apple blossoms, azaleas and more

the parade was lovely. the theme was "lights, cameras, apple blossoms" which meant every marching band, motorcade and float had a hollywood them. there were pink ponies and dachshunds dressed up like the wizard of oz. there were many marching renditions of the rocky theme song and the cast of the high school's production of beauty and the beast in full costume -- everything i expected and more.

what i didn't expect was a post-lunch trip to the sonoma horticultural nursery, and what an amazing surprise that was. i'd been there one before one rainy october day and was impressed even then by the different forms and shapes and greens of their specialty -- rhododendrons and azaleas -- even with nothing in bloom. but this weekend, everything was in bloom. blossom of every imaginable color spilled out into the roadway even before we reached the nursery. i had never imagined rhoddies came in so many colors. they even had a rich selection of rare yellows from cream to canary to practically orange. (yes, there will be pictures i promise.) but the garden didn't stop there. there were dogwoods in white and pink, wisteria in lavendars, pinks, whites and purples. there were flowering cherries and irises and clematis and peonies... oh, the peonies.



an arched colonnade nearly brought me to tears it was so beautiful. and it was not the only sublime surprise waiting around a corner.

a back lit white columbine bobbed its head next to a bench. a fountain spilled from a lion's mouth. a picnic bench sat resting as a breathtaking riot of flowers opened before anyone who decided to stop there. i did.

i walked out of there without a single plant -- my tiny patio doesn't have the room or the climate to support that particular variety of flower, but i packed my camera to the gills with photos. so many that i didn't have the battery left to capture the garden i visited later that same afternoon. but that's another story. perhaps tomorrow.