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| Kwanzan cherry tree blossoms. |
It snowed earlier in the week on Easter Monday, just as my Kwanzan cherry tree in front was starting to unfurl its lovely blossoms. Rain had been predicted, but snow--I was surprised, to say the least! Many trees were just starting to bloom: the Carolina Silverbell tree, the redbud, the flowering quince, the dogwoods, all those delicate and precious flowers...fortunately the temperature was hovering just above the freezing point, so I hope the blossoms haven't been too damaged. I'll have to check on them later on today. Another frost is coming tonight, so there's even more chance of frost burn.
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| The back yard on Easter Monday. |
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| Easter Monday snow on the front yard. |
I like to take photos of my Kwanzan cherry tree in bloom, which usually happens around mid-April. On some years that coincides with Easter time. This year's shot is all the more memorable because of the snow!
Sometime last week my yellow Magnolia 'Butterflies' managed to produce a few of the blossoms that had lagged behind enough to escape the frost burn that blighted the rest. It was disappointing to lose so many flowers, the tree had been covered with buds--so sad!
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| Yellow Magnolia 'Butterflies' |
My neighbor's weeping apricot tree was such a vision of loveliness last week that I asked permission to cut a branch for the sketch below. I used colored pencils, but didn't get an exact color match--the blossoms really are a little more coral and strong in color. But the delicate frills and details of the flowers would not have "read" if I hadn't used a light touch.
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| Weeping apricot tree blossoms, colored pencil sketch. |
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| Mahogany tree seed pod (Swietenia mahagoni) |
Above is a seed pod of the mahogany tree which a friend form Florida sent me--she sent a box full of fascinating seed pods and botanical oddities collected at the Montgomery Botanical Research Center in Miami that I'm trying to identify. The amazing geometry of the mahogany seed pod was very challenging--I re-worked my drawing completely several times in order to draw it accurately, and realize that I still didn't get some details of the curvatures correctly. The actual seeds are arranged inside the capsule in such a way that each winged seed fits in like a jigsaw puzzle inside each section.
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| Lewisia 'Littel Peach' |
The Lewisia 'Little Peach' that I bought last year is covered with buds that have started to open/ The small flowers are a lovely soft yellow fading into peach. I couldn't resist making sketch of it for my botanical journal.
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| Lewisia sketch in my journal. |
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| Recent pages from my botanical journal. |
