Spring Blooms, Part 1

I found the pictures I thought I had lost.  Turned out I messed up my filing system.  I keep my processed (smaller) pics by subject (cats/yard/house/family/other), then by year and subfolders for each by month and day.  So the columns of folders (today) look like CATS - 2023 - 2303 -230321, with a dozen or so pics in the "23030321" last folder.  Well, it's the only way I can find stuff anyway...  I don't give pics names.

So, I managed to accidentally save my recent YARD processed pics to the wrong subfolder.  I found them today while processing the newest ones, LOL!  At least they were still "somewhere".

So the next few days are not "today" pics...  Couple weeks ago at first, but I will catch up quickly.

The earliest Daffodils were blooming nicely.  I planted them by blooming date, so the blooms rotate left.  If I had a "do-over" I would have mixed them all together so that there was some color all over the bed.  I mixed 2 in the front bed and I like that better.  But the back bed does make a nice slideshow as things change.

The earliest views from the deck...

The backyard Saucer Magnolia tree bloomed beautifully this year.  Some years a last frost kill the flowers early, sometimes they last a week.  

A closeup of the flowers.  

I became fascinated with Saucer Magnolias when I worked in central Washington DC.   There was a small park next to us.  The National Park Service had done a lot of limb-shaping work, so the trees were open but heavily-flowered.  I used to eat lunch out there in early Spring.

What I didn't know at the time was how much effort it takes to guide the direction of branches for that "open look" and how long it takes for them to mature to that "graceful old look"!

I planted my 2 about 25-30 years ago, and they are still barely mature and the "graceful old look" is at least another 25 years away.  I will never see it.  But I still love them (I think of them as in their "teenage years"; they are a promise to the future.