Colors of Spring

It's finally warmed up; perhaps the last of the cold is now behind us until the fall months appear. In a month or two, I'll be wishing for cooler weather. I suppose it's human nature to always want what you don't have.

People in the neighborhood are pretty active now that the weather is so pleasant, and many are working in their yards. We have a crew that comes around each week to mow, but many of us like to putter about some in our yards, especially in flower beds and such. Our beds are now just about done, thanks mostly to Donna. I've not helped her much, and I'm a bit ashamed of myself, though I don't seem to be losing any sleep over this issue. But it's fun to watch the old girl work and sweat in the sun.

We now have good color in our front beds. We have some red yuccas, a yellow bell (esperanza), 2 or 3 rose bushes, marigolds, and various herbs and such. When they mature a bit, I'll share some pictures. In our side bed, Donna planted tomatoes and peppers. Hopefully, they'll all do well.

We've been admiring the growth in the oak tree in our back yard. I dug through my files and found the picture below, which I took shortly after we moved in back in June 2016.

Oak tree in our back yard, taken in August 2016.

Now, compare it to this picture which I took just a day or two ago.

It's a bit fuller, a bit taller. 

The tree grows about a foot or so each year. Our back patio faces east, so we normally don't sit out in the morning because the sun just bathes the entire patio. Soon, we hope we'll get some shade from the tree. For now, we enjoy our patio in the morning on overcast days or after lunch on sunny days.

In closing, I'll leave you with a few pictures I snapped as we drove through our neighborhood recently.

The yellow flowers refuse to die. We've had them for over a month now. This is from an empty field on the eastern perimeter of the property.

This is an ocotillo standing guard outside the clubhouse.

This is the yard of one of our friends who lives just down the street from us. That is a Mexican bird of paradise on the left. We have several in the neighborhood, and I really like them. The yucca is in full bloom in the center of the picture. Between these two plants is another ocotillo, but this one does not have the red blooms like the ones at the clubhouse.

These are red yuccas in the yard of our neighbor across the street. Donna planted 2 of these in our beds, but it will be some time before they reach this level of maturity.

And I'll leave you with the picture below of a yucca in bloom. We came out of a business the other day and came face to face with this beauty. I love those milky white blooms. It has always been one of my favorite desert plants.

Yucca in bloom.