My favorite season?

I've never been able to figure out if my favorite season is fall or spring.  I love them both, for the mild temperatures that make being outside so pleasurable.  Fall has the beautiful changing leaves and promise of the holidays, but then, spring's got the flowers and the hope of nice weather to come. 

Since I've got a few projects not quite ready to share in pics, I'll share some pics of my first or second favorite season instead!  Here, the argument for why I love spring.  First, a few pics from my yard at the home/house:

My spirea shrub has gotten so big and beautiful!

I learned this year that the small branches, when clipped, are beautiful additions to flower arrangements and last a long time in a vase.

My tree peony, that I bought in New York and brought to Tennessee, is bigger and has more blooms than ever before!  This shrub always flowers early (after the daffodils and forsythia).

The flowers are enormous and smell amazing.

I was returning to The House of Goodwill just as the tree peony started blooming, so I cut a bouquet to bring with me.  Doesn't it look great on the new mantle?

Yesterday the weather was 73 degrees and overcast, perfect for working outside.  So I took the day off projects in the house to do some shrub maintenance and other outside clean up.

It's supposed to be 90 degrees and sunny ALL next week....I am not ready for that!

I'm glad I got the yard work done when I did...and the house looks so pretty right now with so many things in bloom.

As I've mentioned before, one of my favorite things about this property is the landscaping of the house.

It definitely takes some work, but it makes this place so beautiful it's worth the work to me.

Obviously the former owners enjoyed gardening.

There are 22 azaleas around the house, 3 forsythias, 7 peonies, and tons of daffodils and irises (in addition to other shrubs and flowers).

Spring in the back yard is breathtaking!

Another view of the azalea row in the back yard.

So pretty!

And the concrete alligators are pretty amazing, too.

This pretty columbine is all over the front of the house.

Once it's done blooming, the foliage dies down and you'd never know it was ever there.

Irises, peonies, azaleas...everywhere you look something is blooming.

I think I've counted 7 different irises in the yard so far.

Our cat loves to sit on this stump amidst the irises.

You can see the lakefront work going on in the background.

I have a gorgeous clematis vine at home that's grown very lush and profuse.

I discovered that cut clematis flowers also make long-lasting and pretty little bouquets.

The colors of irises viewed up close are so delicate and varied.

Some irises and azaleas from the yard.

My only complaint about irises?  Each flower only lasts a few days.

(Fortunately each stem holds several buds.)

But when they're here, wow!

That was a lot of pics.  And they definitely don't do justice to how beautiful things really look outside.

I just love this house in the spring, and I hope no one ever rents it in April or May so I can just stay here and enjoy it...wait, why are we going to rent this place again?

Ah yes - the $54,000 excavation bill.  (Not to mention the dock that hasn't been built yet.)  I just have to keep reminding myself of that...