The pleasure of our gardens, part 17

I am always amazed at how the color and shape of a single rose can change in just a matter of days.

The spring weather has been kind to the rose bushes in our backyard garden and has made photographing our roses and other flowers a real pleasure ~ and, a daily habit.

Last week, I followed the progress of a single rainbow-colored rose over the course of four days and recorded three photographs that illustrate how its color and shape changed day by day.

May 11, 7:58 p.m.

May 13, 7:13 a.m.

May 14, 3:25 p.m.

Sometimes, all it takes is a bit of sunshine, coupled with a little overnight rain, to make things nice and colorful in our garden.

All photographs by Michael Dickens, copyright 2011.

The pleasure of our gardens, part 15

A Garden party /
What started as a trio, grew into a quintet and now is a septet.

As the middle of April approaches, our spring garden is starting to take shape.  And, with the Bay Area sun shining regularly again, it's a matter of days before we welcome the return of our irises and roses.

Yes, spring colors are ready to burst out just in time for Easter.

Calla lily / Its trumpet blooming
and smiling.

Our calla lilies, which started to blossom in mid January, are now in full bloom. What started as a trinity of three (Father, Son and Holy Ghost?) in a calla lily bed anchored by our Japanese maple tree on the right side of our front porch has grown up to become a party of seven (one calla lily for each day of the week, maybe?).  Around the corner from the garden party, the rest of our majestic calla lilies are lined up single-file along the east side of our house with their trumpets all beaming with smiles.

Budding iris / Peaking out
through sword-shaped leaves.

In our backyard garden, our iris bed has been a hub of activity as sword-shaped leaves have grown tremendously during the past month thanks to plenty of rain. The first iris buds protruding through these sword-shaped leaves should start blooming within a week.

Queen Elizabeth rose /
Our first bud is ready
to open any day.

Also, our Queen Elizabeth and Mr. Lincoln rose bushes have shown some budding development after being pruned back for the winter months.

Day-by-day, along with our other rose bushes, they are showing hints that they're ready to blossom.  Once they do, we will be rewarded with a steady stream of colorful roses for days and months to come.

The pleasure of our gardens, indeed.

The pleasure of our gardens, part 13

Less than a week after wearing shorts and enjoying a string of unusually nice, mid-autumn Bay Area days  ~ full of sunshine and temperatures in the middle seventies ~ the start of another rainy season arrived.  Cue up the irritation and annoyance.

On Sunday, we received about 1.2 inches of precipitation, beneficial to the well-being of our flowers and plants as well as to our area reservoirs.  Unfortunately, the weekend's rain wasn't so good for getting out to do any constructive gardening. It did allow us to catch up on some comedies and dramas idly waiting for us in our television's DVR.  So, I guess the day wasn't a total wash.  Still ...

First Prize roses / enjoying mid-autumn sunshine

Although our Bay Area rain isn't nearly as enduring (although maybe it's endearing) as it is for our friends in Seattle, the weather has started turning cold and dreary as winter approaches.  Lately, the mercury has dipped into the low forties overnight ~ prompting us to fire up our space heater in the evening and overnight ~ and our daytime highs have settled down into the low-to-middle sixties since last week's warmer fortunes.  A month from now, as the days continue getting shorter, I'm sure our lowest lows will drop into the thirties and our highest highs will only reach the fifties.

Fuchsia / purplish-red and thriving, rain or shine

Thanks to the recent rain and occasional afternoon sunshine, our camellias and rhododendrons are still nicely blooming as well as the purplish-red fuchsia plant in our front yard.  Rain or shine, our fuchsia reacts equally well.  Plus, our little azalea bush, which blooms periodically throughout the year, is once again active.  Meanwhile, some of the rose bushes in our backyard ~ our First Prize and Mr. Lincoln roses come to mind ~ continue thriving.

Mr. Lincoln rose / bright and open-minded

Our weather be damned.

All photos by Michael Dickens, copyright 2010.