Spring has Sprung

What's It Wednesday #67

We are celebrating our first week of Spring of 2013 and our 100th post. We are officially on Spring Break and this year the family decided to do 1/2 Staycation and 1/2 Vacation. I love long and short hikes and this week we have been doing quite a bit of mini-hiking around the town. Today we decided to hike around the neighborhood to see what was in bloom, so far, this Spring. I will even let you know what some of the blooms I see are (if I actually know their names). 

I have noticed this beautiful inflorescence popping up everywhere lately. From the grocery story parking lot to the corner library. 

Oh how I love Anthuriums, however they do not love me. I have never had luck with them at all. Pattie has always been able to grow them very well in her yard. 

You can find orchids some of anywhere. As we walked the neighborhood we found some hanging from pots on front porches and also hanging off fences, pergolas, and walls. People around here are quite serious about their orchids. My favorite place to hang orchids is off trees. It's the perfect symbiotic relationship. 

The Double Golden Shrimp plants are everywhere. The yellow that you see is actually the bract, not the flower. The little white flecks that you see hanging from the bract is the actual flower. 

My absolute favorite Spring time ornamental is the bougainvillea. As long as I can remember, bougainvilleas meant Easter time. The neighbors use to come into my mother's yard and take their family Easter photos in front of our bougainvilleas. The colorful part of this bush is often mistaken as the flowering part when in essence it is also the bract, which is a brightly colored modified leaf. If you look very closely, you will see the tiny off-white flowers of the bougainvillea.

Some folks have something that I will never, ever, ever have in my yard and that is a lily pond or water garden. Mind you, I think they are absolutely beautiful. When I leaned over this pond to get a closer look at the gorgeous blooms, I was mindful not to stir up any four-legged, cold-blooded amphibians. These gardens are quite popular and easy to care for. No thank you!

Another Spring time favorite of mine are the heliconias. You can never have enough growing in the yard. The more species you have, the better. Heliconias are related to bananas and gingers (another favorite of mine). The inflorescence of this flowering plant lasts for a very long time. 

So now that Spring has Sprung, what's blooming in your neighborhood this Spring?

xoxoxo

Paula

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HERE ARE THIS WEEK'S FABULOUS FEATURES.

Pretty Pastels @ Simple Things

2013 Easter Tablescapes @ Tablescapes by Diane

Easter Basket and Blue Willow @ Upstairs Downstairs

Easter Blessings @ Beautiful Ideas

Easy Easter Decoration @ Home Chic Club

Fundraiser Tea Party @ Sweet Woodruffs

Come show off your whatchamacallits, what is its, what it once was, and "hey, look what I just did" posts. In other words, what you created, organized, designed or re-designed, found, purchased, transformed, inherited, re-purposed, renovated, are selling, or giving-away.