Can this really be Spring?

We've only just had the equinox and already it's acting like Spring.  The trees are leafed out, the dogwoods are blooming, the daffodils have come and gone, the grass is growing.  It seems way too early for all these things to be happening.  We didn't get much of a winter.  A few really crazy cold days but mostly not bad.  I don't like the cold so I don't mind.

This was a quick tour of the yard this afternoon.

Vinca major or periwinkle

Money plant

Lorapetalum.  A large open shrub with purple foliage and these fringy flowers .

My Bloodgood Japanese maple.  I love this tree.  It was planted  years ago and has loved the spot I put it in from the very beginning.

Native red honeysuckle growing up a trellis

Thrift or creeping phlox.  Pale blue flowers.

The dogwoods in the backyard.  White clouds everywhere.

So that's the tour for today.  Stay tuned for more as they come along.

I sold a painting!!

I sold this painting yesterday in my Etsy shop.  You have no idea how happy that makes me!  I actually wired it to hang horizontally but the buyer asked if I could rewire it for vertical.  Of course I can! I love the way it looks vertically and I'm excited about it going to its new home.

I painted it from a picture of a dogwood tree in the backyard.  This tree was just a little thing when we built our house and I threatened all the heavy equipment operators and work men to great bodily harm if they hurt it.  Now it stands about 12 feet tall and is loaded with white flowers in the spring, red leaves in the fall and red berries in the winter.  The birds have a feast on the berries.

I stood under the branches and shot this picture looking up through the leaves to the bright blue sky.