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Monday, February 27, 2017

April flowers in February


I picked a teeny tiny pot of Violets yesterday...
and thought about Mama...


Mama loved violets and loved picking violets. Aunt Berlie and I loved to pick violets too. Mama never could never resist buying a little pitcher or a teacup and saucer with a violet on the front.

The other day, Shelby mentioned something about Aunt Burl. Growing up, we always called Aunt Berlie, Aunt Burl. I had forgotten about that. Her real name was Berlie Sarah.


The peach tree up at the garden is in full bloom. Poppy said just yesterday, you need to take a picture of this tree. We were walking Eli. I didn't have the camera with me.

So last night, just what I've been afraid would happen, happened. The temperature dropped to 31 degrees.  

These blooms are from the peach tree in the yard where the buds have just begun to open. Once it get daylight, I will cross my fingers and go check on everything.


Why, look at this button bush! It looks more like April here than February!


this thing has grown huge. Lots of sprouts have come up underneath. Aunt Berlie used to always be giving folks sprouts of blooming shrubbery. She had the prettiest big white bridals wreath spirea in her yard.  

daffodils, and quince


can you tell it was late in the day, just before sunset, when I wandered outside with the camera.



and finally! I finished spreading that last big load of pine straw. Our neighbor Fred says this is the last of the pine straw, for this year.

and finished cutting back the rose bushes...

another picture of the sweet little violets...
Poppy asks, why do take so many pictures of the same thing? Well, because it's pretty.

my kitty cat picture of the day...
Dumperoo, waiting for somebody to open another can of smelly fishy kitty cat food.

Didn't mean to go on and on about the yard and the flowers.

Poppy went to work this morning and will be gone until 2:00. I've got plenty of housework to do, and hope to get outside and rake a few leaves too. 

Thank you for visiting. 

Love,
Henny



59 comments:

  1. I love violets, too, and your pretty little container full of them brightens my day! Mama and I used to place individual violets between the pages of the big Atlanta phone book and then used the dried blooms on note cards. Sweet memories.
    Your yard and the blooms are so pretty. I am especially fond of quince. Love seeing Dumperoo - why don't you feed that CAT!!!!! lol (my cats can never get full!)

    God bless your day, sweet friend. xoxo Mildred

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    1. Thank you Mildred. I had tried several times to grow a quince with no luck. Then summer before last I bought this one reduced at Walmart. It looked about half dead, and has really come out. I love it!

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  2. Your plants are so pretty, I don't think I've ever heard of a button bush before. My Mother loved African violets and always had them growing around the house. I can't keep one alive.

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    1. Hey Janet. Thank you! Actually, the button bush is a type of spirea. I love all the spireas.

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  3. I know how you feel about taking pictures of your lovelies over and over again. I continually send my sister pictures of this and that and that and that. Pictures that she has seen which are, of course, very similar to last years and the year before. They are just so pretty who can resist pointing them out and showing them off.

    The button bush is just gorgeous, hummmmm I just might need one of those! And the violets are simply lovely---so tiny and delicate.

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    1. Hey Vic. I do the same thing. Andee and I send each other pictures of our flowers. :) Wish I could give you a sprout or two from under this button bush.

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  4. I-love-violets.

    When I see them, here in the NE, I know that spring has really come.

    So lucky, that your frost didn't get to everything. Wheeew.....

    I wish I "had" an Aunt Berlie! I love flowering bushes, especially white ones. :-) Somehow, I don't care for yellow though.

    And we take many pictures, of one thing.... Always searching for the "purrrrfect" one! :-) You tell him, I said that. :-)

    Gentle hugs,
    Luna Crone

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    1. Hey Luna Crone! The cold night didn't seem to hurt anything, but this Saturday we are supposed to have even colder temperatures...down to 28! Wouldn't you just know it! I'm not crazy about yellow either, but yellow was one of my Mother's favorite colors.

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  5. Your garden is beginning to come alive with the signs of Spring everywhere beautiful flowering bushes and plants everywhere. A real delight to visit.

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  6. It must feel great to see such signs of spring. You seem to have a lot of good stories of the ladies in your family. Those are precious memories. I see the guineas like to help you do yard work. "Hi Dumperoo. I see you at least have patience and don't jump up on the table like a certain AA here."

