Azelas Gone Mad

These were taken in my front yard 2 Marches--such a wonderful explosion of color!

Backyard Goodies

I was out in the yard watering for a few minutes today and noticed a couple of pretties that I wanted to share :) After putting in the new screened in porch last year I have been working (with lots of help!) on landscaping a bed that runs all along the back of the house. These are a couple of the flowers from back there. I planted 2 of the clematis vines and I think I have killed one of them-though there is a new sprout coming up at the base of the 'dead' one which is either a new growth or a weed--not sure yet! The other vine is doing well--it lost a lot of leaves on initial planting, but has spread into the trellis well-yea!

A Rose By Any Other Name...

My new camera is here!!!!! I loved my Canon Digital Rebel that I have been using for the past several year, but it definitely had some problems. It was a first generation and you could tell. The flash was essentially unusable and the sensor had become dirty--as of late I have has to photoshop dirt spots out of many of my pictures :( The EOS Rebel XSi, however, solves many of those problems!!! The flash can be metered, the fist shot can be taken w/in about 1 second of turning it on (it was 3-4 seconds before--may not sound like a lot, but I missed a couple great shots waiting for the camera to turn on), it is now 12.3 mega pixel, and best of all possible, the sensor cleans itself every time you turn off the camera or change lenses. So, new camera, needed to go out and take pictures. And given that it is me we are talking about, I went in search of flowers :) And right in my front yard...Roses! I planted these Jackson and Perkins roses last year in the new bed I put in my front yard. They really didn't do too much last year--I am spoiled by California rose growing conditions! But this year they are purty! I have one pink and one salmon. Still not as big as in CA, but smelling pretty and looking great too. A great way to break in the new camera!!!!