vinca minor

[OT from cortage renovations]

this cold snap can't be doing any favours for what's already in bloom, but I'm hoping for at least some of it to be hardy enough to pull through. 

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Bittersweet Cottage garden

the vinca minor seems to be doing all right. 

Vinca minor

yes, I know, it's an exotic, but I can't really bring myself to rip it out.  after all, that would take effort away from doing the same to English Ivy and bamboo. 

it blooms here in its eponymous colour and in white; in one of the parks nearby there's a patch of it that when it comes into bloom (which it hasn't yet) does so in a lighter lavender shade. 

still at it

[OT from cottage renovations]

(click through this thumbnail for higher resolution image)

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the Circle

undaunted by cold this dogwood is continuing to push its pods open and transform them into flowers. 

Cornus florida

walk around it

[OT from cottage renovations]

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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Jackson Park

you can walk around this one hydrangea bud and it doesn't matter from what angle you regard it, each is different and each is perfectly lovely. 

         
hydrangea

it's no wonder the Art Deco movement found so much inspiration in forms like this. 

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and that's not all ... the same plant shows you not only where it's going, but where it's been: 

hydrangea

mutation spreads, leaving egg on my face

[OT from cottage renovations]

it was last October on the 16th when in this space I reported on a new species in the Grove: Artificia sinofabricans. 

I'm now thinking that it's a mutation, since it seems to have spread to the dogwoods.  it's difficult to tell just what will come of it all; I honestly don't know. 

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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Church grounds

   
Cornus Florida var. artificia sinofabricans

dazzle them with brilliance

[OT from cottage renovations]

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Parsonage grounds

forsythia

this forsythia is bursting onto the scene with a dazzling splash of colour.  behind and above it the trees are budding and will be leafing out soon.  to the L can be seen one of the old water pumps from early Camp Meeting days.  it's good we've since gone beyond that to city water, and even better that the Grove retains so much of its natural beauty. 

it's better to be thankful for it than than envious of how the scraggly little forsythias in a certain cottage garden compare to this specimen.  while the show lasts I can walk over and look at it any time. 

down at ground level

[OT from cottage renovations]

(click through this thumbnail for higher resolution image)

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Church grounds

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Fragaria virginiana

among the grass and clover one can find these dainty little blossoms of Virginia strawberry, coloured in soft pastels.