Spring Plants and Flowers and Colors, Oh My! (April 25, 2011)

Every morning when I shut my front door behind me, I’m setting out on an adventure in the streets near home. I’m excited to see which flowers and plants have grown or opened overnight, changing the look of the whole neighborhood, little by little. Each morning brings change in spring. Sometimes the changes seem huge, like a bare tree suddenly crowned with bright green leaves. Other times I notice subtle changes, as though I’m looking at my neighborhood through a kaleidoscope, turning it only a fraction of an inch each morning. The colors stay the same but some are bigger the next day. Certain things have changed shape since the day before. It looks familiar but different enough that you notice the change. This is the magic of spring.



(I have mixed feelings about blogging about spring. I’m sure there are about a zillion posts out there about spring, and I know that my enthusiasm for this season is not unusual. But it’s my blog and each of us does see the world a little differently. A blog is like your thumbprint. It may have similarities to everyone else’s, but it also has completely unique features. And if my handful of loyal readers doesn’t mind that I’m yapping about plants again, then yap I will!)



For months I’ve been taking photos of plants and flowers in my neighborhood. When you live in Southern California, there’s always something in bloom. While we may not be snowed in each winter, spring is noticeable here. I could put hundreds of photos of plants in this post (note to self: sort and label recent photos. Additional note to self: sort and label last year’s photos, too!) But I’ll try to pick just a few that particularly grabbed me. Spring is a fiesta of new smells, sounds (baby birds chirping, and in our case, a jack hammer next door) and colors, and I’m happy to have been invited.