More things blooming

A while back I shared this picture of a peach tree blossom with the spring parade Spring is here in the south- its parade time on March 4. Here it is again with another one I took:

Peach tree blossom on 3-4-2011

Peach tree blossom on 3-4-2011

 Well I walked by the tree today and this is what that branch looks like today.  I just had to get a picture of it.

Peach tree 5-20-2011

Sorry this was a little out of focus but I wanted you to see it was the same tree with the same background.

Peach Tree 5-20-2011

I was surprised to see how big and ripe looking they were.  Normally I don't think of peaches as being ready to eat until late June or early July. It won't be long before those peaches are ready to eat.
Since I had my camera I couldn't resist taking more pictures of things in bloom that weren't blooming on March 4th.
So here they are:

My grandmothers favorite bush was a Hydrangea.  The thing about Hydrangeas was they can change color on you.  I found out later that the color depends a lot on the soil conditions and you can control it some by changing the acidity of the soil.  I can't remember if you need to increase or decrease it to change it.  But around here I was noticing that they start out usually blue and go to pink. The other day I wanted to take a picture of ones that were blue because those were my grandmothers favorite colored ones.  Today I was disappointed when I saw them because they were pink.  To me they still were pretty. 

Blue Hydrangeas

  Hydrangeas, originally blue then turning pink

Hydrangeas - blue going to pink

Pink Hydrangeas

 Well there were other flowers blooming besides the Hydrangeas.

Magnolia blossom in bloom

 This Magnolia was blocking my path as I was walking.  To me it was like it was just wanting its picture to be taken even though I've taken other Magnolia blossoms in bloom.  

Another bush that just had to have its picture taken again is this azalea bush.  It had the blooms come and go and come back again.  I was amazed that it did it this year.  Normally with azaleas the thing  is once they bloom they don't come back for another year.  The other thing about azaleas is once you cut the bush it has to have new growth on it in order for it to come back.   All of this had to be new growth since it first bloomed.

 The  Crepe_myrtle  is starting to bloom.  Normally I don't look for the Crepe Myrtle to start to bloom until June or July.  I love the plant because once it starts it has a tendency to keep blooming for a long long time.  I love all the different colors they can come in.  Above is a white one while below is a pink one. Crepe myrtle are thought of bushes but they can get to be quite big.  The reason they are thought of as bushes is because most people cut them back usually every year to three years.

 When I got home I had to check and see if my crepe myrtles were starting to bloom or not.  And guess what they were.

Crepe Myrtle - Party pink

 When I bought the bushes I was told they would only get to be six to eight feet high max.  Now they are over twenty feet high and still growing.  I guess it is all that good bayou soil they were planted in.

One of the bushes I've been admiring for awhile is this one below.  I had no clue as to what it was and then in the paper yesterday there was a article about it.  (The Shreveport times - New vitex tree offers bigger blooms  by Joe White, horticulture Thurs 5-19-2011 sect 2E).   here's Wikipedia reference to it Vitex.

Shoal Creek Vitex

Closer view of a Shoal Creek Vitex

Other flowers

 Day_lily

Day lilies

 Asteraceae or Daisy

Daisy

 Begonia

Begonias

 Lantana

Lantana

 I took a picture of its card hoping I could find out what these flowers were.  When I looked at the name I got something like Calasia but when I looked it up I can find nothing like that. (5-27 I finally found out what these are.  Celosia_argentea )

Celosia

Hibiscus

Hibiscus

 Mimosa
This is a plant that becomes a tree and can be pretty, but it is a messy tree and most people don't like having them in their yards.

Mimosa

Mimosa tree

Here are some of the flowers from my own yard.

One of my favorites is  Geraniums  

Geraniums

Daylily

Marigold

Marigold

Gardenia

 This is so weird - from the file they are right side up like all the other's but when it is imported in it keeps on flipping them to the side.  Oh well.-  these my not have the best looking flowers but the smell they put out is incredible- its heavenly, so sweet and aromatic. There's nothing like a   Gardenia in your garden.  (I've mused upon the fact if it was this flower that gave gardens its name or vice-versa).

Gardenia

I hope you like them.  Have a great day.