Spring.

I awoke this morning to the sounds of our many many birds who live in the mountains facing our house. They tweet and sing away constantly, but this morning was different. I suppose it's springtime here in Hawaii. The morning 'chill' has lessened, the grass is seeding, and the birds are looking for some action. Loudly. It wasn't a bad alarm clock- if I had wanted to get up at, say, 7am.
I have to say, although I LOVE Hawaii, I miss the seasons of the east coast. I almost ache for my garden back home in Maryland this time of year. Every day, something new would pop up out of the ground. My tulips lining the path would be in bloom. The forsythia would be going insane. And our pear trees....oh, I miss them in all their stinky glory. But we have some pretty major flowers here, too. And since I plant a lot of seeds, I still have the joy of watching my babies grow up. In honor of springtime, and because I still feel icky and want the morale boost, I'm sharing some photos of my favorite flowers we have here in the garden. Or at least the ones I could take a decent picture of.

A terrestrial orchid.

I'm not sure the name of this one- it's a hanging plant, outside of Kenz's playhouse.

MacKenzie's birthday lemon tree. These blooms smell like love. Wrapped in Heaven.

Our snowy-white hibiscus. I don't see many of these around here.

Another hibiscus bloom- just opening.

Called a "coral tree." One of our centerpiece plants.

Some kind of iris. It's a teeny bloom- so delicate and perfect.

This flowers abundantly with perfect purple stars.

This lantana is taking over our front bed, which we love. The baby blooms look like little butterflies, and fittingly, the butterflies love this plant.

Not all of our gardening is for decorative purposes. We do try to keep some edibles and shade plants around. But I'll write about our practical plantings another time.
And for those of you who don't give a darn about my flowers, and simply want more pics of MacKenzie (sheesh!) here's a good one of my little helper: