Spring Plants

We've been doing some spring gardening at our office over the past few weeks. The early heat wave actually was helpful in many ways in establishing some of the plants.

The Water Expert and the fellow that is an expert on roses collaborated recently to help us understand which rose is which. Do you see the small sign in the lower right hand corner of this picture?




Here's a closeup; it's a "love" rose...



Each rose bush has a sign, and the names are all quite interesting; we have a Princess Diana of Wales as well as a Marilyn Monroe, among many others. I wonder what it takes to have a rose named after you?

Our other springtime change is that we took out the hibiscus that formerly lined our parking lot behind the office. Most of it just couldn't seem to survive; and the living ones looked out of place surrounded by the dead spots. So our new choice is this purple flowering bush:




And speaking of purple, I have previously shared pictures of the orchid tree that blooms outside of my office window. This is what it looks like at its best:



Unfortunately, this is what it looks like at its worst, after this year's freezes:



We've been waiting and hoping for some sign of life; I can't bear the thought of losing this tree. And at last there is a little hope, in a couple of places:



The Sixth Man pointed out that this new growth is from a place where the tree was severely pruned in the past. His assessment is that it will need another drastic cutback, but that it should survive. That is, of course, the nature of spring, full of new growth and hope.