More Colors in our Yard

Every week is a little different in our yard... It has been a fabulous spring here in Fairfield Glade.  Some of the 'colors' I have showed you so far are: Crocuses, Hyacinths, Periwinkle,  Daffodils,  Tulips,  Phlox,  Candy Tuft, Red Bud, Forsythia and Dogwood.  Today,  I will share five more 'colors':   Pansies,  Irises, Azaleas,  Dianthus and our first ROSE of the season.   Hope you enjoy more of the Spring COLORS in our yard.  Above is a group of the many PANSIES we have in our yard.  We plant them in the late Fall each year and they will last until it gets horribly hot in July. Be sure and click on the photos in order to see them larger.

I love this little blue PANSY.  She is different from most of the others --and for that reason,  I think she is special.

We have 7 AZALEA bushes in our yard,  most of which are a little different,  one from the other.  The blooms are different from one bush to the next.  Today I will share with you three of our Azalea blossoms.  This bloom is from our Dwarf Azalea --which was a gift several years ago from a friend.

PURPLE AZALEA

Another PINK AZALEA (different from the one above the purple one)

This little 'cutie' is a DIANTHUS (Pinks)...  The same friend that gave me the Dwarf Azalea gave us these pretty little 'Pinks' several years ago...  This little flower is just so pretty ---so I got George to get her picture at close range.

This IRISES are blooming in our yard this week.  We have five different varieties/colors blooming now --with more to come.  Today, I'll show you a couple of groups blooming in two different flowerbeds... This picture is in our upper side flowerbed (the one which had alot of Daffodils and Tulips not long ago)... Aren't they pretty????  (Soon there will be lots of lilies and daylilies blooming in this long bed.)

These pretty yellow IRISES (Honey Glazed) are in the road flowerbed out front... This bed has more irises,  some daylilies, lilies and ROSES in it. Bearded Irises are just gorgeous.

Finally,  we have our FIRST ROSE BLOOM of the season.  This is SONIA ---and  she has 3 blooms on her already... (Things are so early this year ---blooming at least 2-3 weeks earlier than usual.)  And here's the good news:  My Gorgeous Groom brought one of Sonia's blooms INSIDE for me on Tuesday.  Most of you know that he spoils me by bringing in a new rose bud/bloom almost everyday once the roses all start blooming.  I love it-love it-love it...   (If you are new to my blog, I need to tell you that we have about 55 different rose bushes/varieties in our yard.  George grows hybrid tea and grandiflora roses---and they are INCREDIBLE.)

Have a fabulous weekend.  We're going to visit our son and daughter-in-law-to-be (October wedding) ----AND we're visiting some old friends whom I haven't seen since the '60's....  Should be a terrific weekend.  I'll see you on Monday.

Hugs,
Betsy

Gorgeous Tulips and Azaleas

NO---this is not our home  (wish it was--ha)!!!!  These pictures were taken on April 3, 2012 when we were on the way to Balsam Mountain Inn.  This is the BILTMORE HOUSE and GARDENS,  one of our favorite places.  We just had to stop by to see what was blooming now at Biltmore....

WELL--even though the rain was coming,  we still were able to get some great pictures of the beautiful Tulips and Azaleas in bloom there now.   Hope you enjoy our pictures, but be sure to click on them for larger views.  The picture above was of one side of the Walled Garden area... I loved the way they arranged all of the tulips and other blooming flowers.  (I used my Photoshop Elements program to erase all of the people around!!!!)

Look at all of these AZALEAS...  We took a short walk in order to get some pictures of the Azaleas... This was a perfect time to see them!!!!

This is neither an Azalea nor a Tulip... BUT--since I had never seen one like this before,  I just had to share it.  Its name is a DWARF  FOTHERGILLA.    Isn't it grogeous?

I took this picture of George standing in front of some beautiful lavender-colored AZALEAS...  I'm not sure that his shirt blends in with that color ---but it will blend in with our last picture today!!!

This is the Arbor --which is the main walkway between the two big areas of flowers in the Walled Garden... Aren't the Tulips pretty along this area?

You can tell how much I loved the extra little walk to see the Azaleas at Biltmore. SO pretty!!

These next two pictures are my favorites from this visit to Biltmore...The first one was taken by me from the Arbor facing those gorgeous white dogwoods at the top of the picture.... While I was taking more pictures in the Walled Garden,  George hiked up to where those dogwoods are and took a fabulous picture of the Walled Garden from above.   (Again,   I took out all of the people and the cars from these pictures.)

Here is the opposite look from the picture I just took.  George is up by the dogwoods looking down into the Walled Garden...  Isn't this just AWESOME????  I'm so glad that he went up there to get a 'total' view.....  (Storms were coming.  Can you see the dark sky above???  We did make it back to the car BARELY... ha)

Finally,   here is a picture we took (with the tripod) of us in front of the Tulips at the Walled Garden at Biltmore... NOW--our shirts blend in !!!!!! (These shirts are ones we bought a few years ago when we visited Cloudland Canyon State Park in GA.)

Biltmore is amazing --especially if you are 'flower lovers' like we are... There's something different during every season... It's just one of our favorite places to visit...

Have a beautiful day!!!
Hugs,
Betsy