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    1. Oh Deb, it has been wonderful. I just hope we don't pay for all this beautiful weather and flowers later...with winter in March. Dumperoo could use a lesson or two from miss Audrey. Dumper is such a fraidy cat. :)

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  7. Aw! Dumperoo is so handsome!
    Violets are soft and pretty.
    I hope you had a nice quiet morning. It looks like spring.

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    1. Thank you Pom Pom! Hope you are having a good week! :)

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  8. Thank you for the photos of the flowers. I enjoy your family stories. They are so interesting to me. Thank you for sharing.
    Have a great week and enjoy your outside time. :-) My favorite place to be, I will have to wait awhile yet, we got more snow.

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    1. I appreciate that Carla. Oh, there's nothing like being outside in the fresh air and sunshine!

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  9. It is beautiful indeed around your home, Henny! I hope your peach trees weren't hurt by the dropping temperatures last night. Up our way we are going to either have an extremely early spring or there will not be any fruit around this year. I really do hope that your signs of spring aren't hampered by the cooler night temps.

    The violets are so pretty and I love it that you pick them and bring them inside. I do that, too, but some people prefer to leave them outside.

    Dumperoo is such a pretty cat! I see where Lynn gets her love of cats from. :)

    Have a wonderful week, my friend...and don't work too hard!

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    1. Thank you Dianna. The peach trees seem fine...but now we have next Saturday to worry about. 28 degrees predicted! Sometimes I have a hard time picking flowers to bring inside. I feel like I am killing them. :) You have a good week too. :)

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  10. You can go on and on about your beautiful yard all that you want too . . . I enjoyed every single photo. Your weather is like the Spring we had here last year . . . but not this year. We still have snow on the ground (it is slowly melting), but yesterday it snowed again :) So, I will enjoy Spring by visiting your lovely blog. Last Spring I planted two Bridal Wreath Spirea; I do hope that they weathered through our cold winter and start growing this year. I think they are beautiful and I love the smell. Don't work too hard and get your back hurting again . . . slow and easy, if you know what that means, LOL. You're a hard working girl. Have a happy week!
    Connie :)

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    1. Thank you Connie! Oh, I sure hope your two spirea bushes make it. I really want a bridal wreath spirea, in fact, I've just got to have one! :) You have a happy week too!

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  11. Beautiful violets. My grandmother always had such a pretty yard, with all her azaleas, four o'clocks, hydrangeas. I didn't get her green thumb, that's for sure. She would share cuttings and seeds. She is gone now but her yard still blooms with beautiful plants. Next time I go down I am going to get some cuttings...I might dig up the entire plants since nobody else takes care of them. Makes me sad but I have all of my memories of my grandmother and her beautiful yard.

    Grace & Peace,
    Pam

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    1. Hey Pam...and thank you! Oh, you should dig up some of the plants and enjoy them in your own yard. It's a job digging up bushes though.

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  12. Gorgeous flower photos Henny. Everyones weather has been so crazy this year. We have tulips and crocuses up here too but nothing compared to your flowers.
    Hope the peach blossoms weren't frozen!
    Dumperoo is so sweet!

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    1. Thank you Robin. The weather really has been strange...everywhere! I've seen a few crocuses here too.

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  13. Wow, spring has surely sprung in your neck of the woods, just glorious!!! I am hoping today's warmer temps melt the inch of ice and sleet that was on my deck this morning, and you've got flowers blooming everywhere! Hope you don't get a frost, simply gorgeous at your sweet home.

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    1. Oh gosh! Ice and snow! Usually, by this time of the year I am so tired of winter. Hard to believe we've had spring the entire month of February. Hope we don't pay for it in March!

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  14. Your yard is full of loveliness!! I love Violets ( and almost every other kind of flowers). I can hardly wait until my Daffodils grow and bloom but we are having snow again today. Crazy weather.

    I enjoy the little stories you tell about your mom or aunts. Please keep on remembering and posting about them.

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    1. Oh, Granny Marigold, I know how you love flower, and flowers love you. I am looking forward to seeing your flowers again this spring.

