Red Buds Are A Bloomin'

Tuesday we made our way to the Springfield Botanical Gardens.

It was a gorgeous sunny day, and the temp reached 80 degrees.

We had a purpose -- checking out all the varieties of red buds at the Gardens.

Red Buds are smallish trees, that adapt to a wide range of conditions and amount of sunlight. 

They survive storms, they survive bug invasions, they survive ice storms.  

They might be gnarled and twisted, but they survive.

My husband and I both agree that they are our favorite spring tree.  But they do not have red buds -- who gave them such a misleading name?

They have some shade of purple buds -- or some are a pinkish or white variety. 

The bud looks like a pea blossom and lasts 2-3 weeks.

The range of varieties made my mouth water.

And we enjoyed the fresh air, and the promise of spring.

….We weren't the only ones.  

About half the county was there -- 

everyone studiously staying 6 foot or more apart.

Matching Daylilies

This is a photo I shared a few weeks ago.  I took it in the Springfield Botanical gardens.  The "Daylily Society" plants and tends this area of the Botanical Gardens.

 This is a photo of family that I took in the Daylily area of the Botanical Gardens last week.

As you can see, it also extends way off behind them and to the right.

It is huge, so many varieties!  So many colors.

This spring they had a sale.  

I could only afford ONE of their beautiful daylilies.

It finally bloomed, and how crazy that it looks almost like one I took a photo of

a few weeks ago at the Botanical Gardens.

1/200 or 1/300 chance?

Daylilies & Butterflies At The Botanical Gardens

 I am a big fan of day lilies.

For Father's Day we went to Springfield Botanical Gardens.

 And the daylilies were hogging all the attention.

For good reason.

 The great variety of shapes and colors was aMAzing.

 I think I want to get a job naming daylilies

(and paint).

 Loving this ruffled beauty.

 And the butterfly house was open.

This guy posed for a long time.

Then we came home to all of these tiny blue cuties

on our back porch mat.
Eastern Tailed Blues.

Crazy For Honeysuckle

My son, his wife, and my grandson went to the

Springfield Botanical Gardens with us last weekend.

This arbor of red honeysuckle was a showstopper.

Imagine my surprise and delight when I discovered one of the

millions of plants we put in this spring was just such a honeysuckle!

I think we bought it from the Master Gardener sale at the Botanical

Gardens a few weeks ago.  Wish I would have gotten more than one.

Fieldtrip To Springfield MO Botanical Gardens

 We try to make it to the Springfield Botanical Gardens at

least once a month.  It is free and so well maintained.

And like crack to a druggie....

I am sure that I need the above bush now.

 The rose verbena was in the butterfly caterpillar

garden.  And we definitely want more butterflies, right?

 There is not a picture of the Forest Pansy Redbud tree,

because I had to take a pic of the sign

(so that I could remember the name and somehow find a place to order one).

Trust me, you'd want one too.

 And succulents....don't get me started.

I had to leave behind my succulent nursery when we moved.

So I am trying to get another one established.

The lady working in this area says that these varieties overwinter.

 I don't know if I would put thyme in the herb area

 or succulent area (where these were),

but I definitely need me some of this.

 More succulents....

I took a pic of this at one of the nurseries we stopped by afterwards.

You can't see the "1" under my thumb, this cute little bush was $149.95!

We had picked one up at a flea market last Saturday for $20,

but we didn't know what it was, until today. Score!