Pretty Things To Look At

I'll be the first to admit:  I'm not a flower guy.  We overwhelmingly plant things that we can eat.  I take that back - I primarily plant edible things.  Tricia plants flowering plants.  As I walk around in the yard on a nice spring day before it gets too hot, I begin to take in the pretty view.  First thing I notice is one of our many azalea bushes.  Most of the others' blooms have long since faded.  Azaleas are short lived.  They explode in awesome blooms and then just like that, they are gone.  There is one bush that has some nice azalea blooms on it:

I call this one our "watermelon" azalea.  The black anther of the flower and the reddish color of the bloom remind me of what it looks like to cut open a cold Charleston Gray on a hot summer's day.  I think of cutting pieces off of the wedge of watermelon with a butter knife, sprinkling salt on the melon with a salt shaker, and then popping the cold, sweet watermelon in my mouth.  

As i continue to walk, there is a blanket of white Dutch clover covering most of the backyard.  It's nearing the end now, as the days warm to the upper 80's already, but the honeybees are still doing their job on the clover as you can see by the busy bee in the direct center of the photo below.

Speaking of clover, I planted a couple of pounds of Crimson clover in the backyard for the bees.  It's starting to bloom all over.  I'll try to get some photos of all of the crimson blooms.  It's really a sight to see.  I certainly hope the crimson clover seeds and comes up again next year and the years following.

Finally, the first of the Louisiana iris bloomed this morning.  What a regal flower!  As with the crimson clover, I'll share more photos when all the Louisiana iris is in bloom.

Again, I'm not a flower guy, but those flowers I noticed inspired me to stop and take notice of the truly beautiful things around me that I might otherwise ignore.  I hope you have an enjoyable day, taking in and savoring the things of beauty that surround you in your life!