Spring Flower Pictures from a North Carolina Garden

My North Carolina garden is somewhat haphazard, a rather disorganized assembly of pretty flowers planted for their shapes, fragrance and colors. A bonus has turned out to be their ability to attract butterflies and birds. Despite the disarray, I love to look at each flower close up to appreciate the textures and vivid contrasts it brings to my garden.

Free Plants For My Garden

One reason for the haphazard mixture of plants is that almost every plant was free! Unlike those who haunt garden catalogs and nurseries, I am more likely to beg, borrow or steal (well, not really...) plants, seeds and cuttings from friends and neighbors when they are thinning or dividing their plants. Most of the photographs in this hub are of plants that I've grown from seedlings, cuttings or freebies given to me by friends.

When my sister-in-law thinned out some of her iris, she gave me a box of rhizomes to take home. Somehow, the purple and yellow iris roots got mixed, so we didn't know until they bloomed what color the flowers would be. Three years after planting the roots, there are beautiful clusters of purple and yellow iris blooming along the garden walls. Although iris blooms are short-lived, the profusion of plants is enough to provide a steady stream of cut flowers for my table.

My husband fishes in a public spot along Currituck Sound and noticed wisteria rambling along the ground through the brush and grasses nearby. Early one spring he brought back a few cuttings which we rooted easily by just sticking them in the ground. They thrived in their new location, and it wasn't long before I had two sturdy wisteria bushes that seemed ready to overtake the world. It was only by pruning and training that we have been able to keep the wisteria confined to it's planned location.

The Wisteria Was a Surprise This Year!

Last summer, the plant was out of control, sending runners in every direction, creeping into the lawn and attempting to overtake the nearby Rose of Sharon. It never bloomed, and in a ruthless move, I pruned off all the runners and cut back the top to about 30 inches high. Lo and behold, in March it sent out buds in every direction and bloomed in a cascade of lavender clusters.

There is the beginning of an herb garden near my back door where I've planted some perennial herbs. The sage and marjoram have taken well and grown into each other to make a beautiful bouquet of herbs.

From my kitchen window, I can see the pansy beds on the inside of the patio wall as well as many of the other flowers on the other side of the low wall. One of my special pleasures is to see the azaleas and roses in bloom.

The white and bright pink azaleas and many other azalea bushes around our house were grown from small seedlings that we found among my son's overgrown azalea collection. These azaleas have bloomed for weeks this year as the spring fluctuates from cool to warm to cool. On warm days, the swallowtail butterflies have swarmed around the bush, their black and yellow wings a beautiful contrast to the brilliant pink blossoms in the sun. Occasionally, a ruby throated hummingbird will lite in one of the branches to rest before sipping from the nearby feeder.

This little lizard comes out to sun himself in the flower beds or on the patio wall. Recently, I've seen more than one, so there might be a family of lizards making their home in my garden. So far, Gemini (my cat) hasn't noticed them, or they would be prey for sure!

There was one beautifully established camellia bush growing near our house when we bought it, and most years we miss its bloom as we travel in the winter. This year, we were fortunate enough to be home in February when the bush burst into hundreds of dark pink blooms. Coming from the northeast where winter blooming flowers are nonexistent, camellias blooming in the winter months fascinate me.

A small yellow rose bush lives in a sunny, protected spot with a southern exposure and decided to bloom in early April. I love the yellow color against the red brick background. Though I don't know the variety of these roses, they have a strong rose scent that is perfectly delightful.

Calla lily bulbs were another gift from a friend who was dividing her plants, and I was fortunate to be given a few large bulbs that have multiplied in my garden. Calla lilies are so perfectly formed and such a pure white, it's easy to see why they are a favorite in bridal bouquets. These started blooming in mid-April but they've been known to bloom on and off until fall.

These double daffodils were an unexpected pleasure as they seemed to pop up overnight and bloom. The double blossoms are quite a change from the more common yellow single daffodils that bloom in my front flower beds.

The vibrant colors of spring are even fresher after a rain. Roses after a rain sparkle as they catch the light in the droplets of water. These are my favorite flower photographs because they seem to capture the dewy newness of everything that spring represents.

As you can see, I do love flowers and enjoy every blossom as it comes into being. I love to have cut flowers from my garden in the house, and even use them to decorate cakes! One of the joys of photography is that it preserves some of the most interesting and beautiful flowers forever.

I do hope you’ve enjoyed this tour of spring flowers from my North Carolina garden as much as I've enjoyed putting it together.

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Copyright @2012 Stephanie Henkel

All photographs are the exclusive property of Stephanie Henkel. Please do not copy or reproduce without permission.