Outdoor flower decor...

 Ahhh, sweet spring!

This photo was taken two days ago through the dining room bay window.

The same view, exactly three months ago in early March. 

The summer view is soooooo much more appealing!

This is the view looking in the opposite direction through the bay window. The Major Wheeler honeysuckle vine we planted last year has now climbed to the top of the arbor!

It was only a couple of feet tall when we planted it last summer.

I'm so happy it took off. I wasn't sure if it would, because this isn't a very sunny spot.

But despite all odds, it is growing and budding, just as I'd hoped it would.

One more place for our hungry hummers to visit while visiting our yard!

We also planted a small Major Wheeler honeysuckle on both sides of the swingset deck last summer. It has climbed to the top of the framework, so hopefully we'll be surrounded by hummers when we sit out in the Adirondack chairs this summer!

I mean between the honeysuckle and the feeders, how can our tiny feathered friends resist stopping for a visit?

The vines are loaded with blossoms ...

...that are just starting to open!

Another beacon for our little hummer friends - the Calibrachoa on the plant stand on the deck. 

I finally got around to planting impatiens in the shed's window boxes. I'm really off to a slow start this year with my planting.

Out in the front yard, a hanging basket gets 'plopped' down in the whiskey barrel, as it does every year.

The irises are blooming in the rock garden next to the whiskey barrel...

... and the clematis has started blooming by the light post.

(the view from my studio office window)

It's so wonderful to welcome spring after the long New England winters (especially this past one!), even on rainy days like today!

I hope you all have a beautiful week!

Donna

A collage of leaves...

The yard is filled with piles of leaves that have fallen with reckless abandon.

From the dining room window, I could see Mrs. Bunny wearing a fascinator of sorts.

 These leaves stayed wedged between her ears for days, so I went out and took photos of her on a few occasions. Behind her is the 'lone hydrangea' that I wrote about here.

Mary's photo was taken several weeks ago before the foliage rapidly started turning. We still need to cover her for the winter. Someday I'd actually love to bring her indoors (permanently). I'm so afraid that the harsh winters and blistering summers are going to ruin her perfect chippy finish.

Just a few short weeks ago Baby and I were enjoying the windows thrown wide open. But not anymore.

Again, a photo from several weeks ago before everything really started turning, and the weather was pleasant. This is the backyard of my dad's house, where my sister lives.

More recent photos of our own backyard where, due to the now chilly weather ...

... the trees have been painted red, gold, and orange.

I know they say the bluest skies you've ever seen are in Seattle, but we get some pretty spectacular ones here in Massachusetts, too!

These photos were all taken in the morning when the sun was still climbing.

I must admit, when I actually sit outside on the patio, I get more than a tad depressed that the summer went by so quickly.

I don't adjust well to the colder weather, and winter in particular, arriving.

I long for the backyard to look like this again. But at the same time, I am reminded of the Charlotte Bronte quotation I used on one of my art prints, "If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant."

And so I will bundle up and make the best of this cooler (soon to be frigid) weather...

... while dreaming of the not too distant future when, once again, the apple trees blossom and the clematis vines bloom and cascade over the arbor.

This week I'm joining Cindy at My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday.

Wishing you all a lovely fall season.

Donna

The new patio tent and a mish-mash of flowers...

This is the new tent we picked up last week for over our little backyard patio.

We would love to have gotten a few more years out of the old tent...

... but during the high winds and heavy rains of the past few weeks, several branches fell right through the tent to the patio below (Glad I wasn't sitting out there when it happened!).

 And although the little white wicker set under the tent is water resistant, it's not waterproof. As it is, it's deteriorating faster than we'd like so we want to keep it as dry as possible to get as many (more) years out of it as we can.

 While I was out photographing the tent, I noticed one of the bright clematis blooms right by the deck. I focused first on the new tent in the background....

... and then on the clematis bloom right next to me. I have to say, I'm really pleased with my little Canon Power Shot Point & Shoot. I know it's nothing fancy, but it has served me well over the years.

I did the same thing on the other side of the deck, focusing first on the impatiens on the dining room window 'screen feeder' flower box...

... and then on the clematis cascading across the arbor over the back yard gate.

This last photo is just the hanging basket I put together that hangs from the deck with the girls' old tree house in the background.

A couple of posts ago I shared a photobomb I recently captured, and in my next post I'll share a videobomb that I caught today! It's all in the timing...

I hope you are all having a beautiful weekend. 

Donna

Climbing Clematis

 I love clematis. How could I not? Just look at those blossoms!

 Their only downside is that, like all perennials, the bloom time is relatively short.

 

(dry brush filter)

 The clematis that climbs our light post is simply spectacular when flowering.

 Heavy rains over the past several weeks, however, brought an even earlier end to its short bloom time. These photos were taken about two weeks ago, when the vine was still covered with flowers.

Not to worry though. The clematis climbing the arbor over the garden gate has just started blooming. Not as spectacularly as in years past, thanks to me accidentally cutting the vine growing up the side of the arbor that you see in the photo above. A winding trumpet vine was starting to warp the lattice, and since it was too shady a spot for the vine to even blossom, I decided to cut it back to remove the thick, destructive trunk. In the process, however, I accidentally cut back the clematis growing up that side as well!

 (dry brush filter)

Thankfully, the clematis I'd planted on the left side of the arbor escaped my cutting shears...

... and it's putting on a spectacular show right now. I'm hoping that next year the right side will grow back!

 

A little further into the backyard, the clematis that I had all but given up on (planted a few years ago) suddenly took off this year! Perhaps it was having a race with the new honeysuckle vine I just planted next to it, seeing who could reach the top of the swing set first.

I love the combination of the lavender clematis and the red-orange honeysuckle intertwining. These are the vines that are planted on the left side of the swing set, where the ladder to the monkey bars used to be...

 

(watercolor filter)

 

(dry brush filter)

I planted the same combination of lavender clematis and red-orange honeysuckle on the right side of the swing set as well.

Hopefully the rain will stay away for a while and let these beauties finish their natural bloom time!

Wishing you all a beautiful week.

I'm joining Claudia, Mockingbird Hill Cottage for A Favorite Thing Saturday,

Tracie, Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Garden Party

and Cindy, My Romantic Home for Show & Tell Friday

Donna