This morning, with coffee mug in hand,
I stepped out our side porch door and paused
to take in the scents and the sounds of the morning.
The air was a bit warm and heavy, telling me
that it was going to be another humid day in the south.
But, there was still enough of a coolness for it to be pleasant.
The birds were singing away. I wonder,
are they talking to each other, singing their 'bird songs'
or praising God for the gift of another day.
Their music made me smile.
Then I took in a slow deep breath and inhaled the scent of the sweet roses,
the licorice of the jasmine, the lavender, the rosemary.
And then a big smile came across my face. I was drawn to my neighbors
yard for there the distinct lemony, sweet, clean scent of the Southern Magnolia
told me the 50-ft tree was in bloom. The top was covered with the creamiest white blossoms and I circled the tree to find blooms at eye level.
There they were.
Southern Magnolia blossoms are
beautiful in every stage - from newly opened;
to maturity to death. There's a perfectness,
if that's a word, in the color combinations
of the deep green of mature leaves, the new green leaves,
the brownish underneath and the decaying leaves
paired with the creamy blossoms all white
to develop red-tipped yellow stamen
that will fall like matchsticks onto the petals.
My intention was to take pictures
of all the roses. I captured a few for your viewing...
Fairy
I need to identify a number of roses - this is one.
Queen Elizabeth
unknown - one of the last hold out -
this bush was full of blooms
I call this bush the Mini Cooper! It is huge !
that's a street view of Mini Cooper and the monsters to it's left
flanking the steps are my rosemary!
You can see the house - we are in the midst of painting her.
I will post about that soon.
these are the roses to the left of the Rosemary -
there's a wide bank of Mexican sage growing between
close-up of above red rose
La Marne
and even a Milk & Wine Lily just opening,
showing the other three blossoms
folded beneath to appear some time soon.
I hope you enjoy the some of the lovely gifts in my garden. Some are old, some we brought to this house from our previous house and some are passalongs.
