Tuesday, February 3, 2009

The Beauty in Your Own Backyard ...


This is my first time to participate in "Outdoor Wednesday," graciously hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer. I invite you to visit Susan's lovely blog to see more posts featuring the great outdoors.



I spent yesterday morning driving around Vicksburg, taking pictures for a future post. When I got home, it occurred to me that I could probably just walk around my yard and find interesting things to capture with my camera (you can click on the pictures to enlarge them, if you'd like).

I started my tour in our courtyard and took this shot of "Henry," our blue heron. My parents gave him to us for Christmas, and he seems to be quite happy there by the waterfall ...

And my little girl statue looks pretty, even though the plants around her are in their "winter drab" mode ...

I quickly discovered that "winter drab" has a beauty all its own, as shown in these Crepe Myrtle pods ...


The Crepe Myrtle shadows seem to creep along this wall ...

Even this "Corkscrew" plant growing in our pond is interesting ...

I love the way the water mingles the colors of the rocks in the bottom of the little stream that connects the waterfall to the pond ...

Last summer my mint plant got out of hand and I had to cut it back two or three times. It's very hardy and continues to pop up in the flower bed, even in freezing temperatures. Isn't it pretty ... and so green!

One of my favorite evergreen shrubs is Sweet Olive, and we have several planted in the front and back yards. It has delicate little flower clusters which give off the most heavenly scent ...

I discovered this beautiful little Yuletide Sasanqua hidden under some leaves. If you click on it, you can see a single drop of dew ...

I see my sun wind chime has "weathered" to a nice rusty patina ...

This is my favorite picture ... it's a knothole in the fence behind our house.

I tried to get a photo through the knothole of the trees behind the house, but I needed to be a little taller (oh, okay ... a lot taller) to get the camera to focus properly.

I forgot to show you my yellow pansies planted in urns in the courtyard. If you look closely at the first picture, you can see some kind of bug on one of the blooms, which I didn't see until I was editing the pictures ...


This is a little clump of wildflowers growing beside the fence (some people would call them "weeds," but there's no way those delicate little blue flowers could be weeds!) ...

I was happy to see my Louisiana Irises poking through the pine straw and leaves ...

Here is a picture I took of one in bloom last year ... doesn't it look like a miniature Fleur-de-Lis?

I hope you enjoyed my walk around my yard. I had fun discovering (and uncovering) its winter beauty, and was amazed that it was right there all the time ... in my own backyard.

I would love to see the beauty in your backyard -- even if it's covered with snow.

27 comments:

cottage farm villa said...

What a pretty post for Outdoor Wednesday....you found some real beauty in your yard!!

~Cheryl

Barb said...

I bet your yard is beautiful in the spring....Barb

southerninspiration said...

No snow here but no back yard beauty either.....I am going to have to do some serious back yard work in a few weeks after what we went thru with Hurricane Ike!!!

Suzanne

Susan @ A Southern Daydreamer said...

Welcome to Outdoor Wednesday Janie

You have a beautiful yard....even in the winter! I love all of your statues/figures so carefully paced throughout your yard...and the waterfall (love)...and isn't it amazing how plants/trees like the crape myrtle...even have winter beauty!

Tanks for sharing the pictures of your yard.. I look forward to seeing it in the spring and summer!

Susan

Confessions of a Plate Addict said...

you found a lot of interesting things righ tthere in your own yard! Love the Louisiana iris! When I was growing up in the mountains, those weeds were called ragged robins and I picked a bunch for my teacher the first day of school! lol ...Debbie

The Quintessential Magpie said...

Janie, these are such beautiful pictures, and I agree, the winter things have their own beauty. And you certainly are able to capture it on film for us beautifully! :-)

Your statues are pretty, and I love the egret in the pool.

Love to you...

And I'm so glad you're doing this with us!

XO,

Sheila :-)

Four Paws and Co said...

Your photography is amazing! Thanks for the treat! ♥ Diane

Sandi @the WhistleStop Cafe said...

Spring is coming! Maybe it won't be long now.

~CC Catherine said...

Welcome to your first Outdoor Wednesday post! Your place will be a favorite of mine to visit more often! ;) Your walk outside really was beautiful, isn't it grand to see what all is right outside our own windows when we slow down..grab that camera...and look for our own pots of gold in our backyard? You surely shared much of your gold today! This was a super visit! ~CC Catherine ;)

Unknown said...

Your yard looks pretty good for the dead of winter! We bought a Sweet Olive last year, and am looking forward to the shrub this summer.

I enjoyed your photo tour!

Margaret said...

I also have my sweet olive blooming, and your right it is a heavenly smell. Thanks for all the beautiful photos!

Beth at Aunties said...

Janie,
I enjoyed the winter beauty of your yard and the cute bug did appear when I clicked on the pansies. So pretty. You seem to capture beauty where ever you point your camera. I too enjoyed the the knot in the fence;)

I posted our our yard on Monday's post and so did something different tonight.

I would love to see you post the beautiful area around your cabin...sometime on this out door tour, it is so gorgeous!

I am so glad you joined Susan's Out Door party!

♥♥♥

Anonymous said...

What beautiful outdoor pictures. I especially like the yard art.
Charlotte

Anonymous said...

Beautiful photos! I love the flowers!

Anonymous said...

This is a lovely Outdoor Wednesday post. You have quite an artist's eye for detail. I perused your blog and just love it.

Blessings, Lana

Light and Voices said...

I had to look again at that knot hole. That was a different shot! Love your outdoor pictures.
Joyce

Kat said...

You got same great pictures! Your yard must be lovely in the spring, especially with the sound of the waterfall. I really like the knothole picture, so unique. Thanks for sharing these. Kathy

JudyBug said...

What lovely pictures! Love them all but especially the little girl. She is just adorable!

♥ Kathy said...

I'm jealous of your backyard..I want one that looks like that :) great pictures!

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful tour. I enjoyed every photo. You really captured the beauty of winter in your photography! That mint really does look hardy! Have a great Wednesday...

Tonja said...

My friend, your blog is a treat for my eyes! Don't you just love a good rusty patina? And wood, weathered and full of knot holes...I love it!

When I feel like getting outside again, I'll 'picture' my backyard.

Anonymous said...

Love all your photos...I love the knots hole photos...your garden girl is beautiful too! Great wintery photos..I enjoyed it..Happy Outdoor Wednesday..Katherinllen

Sue said...

Janie,
You did a wonderful job taking these pictures around your home ,you are right winter does have a beauty of its own. Great job!!!
Blessings,
Sue

Jon said...

Janie,
Thanks for the nice tour of your lovely garden through your sharp photos! The details when enlarged are very crisp and fine indeed....way to go!

Now I gotta love Henry, your blue heron....my grandfather called them "Blue Johns" for some reason. One of my childhood pet terriers was named Henry so I can sort of relate to a "pet" heron statue in your yard with this same name.

Jon at Mississippi Garden

Maryrose said...

Your photos were lovely. Thanks for sharing. Maryrose

YaYa's Funhouse said...

you absolutely take the prettiest pictures!!! Who would have thought a hole in the fence would have been pretty?? Keep up the good work!!

nikkicrumpet said...

You know how much I love your yard....it's one of my favorite things to see pictures from it!