Cape Photo of the Day - Photo #266

The last of my daughter's summer flowers in our garden plot at Goshen Farm. The feisty snapdragons outlasted the lot.

Cape Photo of the Day - Photo #210

A pretty pot of purple pansies. Say that 3 times real fast...

Cape Photo of the Day - Photo #198

Some pretty fall color courtesy of Graul's. Well, not courtesy. I had to pay for them.

Cape Photo of the Day - Photo #172

My knockout roses are back for round two this summer. The grass may be down for the count, but the roses are rallying.

Cape Photo of the Day - Photo #127

My Catherine Woodbury lilies doing their best firework impersonation.

Cape Photo of the Day - Photo #111

Lilies up at Goshen Farm.

Cape Photo of the Day - Photo #108

A pretty Cape hill of hydrangea.

Cape Photo of the Day - Photo #104

It's a soggy one out there today. I poked my head out just long enough to get a picture of this drippy butterfly bush panicle. It is as eager for the sun to come back out as we are.

Cape Photo of the Day - Photo #91

My neighbor's INSANE hydrangea. She planted this one long after I planted the ones in my yard, and it has put mine to shame. It LOVES its location. If she didn't cut it back, it would invade my yard like the blob - a pretty blob, though.

Cape Photo of the Day - Photo #86

Full disclosure - yesterday's picture of the day was a last minute grab from some photos I took last year of the flowers in my yard. I had been meaning to get some pictures of my oak leaf hydrangea, but I needed something before midnight last night, so I reached back in the archives.

To make things right, I went out this AM and got some pictures with the Nikon. This one is not perfectly in focus, but the colors and detail are still much better quality than the ones taken with my Droid last year. Here are a few other shots of the flowers (don't mind Laika's butt in the first one...):

Cape Photo of the Day - Photo #85

Oak Leaf Hydrangea blooming in my yard. It's getting summerer and summerer...

Cape Photo of the Day - Photo #74

"Mama said knock you out..."

A Happy Mother's Day to all my fellow Cape Moms! My knockout roses have been knocking themselves out for a couple of weeks now, and I finally got out with my camera this morning in my PJs to get some photos. I was a little lukewarm to knockout roses in the beginning. They suddenly turned up everywhere - a little too ubiquitous for my taste.

But they have worn me down with their brilliant enthusiasm and staying power. Anything that blooms this insanely and beautifully in my yard without me even trying is worthy of my appreciation. I wish you all a happy and restful Mother's Day, and if anyone gets in the way of that, just sick Mr. James Todd Smith (better known as LL Cool J) on them. "Mama said knock you out..."

Cape Photo of the Day - Photo #73

Goshen buttercups. Despite the tantalizing name, these little yellow flowers are poisonous, so just look, don't eat!

Cape Photo of the Day - Photo #72

My volunteer petunias in bloom. Several years ago, my parents brought me a pot of petunias from their South Carolina farm. The petunias cropped up in the pot year after year on their own from seed. My favorites are the ones that come up in the cracks of our patio from seeds that have escaped the pot. They seem to be just as happy in Maryland as they were in South Carolina all these generations later.

Cape Photo of the Day - Photo #62

Did anyone make it downtown today to see the May Day baskets in Annapolis? When my kids were little, we would stroll Main Street and City Dock on May 1st admiring all the pretty flowers. This pretty Cape house had a couple of bright colorful baskets hanging over the front porch that caught my eye as I strolled home today from the Goshen Farm Sharing Garden. Seems I managed to lock my keys in the car and had to walk home to pick up a spare. My "may day" texts to my family went unanswered, but I was happy in the end for the walk.

Cape Photo of the Day - Photo #29

My VERY last camellia of the season. The bush has been blooming away since January, and as we near the end of March, this is the last but not least of its bounty. I planted this camellia back in the spring of 2009, and that winter in December, we got a record breaking snowfall that also broke several of the branches off my baby camellia. I propped it up for the remainder of the winter, and it has gradually recovered. It bloomed pretty nicely last winter, but this year, it knocked itself out. You can see one of the spent flowers in the background.

I'm clearly on a flower kick with my camera. It's a sure giveaway of my amateur status as a photographer. They are easy subjects, but they will be gone soon enough, and I will have to get more creative with my shot choices.

One more early wakeup before spring break!