Spring Flowers have Sprung!

I realized the other day that I have not put a single flower picture up on here this year.  Usually I am snapping away at the first sign of floweryness...aka my snowdrops...but since it's been very un-Alabama this spring (which means we have actually HAD a spring this year), most of the flowers are taking their time; including my favorite smell-good flowering trees, which have YET to open.  They usually bloom mid-April, but since it's been cooler they have not quite bloomed out.

While walking the dogs last night I noticed a bright patch of pink on the shady side of the house that I had not noticed this year.  Upon closer inspection I saw that it was one of my amaryllis flowers and it is B-E-A-utiful!  I don't really remember it blooming last year, so I was pretty excited to see it.  While looking around on that side of the house (there are no windows or doors on that side of the house so I have to physically walk over to see the flowers on that side) I saw that one of my favorite bearded irises had bloomed, too!  After seeing those beauties I put the dogs in the pool fence and started snapping away at all of my pretties!

Left: Can't remember the name of this one, but isn't it pretty!?; Top Right: Bearded Iris; Bottom Right: Amaryllis

Left: Wildflowers behind our fence; Top Right: hybrid snap dragons; Bottom Right: can't remember the name of these either, but they're something that was sent from Mom's garden in MI.

Funny story about my snap dragons....4 summers ago when I first started growing flowers at our current location I bought 2 giant planters to go around the pool and put some snap dragons in them.  I put a yellow and a red snap dragon in each one.  The first couple of years I had yellow plants and red plants.  Last summer I noticed the snap dragons in one of my planters looked more orange-ish than red or yellow, but did not think anything of it.  Yesterday I was outside and saw the above snap dragons in the same planter.....they are bright yellow next to the stem, but the end of each flower is bright red!  I guess they cross pollinated over the years and now they are this really cool 2-toned flower!

I can't wait to see what else comes back this year!  Mom and I did some major flower planting last summer, so I am hoping that most of those pretties come back!