31 Days of Flowers, Final Edition

And, it's peonies, of course. Some are much battered by the storms over the last couple of days, but still beautiful.

'Angel Cheeks', looking very much worse for the wear.

The buds are holding up better - can't wait to see these tomorrow. The second one below is 'Festiva Maxima', the top one may be, too. The last one is 'Felix Crouse'.

Sad to see this project end - it's been fun watching the spring blossoms come and go.

31 Days of Flowers: Dame's Rocket

From this morning at Indigo Lake in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Another pretty plant that turns out to be an invasive. It's native to Europe and Asia and crowds out native wildflowers here. So sad, because it's such sure sign of summer.

And did you know that you have to pry yourself out of bed at 4 am to catch a late May sunrise? Yup. Ain't enough coffee...

31 Days of Flowers: Hardy Geraniums

Hardy geraniums in Kentucky. We were at a really lovely horse farm with one of my photography groups and this was taken toward the end of the morning shoot. Little bubbles of pink and purple dancing against the green.

These were right across the farm lane from the owners' residence, surrounding a little overlook for the lake. Most elegant farm I've ever seen - a dream of what a horse farm should be.

31 Days of Flowers: Wild Berry

Went to Tallmadge Meadows this morning to shoot. Just had one lens, a 150 - 600, which actually worked out great.

This is a raspberry or blackberry in the morning light:

A song sparrow:

And a last year's teasel, nicely backlit:

This lens drops out the backgrounds really nicely.

31 Days of Flowers: Never Enough Peonies

Last night's thunderstorm featured lots of thunder and some excellent lightning. It also left the peonies sparkling with raindrops and drooping to the earth.

This was the first to open - it's on top of a small hill in full sun. 'Felix Crousse' is starting to bloom and 'Festiva Maxima' is still tightly budded - both are plants inherited from my mother and grandmother.

Here's a good website for peony information: http://www.theplantexpert.com/peonies/index.html.

31 Days of Flowers: Viburnum

Vibrant are pretty robust shrubs - they grow wild here in Ohio. However, my backyard has been viburnum-challenged since I first planted them 10 years ago. Deer nibbled them nearly to the ground, and bit off every single blossom for years; more recently, it's been viburnum beetles ravaging the foliage.

With coyotes moving in, the deer population has dwindled a bit (also because of carnage on the busy main road in this part of town), and because the weird weather is messing with the beetles, we have an abundance of bloom this year.

Here's just one:

A couple of the bushes are almost 15' tall and are tangled in the evergreens, making a nice contrast between the creamy white of the viburnum umbels and the dark green of the spruces.

31 Days of Flowers: Wine & Roses

I can't be trusted alone in the garden center. Plants for which I have no space mysteriously show up in the car, then get jammed in between magenta and puffy pink peonies and apricot-flushed daylilies. My lovely weigela 'Wine & Roses' is smushed up against the deck and deserves much better. Yet it is covered with blooms and has been for a couple of weeks.

Maybe I can assuage my guilt with a little bit a pruning and some compost...

First Peony Bloom!: 31 Days of Flowers

First peony bloom in my garden!

This nameless beauty was a gift from a gardening friend.

When I hit the lottery, I am going to grow every single glorious peony I can find. Right after I get a horse.

31 Days of Flowers: Dragons in the Garden

Ok, so it's columbine - but the opening bud kind of looks like a dragon, right?

Not sure how this plant came to live in my front flower bed. I had some planted in the backyard below the top deck in deep shade but they disappeared and this one showed up in front.

Definitely not this pleasant creamy yellow, either. Oh well, a gardening mystery with a happy ending.

31 Days of Flowers: Two-fer

Went mental yesterday and forgot to post, so two today. Both are from Kent's Standing Rock Cemetery. First, a downed lilac branch - kind of an unusual color. Don't know if it was broken off by the grounds crew or the wind, but it was still fresh, and wasn't blowing in the wind.

And a pretty apple tree with a cute bird house.

