Spring Update--Si bella bella

This is about six posts in one. Am I allowed to do this? Is it cheating?
All is fair in May.
The tulips (above) were in April. They have  faded now, quite taken over by the bounty of everything else.
The magnolia branch that DID bloom in my living room:

YES! Amazing. See previous post. This was quite the sensation. Who knew. Christmas tree stands come in handy. It bloomed for about two weeks in March, and the actual tree flushes in early April...

Like so. And from the balcony (below). This is like having Mt. Fuji in your front yard. Spectacular. Is a Magnolia kobus.















Random glorious spring sunshine pic in Roswitha's garden: tulips (stick with Darwins--they rock), anemones and the overzealous leaves of Alliums...the giant purple ones..

 

My painting exertions this spring...more nests, funny that. This one (big--about 2x3') and the chair were displayed in the window of 'At Home' in West Van, courtesy of longtime clients who own the store. I painted both with Farrow & Ball interior paint...donated by the store because I donated the chair for a Stephen Lewis fundraiser.











Artists all over the north shore painted children's chairs for public auction. The West Van Gogos (Swahili for 'Grandmothers') raised $10 000 to support grandmothers raising children orphaned by AIDS.

So my former homie, Jordana Meilleur, took this pic of my chair and made it look like a superstar. She's professional. Don't steal her pic :P  It's low-resolution anyways. Awesome pic.

These are willow branches, stacked against a shed in a public garden in Vancouver--http://growingtraditions.wordpress.com/tag/moparcc/

Apparently, the entire garden is used to produce materials for weaving projects by artists Sharon Kallis and David Gowman. This intrigues me and when I have more than a stitch of time before midnight (these days) I want to look into it... 

This, below, is the much-loved Rhododendron lutescens in John Rawsthorne's garden, with a backdrop of Portuguese laurel swallowed by a Clematis armandii, and possibly some Viburnum 'Spring Bouquet' still poking a branch through here & there...

And just before all this May craziness began, I managed to have some semi-wilderness adventures with adventurous and keen-to-be-wild friends, met through the  Couch-surfing-network (another Whole New World to me!)

This included renewing my fascination with the semi-wilderness here on the north shore (here's a lovely red root shot, sometime in April, somewhere waaay up Mt. Fromme)... 

...and there's the Salt Spring Island tramping gang--it's kind of amazing--2 days out and we all kind of looked like we'd been in the bush for months. (Nice hat Shahin. I think it was in a free bin...?) Eating spring greens. And Elderflower tea. And Salt Spring cheese melted into Portobellos over the fire. mmm... Getting skinnier, gourmet style.

Love Salt Spring. Sooo many rare and wondrous spring things...orchids and camassia, Gary oak meadows and arbutus, nettles and cute Germans. (That's a cute pic, just sayin.)

So, back to my beautiful gardens. Si bella bella.