Clicking Our Heels - Spring and Our Favorite Flowers

Clicking Our Heels – Spring and Our Favorite Flowers

Spring is here. With snow gone and flowers blooming, the Stiletto Gang wanted to share our favorite flowers with you.

Linda Rodriguez: Dogwood and redbud tree blossoms always mean spring to me because in northeast Oklahoma, they show up all over the wooded sides of the hills outside of Tahlequah and throughout the town itself as the heralds of spring.

Debra H. Goldstein: Yellow roses. They represent optimism, friendship, health, and joy and for me, pure happiness.

J.M. Phillippe: I am not great at knowing when things bloom as I grew up in Los Angeles. But Jasmine, particularly night blooming jasmine, has always been my favorite flower, probably followed by honeysuckle. Both grew in abundance in California, and often I would smell the jasmine before I could find it. I wish I could get it to grow in New York.

Shari Randall: Lilacs are my favorites. We had a huge old lilac in my family’s backyard, and my friends and I would climb inside to a tiny, hidden hollow space for our secret club meetings. The scent is lovely and brings back so many good memories.

Juliana Aragon Fatula: My favorite flower in spring: tulips, pink tulips.  My father picked them from the mansion he worked as the gardener and brought them home to me, my mom, and sisters all born in April. Poor man surrounded by all those fiery Aries.

Judy Penz Sheluk: Purple lilacs. Love the fragrance, but mostly, lilacs say “spring is here” after a long, Canadian winter.

Kay Kendall: I live in a part of the country (Houston, TX) where the flowering azalea bushes herald spring. Many homes are surrounded by mounds of these brightly colored plants, and I just love the effect. I also love the lush flower of a peony, but that grows on a bush as well.

T.K. Thorne: Always loved pansies. I like intense colors and pansies do this well without putting on airs.

Bethany Maines: Daffodil. It was the first flower I learned to draw and it still makes me happy every time I see one. For no good reason, they always feel like my flower.

A.B. Plum: I’m a rose lover and write about them in nearly every book I write. In The Dispensable Wife, AnneSophia plants over 200 bushes. Her husband thinks no Romanov wife should “play in the dirt.” Well, we’re all entitled to opinions.

Sparkle Abbey:

Mary Lee Woods:  My favorite flower is the jonquil as it’s an early flower and it means that spring is just around the corner. I love their bright yellow color and, because I’m not much of a gardener, I also love how easy they are to grow. They come back year after year.

Anita Carter: I love hydrangeas. I’m fascinated that their color is determined by the soils ph balance. My favorite color is blue. Every year when I see them, my husband has to talk me out of buying one, thus saving an innocent plant life!

My Jonquils Are Blooming!

My jonquils are blooming and I'm thinking spring! In Oklahoma it's generally accepted that after Easter you can start your spring planting without too much worry of another hard freeze damaging young plants.

I don't plant vegetables although each year I consider planting some tomatoes. There is nothing better in this world than a home grown tomato. But I never get past the thinking stage, mostly because my parents plant a garden and usually supply me with all the tomatoes I can use.

What I like to plant are flowers—flowers that don't require lots of attention. My backyard has perennials: purple wisteria, blue hydrangeas, shrub roses, climbing roses, peonies, Rose of Sharons, and other varieties of hibiscus. I love lilies—all kinds. I like tulips and irises too, but if I plant them the moles and gophers act like I've invited them to an all-you-can-eat underground buffet.

Although the area where I live is known for beautiful azaleas—the town has an azalea festival in the spring—the soil in my yard is not acidic enough to sustain them. I've tried and failed at least a half dozen times to get some established, but eventually they've all turned brown and made me feel guilty for their untimely demise. I should never have brought them home with me—they might have had a full life somewhere else. But I look across the road and see the azaleas in full bloom, and once more consider buying a plant or two.

I'm partial to pansies and petunias and other colorful annuals. They are fun and instantly brighten up my yard. Last weekend I visited a local nursery and forced myself not to buy anything yet. I need to get the flowerbeds ready first.

Yesterday, I mowed my yard for the first time this year. I had a nice crop of henbit to mow, not much bermuda grass. My lawn mower started without much trouble—a miracle in itself after its long winter hiatus. The ground was wet—too wet to do much more than mow and then maybe some raking.

Maybe next Saturday, I'll get to dig up the beds and buy some plants. I'll have to be smart about it, not just buy everything that looks pretty. Believe me, I've done that before and regretted it. Nothing worse than lugging home twenty odd potted plants that you need to get into the ground right away, then running out of daylight or good weather or energy...or inspiration to get them planted.

Spring is the time for new beginnings, both for gardeners and writers. Besides my gardening ambitions, my co-author and I are starting a new short story and plotting a new mystery.

I need new gardening gloves—and maybe a new keyboard for my computer.

Here's to Spring!

Evelyn