Some of what I saw, No. 5

Dogwood in bloom, near my apartment building, May 14, 2011. The photos speak for themselves.















Look at the H made by the tiny branches. My last name, both maiden and married, begins with an H. I love this serendipitous surprise. It's even underlined by that other branch. Neat!

Flowering trees

Diagonally across the street from my work building, I enjoyed these flowering trees.


Precious puffs of petals.


This tree just can't give up on its petals, can it?


How about this one, near my apartment--pink and white blossoms on the same tree!

Soft

One of many blossoms on several hydrangea bushes around the corner, right beside the sidewalk.

Beautiful columbine at the Portland Farmers Market

I took this photo on Saturday, May 9, at the Portland Farmers Market.

Spent, To Be and Now

Blossom by blossom the spring begins ... Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909)

This teensy flower, colorful, delicate, with hardy-looking leaves, is among a short row planted in a concrete-walled bed at Elephant's Delicatessen, half a block south of our apartment building. I like this bed because it's almost waist high which makes taking photos quite easy. I don't like this bed because they've left way too much naked dirt. And I don't think it's because they've left room for these little plants to become bigger since they've set them out close to each other.

What I'm hoping is that the naked dirt is destined for less hardy blooming things as soon as the temperature moderates into what spring really is in Portland, not these near freezing nights and 50 degrees or less days. Our average high in March is 56 degrees while the low averages 39 degrees--today we're predicted 47, 31, while Wednesday's predicted 56, 36 comes closer to the average for March and that will be April 2, of course. I'm not complaining one bit, just reporting.

Does anyone know the name of this beauty?