Yellow violet

I've been having more fun with my Easy-Macro lens. I just can't seem to stop! Anyway, because of it I learned something new yesterday. I'd taken this photo of a tiny flower with it the day before:

Here's just a regular iPad photo to show what plant it came from:

Then yesterday morning, I was going to post them to Instagram and ask if anybody knew what that plant was. I tried looking it up as a weed, but I didn't find anything that really matched. So back outside I went to get another look (because I hadn't really paid much attention to the plants when taking the pics). Here are a couple more iPad shots (I should've taken the DSLR but wanted the pics handy for Instagram):

They are under some evergreens in our backyard. It was pretty windy then, so the leaves are blowing a lot in the picture below, but I took it for size comparison with the dandelions that you can see in the foreground:

While I was out there, it dawned on me that the plants sure looked like the purple violets I have in front of the house (the ones the woodchuck likes). I didn't know if there was such a thing as a yellow violet, but googling it found me plenty of photo proof that there certainly is! So that was the new thing I learned yesterday.

Yellow violet. Is that an oxymoron? I certainly think so! And really, why weren't they just called "yellows", if the violet ones are called violets??? ;-Þ

Woodchuck

I almost forgot to show you the visitor I had a couple weeks ago. I glanced out the living room window and saw this:

I had to hurry with the camera, for fear it'd get away, so these shots aren't very good, but here it is a little closer:

Yep, it's a woodchuck. It was probably about to eat the blooms off the wild violets in front of the house, which they really seem to like a lot. Every year when those flowers disappear, I figure there's a woodchuck around somewhere.

Incidentally, I did manage to get an Easy-Macro shot of a violet before the woodchuck got to it!

Did you ever realize there's so much detail in those plain-looking little flowers?

Spring sights

I have to remind myself that it's really spring, since it was so cold yesterday. It was even snowing when I woke up, and the ground was white. Yuck. But it changed to drizzly rain, which carried on all day long, and the whiteness was soon all gone. Here are some pics I took last Friday, which was a MUCH nicer day.

Getting close!

Those were poppy plants. Look how hairy the leaves are:

Yep, the grass is growing. Whenever this rain stops (which according to the forecast isn't going to be for a few days, at least), it's certainly going to need mowing. That doesn't exactly excite me.

Déjà vu

Hmmm... seems I've seen this scene before. Like here. Remember?

I think he's checking out my violets, to see if they're blooming yet so he can eat the flowers off. Yep, they are!

Lookin' right tasty!

I can always tell when there's a woodchuck around, because the violets have no blooms.

He disappeared inside the culvert after I got the first shot at him, but I wandered around with my camera and took pictures of the maple leaves I showed you yesterday, and lo and behold, when I got done, he was back, peeking out of the other end of the culvert! So nosy! So I got another shot at him. Quite successfully, I'd say!

Just pretty

Some pretty pictures for your viewing pleasure. :-)

Who doesn't love a blue sky, especially on a foggy, gloomy morning like we have today? These were taken last Wednesday.

I took these lilac pics this morning. They're not the clearest, because it was windy and I was trying to hold the branches still. And they were wet from the fog which you can see in the background. I didn't know if they were actually going to bloom by Memorial Day or not...

... but they ARE!!!

Barely.

Spring progress

"Spring"? According to the calendar, anyway. But you gotta admit, it's a little confusing this year! From a high in the 60's on Thursday and tornado warnings all over the place that night, to a chance of SNOW again last night (which, thankfully, didn't materialize)... it's crazy!!

But anyway, the spring plants seem to think it's time to grow, so it must be spring. Here's the rhubarb... making more progress, but you can see the freezing temps of a week ago damaged it a little. Rhubarb doesn't care, though... it's tough and keeps coming, anyway. Pie size isn't too far off.

The tulips haven't progressed much (what are left after the deer munched on them, that is), but this one is developing a little color. Looks kinda wimpy, but can you blame it? Okay, so all my tulips need to be thinned out a bit. This coming fall, hopefully.

I also noticed this violet blooming, too. A woodchuck usually eats off all the blooms every summer, but he must be still hibernating! (Can't say as I blame him.)

On the north side of the house are many hostas, which are making their appearance, too.

And look what I found in the garden! Can you see what it is?

Try this one... look a little closer.

Yeah, you're right... dandelions which need to be sprayed, but NOW can you tell?

Yep, asparagus! Yum! As cold as it's been, I was surprised to find them coming up. Obviously I need to get the old stalks from last year out of there. I always leave them over the winter, simply because they're much easier to get out of there in the spring after they've had a chance to rot down a little (and I have a LOT to get out!). This year I haven't removed them yet, thinking they're maybe a bit of protection from the cold and snow that keeps returning. But as soon as it's fit to work outside again, they've got to go. Can't wait for that first taste of fresh asparagus!