This beautiful little cardinal looks as if he was posing for me, taking the time to look up from getting a drink of water out of the backyard pond....ain't he a cutie?!?!?

















Some tiny phlox which grow sparsely in the backyard and the new shoots of bee balm. May need to look into some extra manure for them this year.



Creeping Jennie has done well since it's placed over the french drain. It and the violets have flourished in this environment and I no longer have the muddy wetlands that were once there. I have loved the creeping jennie and their bright green leaves ever since seeing them climbing the walls of the Visitors Center when it was in the old Cotton Exchange downtown Augusta on the Riverwalk. The Cotton Exchange has since been turned into a bank but they have kept the ephemera from the times when it was used and in its full glory.


The sweet autumn clematis and jasmine vines are sprouting and filling the railings of the porch nicely. This is the 3rd year for the jasmine and I am soooo tickled at all the buds and new growth on it!! I just love the wonderful fragrance they put off and am looking forward to it this summer.


















I have several crape myrtle trees which were all volunteers from the neighbors yard. I love their dark pinky color when they are in bloom and had wished we had some in our yard instead of the river birches out in the front yard. Color is very necessary to me and I was soooo delighted when the first volunteer showed up 3 years ago....2 more volunteers showed up last summer and this year I have this little guy who sprouted in the window box....sadly he is going to have to find a new place before too long....maybe in place of one of those big ugly bushes in front of the house if I can convince Doug to yank one out.....hhhhhmmmmmmm.....