Practical Beauty

I spend my time in spring with my face or my camera lens pressed against some ornamental flower trying to capture that moment in time where color and shape are perfection and to file away a memory for a cold gray day.

I recently realized that I fail to see some of the wild and practical beauty all around me that is missed because the hybrid stunners are crying for attention.  Therefore, I am pleased to present those playing supporting roles in this spring performance.

I think this is a Viburnum prunifolium above, but I am open to formal identification. This wild plant has balls of beauty that cover the bushes standing at attention up to 12 feet high along the shoreline at my dock during the month of April.

Above is the familiar hybridized strawberry flower promising jam and syrup and topping in the months to come.  It is small and covering the grounds at the back of the garden, but a no less lovely  bloomer than all the others.

Above is a newer ornamental version of the strawberry.  We are waiting to see if the flavor and/or size of the strawberry has been compromised in order to make the flowers stand out, as this is a new addition to the garden this year.

This beauty is, of course, from our new blueberry plant(s) which have been tucked back by the wood pile just inside the deer fence.  YUM.

Above are the flowers of a wild persimmon tree that grows against our dock just at the edge of the inter-tidal land.  It is only 8 feet tall and maybe too young for any fruit as we have not seen any set as long as we have lived here.  I have seen raccoons and squirrels performing acrobatic feats to get at the persimmons in our higher trees at the edge of the forest.

These are buds from my kaffir lime tree which has been moved outside now that the weather is more gentle.  The tree is still small but I have gotten about 6-10 fruit in the past.

And finally among our cast of supporting performers is Barberry (Berberis) growing at the side of my house doing its duty as a landscape plant.  But in the spring its lovely yellow bells ring out in contrast to the wine foliage above.  (Click on photos for better views.)