more blooms

I put most of this post together on Thursday before I spent my weekend in Vancouver. We enjoyed brilliant weather this weekend (I had a fabulous run in the spring sunshine out to Jericho Beach), and although it’s sprinkling right now, it’s still quite warm. I won’t complain about the rain, because these beautiful hellebore blooms surely deserve some nurturing.
With apologies to my readers still living in winter. If votre pays est l’hivermaintenant, you will not want to read further. You’ve been warned.

But when I headed out for a run last Thursday morning, I was arrested immediately by a gentle, somewhat citrus-y fragrance, the strongest message I’ve yet received from this lonicera x purpusii (honeysuckle bush)Then just outside the gate, where I’ve been enjoying the crocuses for the past week or two, I spotted one of the dwarf irises up and blooming!
And look how the purple (!!) catkins on my corylus avellana contorta ‘Red Majestic‘ (Harry Lauder’s walking stick, a new purple-foliaged variety) are growing and the buds swelling just behind them (I’m not sure why this photo looks as if it’s taken in darkness — I took it moments after the photos above, but trying to get the lens to focus right on the catkin has given me this darkened result).

When I got back from my run, I grabbed my camera and strolled through the yard. Around the front, I was delighted to find this wee flower. Based on location, I’d say it’s the first of the omphaloides cappadocica my mom gave me eight or so years ago. As is the brunnera macrophylla, the omphaloides is quite similar to myosotis (forget-me-not), but it’s blooming much earlier than either. Here’s a hellebore blooming fresh-and-white against its green foliage, but notice how unhelpfully all the blooms face downward!
I wasn’t willing to lie on my belly on the other plants to angle the camera correctly and keep my eye at the viewfinder, so I tried a few shots with the camera doing the work on its own, just trying to get the lens lined up correctly to catch these gorgeous red freckles.I have several white-flowering plants that I think are H. niger, as well as some deep burgundy ones Ishowed you a week or so ago, and I’d forgotten about this pink one until my stroll this week — I’m looking forward to it opening up more soon.and, of course, these pale green blooms of what I’m pretty sure is H. argutifolius (as in the topmost two photos above). I especially love the architectural leaves and branches of these and the interplay of the several greens.

And in case you’re curious, my shopping queasiness was overcome this weekend. More later. . .