{ purple posies }

Purple Passion Flower, via flickr

(OK, well, they're not really posies, but it fit with the alliteration). These cookies actually ended up reminding me of one of my favorite flowers -- the purple passion flower.  -- 100 purple flowers for a bridal shower.

:: waking up ::

Although it's still chilly, it seems as though Spring has finally arrived to New England, and it's such a welcomed sight.

Here are some seasonal signs of the new season taken from around the yard.

I am however, still waiting for my tulips to rise and shine ....

  

a tale of two [tulip] days

Last fall, Aidan planted a slew of tulips with his Grandma Cathey, and we've been anxiously waiting all winter for the little guys to peek through. Well yesterday was the day -- bingo! Tulip City! Or at least, the early stages of Tulip City.

So we snapped some pictures in the sunshine of our budding buddies, and emailed them off to Oregon for Grandma Cathey to oooh and aaah over with us.

Fast-forward 24-hours.

This morning, April 1st no less, we woke up to a not-so-funny April Fool's joke -- our tulips were buried under about 8 inches of snow. What a cruel twist of natural fate.

However, this afternoon, reaching out from beneath the cold blanket that covered them last night, our persistent friends, the tulips, poked their little green arms out to say, "It's all good. We're still here."

Way to go, tulips! Keep up the good fight! We can't wait to see you bloom!

local color

Quietly tucked away on a back road in Exeter, NH is a nursery that I've been dying to stop at ever since we moved here. It's a place where I could spend hours, and totally lose track of time.

Last summer, it was full of geraniums, hydrangeas, and stars and stripes bunting. In the fall, it overflowed with pumpkins, scarecrows, and Indian corn. At Christmas time, it gloriously displayed fresh wreaths, bright poinsettias and twinkly lights. And now that it's spring time, I was simply unable to resist it's charms anymore.

Churchill's Gardens is currently bursting with color. And on a sunny day, it's completely intoxicating.

a banner year for bluebonnets

Due to a very wet fall and winter, the bluebonnet (state flower of Texas) and wildflower display in the Lone Star State this spring is forecasted to be extra-amazing -- the Indian paintbrush and bluebonnets are already popping up.

Experts say to expect a knock-out spring for flowers ... an exceptional season is expected state-wide.

By the end of March, Texas should be awash in the reds, yellows, whites and blues of wildflowers, with the season peaking in mid-April, said Damon Waitt, senior botanist at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin.

With rains throughout the fall and winter bringing an end to drought conditions that have persisted in the state since late 2007, Waitt expects exceptional early and late spring wildflowers in many parts of the state.

"That really favors our Texas wildflowers, especially our early spring bloomers," said Waitt, who added that flowers making an early appearance include Indian paintbrush, Drummond phlox and Texas' state flower: the bluebonnet.