St. Valentine's Day 2023

 

. . . . . . . and of course Bob!

Promise of a new day. . . . . . .

The sunrise can be beautiful but fleeting.

Here in the garden I was just in time to take a 

photo of this female Cardinal in the fig tree

this morning. . . . . . . the sun illuminating her 

feathers and turning them to gold.

One more quick snap and I caught the magnolia 

in the early sunlight. . . . . . . . 

. . . . . . . and the first of the tulips not yet eaten by visiting deer!!!

I have a feeling my tulips may disappoint this year.

A small but beautiful tree. . . . . . . . . . .

Yesterday the official temperature reached 82F here in Raleigh ~ quite a 

hot pre-Spring day.

Being St. Patrick's Day there were many short sleeved Kelly green t-shirts visible ~

both on the street and the outdoor patios of restaurants and watering holes.

'Erin go Bragh' was heard on tongues not necessarily Irish. Seems we are all 

suddenly Irish on March 17.

The subject of this post is really my precious Tulip magnolia (Magnolia liliiflora)

which suddenly showed color in yesterday's sunshine. 

Petals burst through, and the fuzzy buds took on a beauty all their own. 

No longer the tiny shrub I planted a few years back, this baby is now a small tree. 

Native to southwest China ~ Sichuan and Yunnan ~ but cultivated for 

centuries elsewhere in China and Japan.

A deciduous small tree to about 12 feet tall, smaller than other magnolias, 

it blooms profusely in early Spring with large pink to purple showy flowers, 

before the leaf buds open. . . . and I love it.