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  15. The yard is beautiful! I just hope that nothing kills the fruit trees. I love your pictures. I have got to write a blog my cow had her calf. First time she has ever had a girl cow. She has always had bulls.

    Love you bunches.

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    1. Vicki, your yard is probably full of blooms and pretty fruit trees. Guess you heard that the temperature is supposed to be 28 this Saturday! :( I love you!

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  16. Oh it really does look like spring by you. Everything is so pretty and I love the violets in the little pitcher.
    Though we have had some nice spring like days, no daffodils or spring flowers quite yet.

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    1. Thank you Happyone! Hopefully, we won't have winter come back during the month of March!

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  17. Replies
    1. Thank you Red. It's a little early for all this!

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  18. diane in northern wisFebruary 27, 2017 at 5:19 PM

    What a wonderful blog full of flowers! I love all your picture! The violets are so lovely and oh my gosh those trees and bushes in your yard at just awesome! Sure hope they don't get frozen. The daffodils and other flowers look great too. It's like you're living in a fairyland. We will have to wait until May for that. Enjoy all the beauty around you. Thanks for the great blog.

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    1. Diane, thank you! You are always so sweet and leave the nicest comments.

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  19. Why else would you take a picture...I got so tickled at that! There are just certain things I cannot resist taking photos of!

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  20. Violets are special to me too. My mother's name was Violet, and she loved those sweet smelling little beauties that bloomed so early in the spring. She really hated winter in her later years. Violets are a promise ot the warmth and light to come.
    We have a wait a bit yet for ours to bloom.

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    1. Oh, your mother's name was Violet. That is so neat. What a sweet name. I'm hoping we won't pay later for all this warm weather. Thank you, Linda.

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  21. Spring has come to your neck of the woods early this year, for sure. The violets are beautiful!

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    1. Thank you Chip Butter! It really has, and probably way too soon! :)

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  22. Got to love up and down weather

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  23. Wow, so much Spring! All those flowers and bushes blooming, lovely! And the violets are just so adorable! (Okay, too many exclamation marks haha) I'm just feeling envious, because we got another 5 inches of snow dumped on us today. We have had soo much snow this winter, and enough is enough! It was just starting to feel like Spring too.....

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    1. Oh Karen, another 5 inches of snow!! You really have had the snow this year. Usually in February, I am moping around depressed, wishing for spring. This has really been unusual weather. Hope it warms up soon up your way.

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  24. It's easy to go on and on about the flowers when they are so pretty and such a welcome sight at this time of year. Your yard looks beautiful. I especially love your quince. I have a tiny one that I have been babying for years. I think it is finally starting to take off. Do you live in NC?

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    1. Yes, we live in NC. I love that quince too. I have bought at least three quince bushes since we've lived here and could never get one to grow. Finally I bought this one at Walmart, reduced, and looking bad at the end of season. I planted it and it just grew like crazy. Isn't that strange.Thank you for visiting.

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    2. For some reason I was thinking you were in GA. I am in NC too. Amazing about that quince. You just never know how a plant will do.

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  25. I enjoyed your blog....and your flowers, I'm going to look up your 'button bush'

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    1. Hey Maggie Ann! Thank you for visiting and leaving a comment. I should have said in my post that the button bush is a type of Spirea, at least that's what I think it is. The tiny little flowers look just like little buttons.

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  26. I always enjoy roaming your yard with you. So pretty, all those blooms.

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    1. Thank you Melanie. Sure wish you were here to roam around in person. :)

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  27. wow. such pretty flowers. Those daffodils are lovely.

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  28. I wish I had violets....not sure they grow here....you have some stunning garden spots !

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  29. Wow, your yard has burst into bloom! Ours is pretty, too, with camellias, Chinese fringe, and azaleas, but no violets. My whole backyard in Minnesota was covered with violets, all from one little plant I got from a friend.

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  30. Mama, your yard is beautiful!! I love it. I want to turn a yard into something beautiful again. A garden is such a place of refuge. I love you!! ~Your oldest girl, who wanted to read more than she wanted to help clean house on Saturdays

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  31. The violets are so pretty and you have so many pretty flowers right now! I hoe the frost does not ruin everything!! Nancy

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