots on the different shades of flowers. If you look closely at most of the flowers, you will see pollen dust from the bees.

Purple Azaleas with pink spots

Pink Azaleas with pink spots

Light pink Azaleas with pink spots

Purple maple tree seed

Pink flower with pink veining

Dying early spring flower

Pollen

Up view of white Azaleas