April Flowers

“April Showers bring May Flowers” is the theme for Terri’s latest Sunday Stills photo challenge.

I was in elementary school when I first heard the saying about April showers bringing May flowers. Where I live in coastal Georgia, many of our flowers bloomed in March and have already faded. I walked around my yard to find these flowers the first week of April.

The header image is of my Dogwood tree blooming in the first week of April. I’ve been enjoying the Dogwood flowers since March.

March is peak season for azaleas where I live in coastal Georgia. This light pink bloom is one of the final azaleas in my yard this year.

These Meyer Lemon blossoms will hopefully bring me some lemons this winter.

African Iris

Shared with Terri’s Sunday Stills Photo Challenge April Showers Bring May Flowers

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #241 – Spring

Sylvia asks us to show what spring means to us.

To me, spring doesn’t begin on a specific date on the calendar. For me, it is spring in Coastal Georgia when the azaleas and Dogwoods are blooming, when there is new growth in the garden, and when the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations begin in Savannah and Tybee Island.

Spring Azaleas
Spring Dogwood Blooms
Forsyth Park Fountain turned green for St. Patrick’s Day, Savannah

To me, spring also means working in the garden beds and watching birds at the bird feeder.

Male Painted Bunting at the Feeder

Sometimes we like to travel in the spring. The next images show some of my favorite spring blooms from our travels.

Many thanks to for Sylvia for this challenge Lens-Artists Challenge #241 – Spring

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #194 – Bokeh

In photography, a Bokeh is the blurred or out of focus background in a photo. I’ve achieved this affect many times by setting the camera to aperture priority or by using a telephoto lens for taking close ups of birds or flowers. I never knew there was a name for this effect until I read Sophia’s challenge Lens’Artists #194: Bokeh

For Sofia’s challenge I chose a few images of this year’s spring blossoms from around my yard.

Thanks to Sophia for the challenge Lens’Artists #194: Bokeh

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #143 – Colorful April

Spring is emerging with colorful flowers all around my yard in coastal Georgia.

I was late planting seeds this year so only a few flowers are blooming in the butterfly garden. I have spotted a few Monarch butterflies but have not been able to capture a photo yet. The Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds have come back to the feeders but I haven’t been able to capture them, either.

Right now purple and orange are the only two colors in the butterfly garden. The milkweed in the garden will soon be blooming. I’m looking forward to adding a few new plants and watching the plants emerge from the seeds.

Most of the azaleas have dropped their petals but a few late bloomers are still showing off their brilliant pink color. Tiny white blossoms stand out on a huge rosemary bush.

We are adding some green to a flower bed in our front yard by adding three citrus trees. Our granddaughter and I had fun getting muddy when we planted a naval orange tree on Easter. The tree is small now but hopefully will grow quickly and produce fruit in a few years.

Many thanks to Amy for this weeks Lens-Artists Challenge #143: Colorful April

Thanks also to Marsha for her challenge Sunday Stills: Emerging

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #142 – You Pick It

Ann-Christine’s choice for the challenge this week is “You Pick It”. My topic is Spring has Sprung!

I’m not a cold weather person and winter just lasts too long for me. All winter I look forward to seeing the colorful blooms of azaleas and Dogwoods signalling the beginning of spring. Usually by St. Patrick’s Day the azaleas are in full bloom and the vibrant pink blossoms are on display all over town. They were a little late this year but to me they seemed more beautiful than ever.

Spring Azaleas, to
Azalea blooms

The blooms on Flowering Dogwoods are another sight I welcome each spring.

Dogwood Blooms
Dogwood Blossom

I also welcome the signs of spring in the animal world. Egrets, Wood Storks and other long legged wading birds like to build their nest in the spring and a great place to see them nesting is in the trees at Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge. Alligators are coming out of their hibernation in the spring and if you are lucky you may even spy some baby alligators at the refuge.

Nesting Birds
Nesting Wood Storks
Baby Alligators

Happy Spring Everyone!

Many thanks to Ann-Christine for this weeks Lens-Artists Challenge #142: You Pick It