Flowers Of Mid-March

So, we're always encouraged to slow down and take notice of the simple things in life.  This weekend I did just that.  While letting the cows eat the grass in the yard, I strolled around and took in the sights of spring.  For starters the pear tree was loaded with blooms:

Pretty?  Maybe.  But these flowers are as useful as teats on a boar hog.  These flowers are from a Bradford Pear and they make no fruit.  I got this tree free from an Arbor Day promotion.  It was just a little stick of a plant.  It has thrived and grown tall.  It is pretty in the spring when it blooms and it the fall when the leaves turn colors.  I am told, however, it only has a 25 year lifespan and that it is structurally unsound and will split and fall in high winds.  Uh oh!

The next photo is of a fruit tree that bears fruit and lots of it.  The blooms below are from one of our navel orange trees.  It produced so much fruit this year!  We began picking oranges in November and we just ate the last one!

These flowers fill the morning breeze with the sweetest smell south of heaven.  We REALLY enjoy the fragrance.  We're not the only ones.  A beneficial insect, the lady bug, also enjoys the flowers.  Even though the flowers are white, they are still pretty to me.

From a white flower to a flower that really "pops!"  Our azalea in the front yard.

This azalea was at my grandmother's house and I rescued it and replanted it in our front yard.  It rewards us each year with beautiful blooms that cover the shrub and light up the yard.  They bring back fond memories of my grandma too!

Beautiful!

The next flowers aren't really flowers that you think of, but they are pretty nonetheless.  The yellow flowers you see below nestled by the cabbage patch are broccoli flowers that have flowered and will be going to seed. 

Here's an up-close and personal shot.  You can see the transformation from a broccoli floret into a flower.

From something in the garden that is used to feed, to something in the yard that is a weed!  That's how I'd describe the odd but beautiful thing below.  It is a thistle.  These prickly things grow in the yard this time a year.  I have read that they have great health benefits and thistle is taken as a supplement to detoxify the liver and to manage the symptoms of diabetes, among many others.  Who knew that such benefits could be found from a 'weed' that I typically kick over in the yard or ditch when I see it?

I also learned from researching the milk thistle that the hollow stem can be eaten.  Its taste has been described as similar to celery.  I'm going to try preparing one and giving it a taste test,  I'll report back my findings later...