Spring – 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 #105: Spring

July 16, 2020Posted in Flowers, Photography, WildflowersTagged Lens-Artists, Photo Challenge, Spring, spring blossoms, springtime33 Comments

This July “Seasons” will be the theme for the entire month with a different season featured each week. This week the challenge is “Spring”. For me, spring is best represented by the vibrant colors of flowers.

Here in coastal Georgia I know it is spring when the azaleas, dogwoods and fruit trees are blooming.

20200319-First-Day-of-Spring-(12) — Spring Azaleas

20200319-First-Day-of-Spring-(22) — Spring Dogwood Bloom

Spring is a beautiful time for a road trip. In Texas, fields are filled with the bluebonnets and other brightly colored wildflowers.

20150331Day-25pm-Willow-City-Loop-(10) — Boots and Bluebonnets in Texas

Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrush along Park Road 4

The spring blossoms in the Blue Ridge Mountains add bright colors to the landscape.

20100515Blue-Ridge-Parkway-NC-(6) — Flame Azaleas on the Blue Ridge Parkway

20100515Blue-Ridge-Parkway-NC-(68) — Wild Rhododendron along the Blue Ridge Parkway

20190416-Redbut-in-NC-(3) — Eastern Redbud at rest area in Western North Carolina

Tina, thank you for this weeks Lens-Artists Photo Challenge – Spring

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!

This week in my Butterfly Garden

May 19, 2018Posted in Birds, Butterflies, Flowers, NatureTagged Butterfly Garden, garden, Monarch Butterfly, Painted Bunting, Spring, zinnias23 Comments

I’ve been digging in the dirt a lot lately trying to get my butterfly garden in shape after flooding from Hurricane Irma killed most of the plants last fall.

A few of the new plants are starting to bloom. The zinnias I planted from seed this winter are bursting with color.

The new milkweed plants attracted their first Monarch of the season this week.

20180518Monarch-Butterfly-(5) — First Monarch sighting of 2018

The hummingbirds and Painted Buntings have been stopping by the feeders.

20180506Painted-Bunting-(33) — Painted Bunting

This lizard was trying to drink the hummingbird nectar.

20180518Lizard-(22) — Lizard looking for a snack on one of my hummingbird feeders

Happy spring!