It is said “a picture is worth a thousand words” so let me try to capture some images and create a photograph of what I saw on this morning’s travels … a postcard, if you will.
First off, I walked past a corner house where an entire length of the yard was a spectacular color combination of yellow and purple. It was as if the owner swiped two primary color crayons from a kid’s Crayola box and ran around the yard with them. There were bright yellow Stella D’Oro day lilies interspersed with regal-looking, deep purple irises. Then, a small paver-brick pathway separated a most-impressive array of yellow pansies with purple “faces” which looked upward seeking the sun. The pansies appeared to be gazing at the trailing purple Jackmanii Clematis creeping and climbing on the chain-link fence above. Wow, this was a work of art and some creative garden planning.

Everyone’s annuals are progressing nicely, albeit still pitifully scrawny and looking a little lost in large pots and planters boxers, except of course the perpetually perky zonal geraniums. I saw some beautiful hot pink ones in powder blue pots in a bed of white gravel which looked almost too perfect. Our cold May led to planting later, but not to despair, these puny plants will be blessed with the Summer’s warm rays and a little Miracle-Gro on the side to help them along. In a month these pretty blooms will be worthy of a page in a Georgia O’Keeffe coffee table book.

The same goes for what I term “wanna be trees” … those cute little maple tree seedlings, basically a stick with one or two leaves, which no doubt sprouted from a maple seed “helicopter” as we always called them. I saw several of those mini-mini saplings today, all encircled by a small fence. Its owners have aspirations for this little seedling, they’ll nurture it and see where it goes. I can tell you from experience maple and elm seeds don’t need TLC. Over the years I’ve had hundreds of seeds land, sprout and grow, eventually embedding themselves with huge roots in my lava and river rock gardens.

There must’ve been a convention of crows somewhere this morning. Their constant caw, caw, caw was annoying in the quiet 7:00 o’clock hour. The crows were swooping and circling, almost buzzard like, and occasionally a large group of them would settle into the treetops. They seemed so huge with their widespread wings. The noise overhead actually stopped me in my tracks and then in my peripheral vision I caught a flash of black. It seemed that if I closed my eyes, Buck Owens and Roy Clark would scoop me up and plop me down between them on a bale of hay (hee-hee-hee-haw-haw).

So, there is your picture I’ve painted for you on this last day of Spring 2013. I hope you have enjoyed the scenery. I took an entirely different route this morning and probably couldn’t recreate it again – I was here, there and everywhere. I clipped on my pedometer and left the house at 7:15 a.m. and arrived home exactly one hour and 6,005 steps later. Three miles. The heat and humidity are slowly coming back after today. The lush lawns have already gone to seed and soon will start getting brown and then crispy. But today, at my feet the grass was emerald, and glancing up toward the Heavens were Berry Blue Jell-o with generous spoonfuls of Cool Whip – a Kodachrome experience to be sure.

Wish you were here … see you later ‘gator. 