April Roses

The roses in the Ruth O'Brien Rose Garden on the Lipscomb University campus have suddenly bloomed out, just ahead of yesterday night's storm. I made these photos late in the afternoon, a couple of hours before sunset.

Yellow Iris

Just bloomed out, in the early morning sun:

The Blue Iris Has Bloomed

Blue Iris

Red Wasps Visit Honeysuckle Blossoms

When I walked down to have a look at the honeysuckle vine which has just come into bloom on my back fence, a red wasp brushed past my hair on its way out of the foliage. I don't know whether these wasps pollinate honeysuckle or not -- have never seen one on a honeysuckle blossom.

When I used to have a vegetable garden, they would be thick on the blooms of the black-eyed peas.





Saturday, April 9, 2011, had the hottest temperature ever recorded for that date in Nashville, at 92 degrees F. (33 degrees C.). And Sunday was almost as hot. The abundant sunshine encouraged all the deciduous trees to leaf out and the blue iris near my old flowering crabapple stump to venture to show its tight little buds, as if not to be outdone by the honeysuckle, or by the dogwoods which are still in full white bloom everywhere.





The tall shoots near the roots of the stump are leafing out, too. I'm hoping they are suckers off the old tree. It used to be covered with lovely pink blooms every spring, before it had to be cut down a couple of years ago, because it was dying. The leaves are still too young for me to identify the species definitely. These shoots may just be the offspring of the invasive golden raintree at the corner of the driveway.

Trees in Color

Pink Dogwood





Apple Tree in Bloom

Crabapples, Roses, and Dogwood -- a noontime walk

On Avalon Hall's side porch, across from Lipscomb's campus school, a group of young boys were enjoying their noon recess, adding the loud laughter of playtime to the scene. Meanwhile I walked along the edge of the campus, photographing the brilliant colors of the young ornamental crabapple's ripe fruit and trying to show the struggling October roses to best advantage.









Notice the large gall on this aged elm tree on the corner of Avalon Hall's side yard.


From the Ruth O'Brien Rose Garden at the back of Avalon Hall:






And so, home again, to the dogwood nextdoor, in my sister's front yard:

Noontime Walk

Roses, young apples, and a fallen magnolia leaf near Avalon Hall on the Lipscomb University campus:

Roses in Bloom

On the Granny White side of the Lipscomb University campus, near Avalon Hall, there is a little rose garden -- two rectangular beds, separated by a grassy median with a stone bench and an ornamental urn at one end and a small gazebo at the other. An identifying plaque says, "Ruth O'Brien Rose Garden." In this snapshot, the small strip shopping center across the street can be seen in the background:



Here is a view down the median between the two beds, with Granny White Pike showing in the top left of the photo and a parking lot on the campus, top right. The little rose bushes are nevertheless thriving, flanked though they are by heavy traffic daily.



One of the red rose bushes:



A red blossom:



And two views of a pink bloom:

Flowering Shrubs in September

Crepe Myrtle



Unknown Shrub

Lichens on Dogwood