Spring Flowers – Wandering Dawgs

Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #143 – Colorful April

April 12, 2021Posted in Flowers, Nature, PhotographyTagged Butterfly Garden, Colorful April, emerging, garden, Lens-Artists, Spring, spring blossoms, Spring Flowers, Sunday Stills, Sunday Stills Emerging26 Comments

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

April 5, 2021April 4, 2021Posted in Birds, Flowers, Nature, PhotographyTagged azalea, Dogwoods, Lens-Artists, pink blossoms, Spring, spring blossoms, Spring Flowers, Spring has sprung, Wood Stork Nesting, You Pick It32 Comments

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.

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

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.

Happy Spring Everyone!

Many thanks to Ann-Christine for this weeks Lens-Artists Challenge #14 2 : You Pick It

Lens-Artists #91: Simplicity

April 6, 2020Posted in PhotographyTagged blogging, Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge, Simplicity, Spring Flowers20 Comments

This week Patti’s challenge is to show what Simplicity means to me.

“I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.”
― Laura Ingalls Wilder

After three weeks of social distancing I have really come to appreciate the simple things – a phone call with my brother who lives on the other side of the country, a video of one of our granddaughters, social distancing outside with neighbors, and enjoying the little things in nature.

Here are a few of the simple things that brought me joy this weekend.

20200403-Blooms-and-sunset-(8) — Sunset over the salt marsh

20200404-Street-(23) — Wildflower on the side of the road

20200405-Morning-(1) — Morning Sky at sunrise

20200405-Garden-(5) — Blanketflower in the garden

20200405-Garden-(8) — First Monarch caterpillar of spring

Many thanks to Patti for this weeks Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Simplicity

First Day of Spring 2020

March 19, 2020March 20, 2020Posted in Butterflies, Flowers, Georgia, NatureTagged Bee, First Day of Spring, Georgia garden, Monarch on Milkweed, Spring, Spring blooms, Spring Flowers26 Comments

These days we are social distancing by staying home except to go to the store for supplies.

I grabbed my camera today to go outside in my yard in the glorious warm, sunny weather and capture a few of our first spring blooms. Enjoy!

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WordPress just reminded me that today is the 7th anniversary of the Wandering Dawgs blog. Thanks to all of you it’s been an amazing seven years.

I would not still be blogging if it wasn’t for you. I appreciate every one of you who follows the blog, reads the posts, likes a post, or leaves comments. You make it worth while to keep the blog going.

Thank you all! Happy First Day of Spring!

Spring Flowers and the Suwannee River

March 22, 2018March 21, 2018Posted in Florida, Nature, RVing, State Parks, WildflowersTagged Spring Flowers, Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center, Suwanee River, Suwanee River State Park, White Springs, Withlacoochee River7 Comments

It’s been two years since our last visit to Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park in White Springs. During that stay we did a lot of exploring around the park, the town of White Springs, and nearby Big Shoals State Park. I posted about those adventures at Way Down upon the Suwannee River.

We returned to the park this February. The carillon tower is a focal point in the park and one of my favorite things about being there is hearing the the bells from the carillon chime on the quarter hour and hearing Stephen Foster’s music throughout the day. Unfortunately, the carillon wasn’t working this year.

: The carillon at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center

We didn’t visit the museum on this trip but there are interesting exhibits about Stephen Foster and his many songs.

: Stephen Foster Museum

Even though it was only February there were some beautiful spring blooms. Gotta love Florida!

Dogwoods blooming at Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center

Spring came early

February Azaleas blooming in White Springs

A splash of color blooming in February

One day we took a drive to Suwanee River State Park near Live Oak to check it out. High on the banks above the Suwanee River, we enjoyed a walk on an easy trail to the confluence of the Suwanee and Withlacoochee Rivers. Beside the trail were relics from riverboats that once traveled up and down the river.