Mother's Day Flowers, Photos by Amy

 
Mother's Day has often brought flowers my way.   A newly opened Easter lily greeted me first thing this morning.  I could see right away just looking out the window that this was going to be a beautiful day.

 The shade garden presented me with pink shooting stars.

The white ones are different, but I couldn't chose one over the other.

Clumps of little bluets are a favorite. I could never have too many of those.

This beautiful white trillium has just the barest blush of pink.  If it doesn't get too hot, I should have this one for awhile.

 Wild strawberries are blooming underfoot with berries soon to follow.

 The unopened buds of an autumn olive have such an interesting shape, but the first thing you notice about this shrub is its fragrance.  The scent floats on the wind  and you are surrounded by it before you even see the bush.

Today  the many  butterflies scattered among the flowers were delightful to see.

Meadow sage has been in the garden since the Mother's day that we visited Wildflower Island.  I got a pot of  society garlic  and one of  meadow sage that  day in 2002.  I still have one pot of society garlic, but meadow sage pops up all over the garden.

It's hard to believe that the huge barberry in the back meadow is still blooming. They flower their way to the end of the stem.  Later berries will replace the flowers.

Years ago  little hands picked  violets from the lawn just for me.  How I loved those Mother's Day flowers!

Sometimes dandelions were my Mother's Day flowers.  I loved those too.

Today we cut some of my narcissus to send home with Amy so that she could enjoy them.
I spent the day with my daughter and had a phone call from my son. Mother's Day 2012 was a joy!

The Drive Thru Meadow

Ed and I spent the morning in the garden. He planted the rest of the potatoes. We both pulled lots of weeds and we even got a few plants planted. After lunch Ed went back to the task of getting caught up on his mowing. He makes these nice paths to make walking easier. It's nice to walk and explore the meadow without wading through the tall grass and without having to worry about stepping in holes or ugh!!! ticks. I found one of those little buggers on me just yesterday. This afternoon I grabbed the camera and took a ride up to the high meadow on the garden tractor.

Ed had told me that the barberry bush was worth the trip. It was! This bush is huge and it was covered with blossoms on every arching branch.

I just love the way the blossoms hang underneath the branches. The flowers have a pleasant but subtle scent.
The entire bush was buzzing with activity. I managed to get a shot of this interesting, but unknown, insect. This picture also shows you an example of the thorns that protect this bush.

I drove around the perimeter of Amy's meadow. When I got to the stand of Norway spruce, I had to take this picture of a pink pine cone. It was too neat to pass up.

These weird looking things are new cones on the larch tree .What fascinating texture and color for what will turn out to be an ordinary looking brown pine cones.

These pretty pink flowers are on a bush type of Japanese honeysuckle. This plant is pretty, and the birds love the berries, but it is horribly invasive here.

Most of these plants have white flowers. They are a nemesis of Ed's and he digs them out every chance he gets. They will never be welcome here, but today they were pretty.

I really enjoyed my ride. Later this afternoon the rains came again, but this time too late to spoil the kiddies' fun!.