I was squiring my very own Mother out to one of our favorite destinations – Bernheim Forest – for this year’s Spring Orgy Of  Bloomage when we were rudely sabotaged by a radiator hose which sent the heat levels in the car to Code Red conditions. It was panic time until the problem was analyzed and I realized that the hose was an easy fix – but it had to occur at home, at best. At the time of this writing, I am looking out onto the vehicle, sending some mental daggers and hoping that Santa will bring the correctly-sized hose soon. 😉

I’ll fix it when I finish this. Unless I take a nap. Mother is all social with her buddies at the moment, and plans on more of the same tomorrow, so the urgency is less, although the discomfort is unchanged.

At any rate, what we saw last year, in scenes such as this one below, will have to wait a couple of days:

(click any image to enlarge, some twice)

Below are two of my all-time favorite pictures of Bernheim, to this day – today just gives me an excuse to show it again:

Love this one:

Anyway, our car troubles notwithstanding, it’s not as if I did not rally with many fine – more local – experiences, camera in hand. There is nothing not to like about Spring Time. I will argue in favor of this point for pretty much ever. So here’s some local pictorial news, around the “hood”.

This gorgeous combination of Flowering Quince blends exceptionally well with the Flowering Plums on either side. I love this design by a local family. As it develops, it will provide absolutely momentous Springs for them and their neighborhood. “Sumptuous”comes to mind as a description.

Another well-dressed Springtime subject is yet another “bias” completely on my bent mentality. I have always liked trees which were hybridized to grow as a “Columnar” type. These Columnar Chinese Pears are a special treat especially in my experience inasmuch as I have established these and Columnar Cherries alongside many long driveways. Their horizontal nature and the lushness of their blooms offer a possibility in design few other plants can offer.

In Louisville, many of the gorgeous Columnar Pears are used in boulevard placements. That’s pretty peachy:

The truth is, even the animals are thrilled – check out the teeth on this smile……….

Sure – I hang out where kids do. I like excitement – I’m not dead, ya know.  😉

Anyway, it’s still just a teensy bit early. This Dogwood has a week, anyway, until he pops out in full living glory.

Heck, even over by Freddy’s house, even he has cherries popping out and T Bird’s growing. And he hates gardens!