Standing Rock allows a little more latitude for personal displays, so some of the grave sites have been decorated by the families. Some are a little quirky, but all of them are poignant.

31 Days of Flowers: Rhododendron

From Kent's beautiful old Standing Rock Cemetery:

Plus, the eponymous Standing Rock, right in the middle of the Cuyahoga River. actually more of a creek this far upstream.

31 Days of Flowers: 'Miss Kim' Lilac

'Miss Kim' is going all out this year. She is completely covered in pinky-lavender blooms and smells heavenly.

All the Kent compost must agree with her.

Apple Blossoms for 31 Days of Flowers

Went to Seiberling NatuRealm on Monday - awash in apple blossoms! Every little breeze produced a shower of white. Just a really pretty sight.

Clouds of blossom on each branch:

The winding path through the ornamental trees.

More to come - lots in bloom this week.

31 Days of Flowers: Robinson Crab

The wild winds of the last few days blasted the petals around in hot pink blizzard. Sad to see them go. Even sadder that I will be digging their blasted sprouts out pretty much forever. Not an ornamental tree I would recommend, even thought the bronzy leaves and rosy-pink flowers are delightful. Suckers madly and every one of the tiny crab apples hatches another tree.

(yep, had these queued up to post while I was out of town, and totally forgot, dang it!)

31 Days of Flowers: Cutleaf Toothwort

Cutleaf toothwort is not the most evocative name for a flower. Kind of clunky and doesn't really suit these lavender-pink snippets of spring wildflowers.

Brecksville Reservation, on a frosty late April morning.

Magnificent White Trillium Display: 31 Days of Flowers

Hubbard Valley's white trillium display is amazing - the forest floor is carpeted with white, more trillium than I've seen in my life in one relatively small park. Here are a few photos, which certainly don't do the park justice:

 The pinkish ones are older flowers.

A fungi break from trilliums:

This placid-looking lake harbors some big honking' fish. At first, I thought they were muskrats or beavers, but no, dorsal and tail fins of some monstrous, 4-foot long pointy-snouted behemoths sunning themselves along the lakeshore.

A pretty park bridge along the path to trillium.

And just a little bit upstream from the bridge, rock sculpture from an unknown hand.

31 Days of Flowers: Trout Lilies

All gone now, all that's left are fading leaves on the forest floor. Trout lilies from Brecksville Reservation.

The flowers are still closed up because it was the last really frosty morning in April.

31 Days of Flowers: Apple Blossoms

From Mom's house yesterday, Mother's Day:

31 Days of Flowers: Lily of the Valley

Sweet lily of the valley, gift from a friend:

Mom had these growing next to the house on Cresthaven. Today was our first Mother's Day since she passed away. Dave and I put a wreath on her grave, pink roses and ferns. Her house has been sold and will close at the end of the month. Another end, another beginning...

31 Days of Flowers: Blue Phlox and Apple Blossoms

Blue phlox from Everett. Love the tiny whorled buds:

Apple blossoms from my back yard. This tree is a volunteer from a Robinson crab apple - lighter pink blossom. Entirely too close to the deck, but how could I cut down a tree with such perfect pink blossoms?

What no one mentions in the loving descriptions of Robinson crab apples is that every single tiny crab apple they drop sprouts with roots that reach halfway to China and they sucker like mad things. Clearly, they want to be crab apple shrubs and only a sharp pair of pruners stands between you and crab-ageddon.

31 Days of Flowers: Sessile Trillium

Thanks to a tip from a friend, we went to Hubbard Valley Park near Seville to see stunning displays of sessile and white trillium. I've seen sessile trillium in ones and twos - at Hubbard they cover the floor of a small glade of trees.

I'll post the white trillium later; here are the sessile, also called "toad shade".

Hubbard Valley Park is definitely worth a visit.

Bluebells: 31 Days of Flowers

From Hemlock Creek, up close and personal:

Love the deep blue and magenta against the bright green leaves.