Spring in Memphis

I had to take more pictures of the Memphis Spring. It is the most amazing season I've ever experienced. It goes on and on for months with more and more gorgeous surprises. Every four days a new kind of flower or tree blooms all over Memphis. This picture does not do this pink justice. It was an intense fluorescent violet pink.

This pretty flower draped over the trees is so deceptively pretty. But if you pull back... You'll see that it is a kudzu vine, or the "vine that ate the South." This intruder grows a foot a day and puts down 12-foot roots, making it almost impossible to remove. It causes all kinds of havoc on power lines.

Here's a wide shot of a Dogwood tree. They are so lacy--it's like the blossoms align themselves in multiple horizontal planes--it's hard to keep your eye on the road when you're driving by!

There is a legend of the dogwood, that its leaves represent the Crucifixion. The four petals resemble the cross, and there is a blood red spot in the outside edge of each petal representing where Christ bled from his crown of thorns and the nails in his hands and feet. These trees always bloom around Easter time.

Roses in our backyard.

Another rose bush or it may be a member of the azalea family, also in our backyard.

About the time all the flowers are finishing blooming there is a 24-hour period in which ALL the trees go from naked to full-leaf. It blew my mind to see that full-canopy materialize so suddenly and leaf packets were strewn all over the ground everywhere.