The Westlake Pirates

Happy spring, everyone! We've been treated to some ridiculously beautiful weather lately, and I've been told it's a bit of a fluke since we're not supposed to see the sun til after July 4. Well, tell that to our "Autumn Beauty" sunflower that bloomed yesterday! Like any good Seattle-ite, she's not waiting for an invitiation to enjoy some bright sunshine. A few months early, but hey -- we'll take it.

I love plants and flowers and gardening. In theory. What this means is that I dreamed up a fantastical garden brimming with a million species of flora, and I tell Steve about it. He buys the greenhouse, the seeds, the soil and supplies, and then waters the babies diligently daily. Then I enjoy the fruits of his labor. I am quite grateful that not only does he have a green thumb, but a green brain and heart as well.

The plants that I actually take responsibility for are my collection of succulents because they live in sand and can go a month between waterings.

So in our dreary February, I had visions of morning glory vines twirling about the handrails, moonflowers climbing the radar arch, sunflowers bursting from their pots, and the air heavy with the sappy smell of sweet peas in bloom. And Steve pretty much made it all happen. Most of the plants I have pictures of here were grown from seeds in our tiny Ikea greenhouse on our kitchen counter. The sunflower, if you can believe it. The clematis was actually a sprout when we brought it home, but it's now taking over the portside upper deck.

For those of you on dial-up connections, you can click on these photos to open up a larger version and see all the brightly colored detail. Oh and my parents finally got DSL! If they did it, anyone can do it. ;)

I wanted to plant Dahlias in honor of Delia, because her name was originally Dahlia. Then Dehlia. Then Delia. This pink beauty burst out to introduce herself last week.

This is the afore mentioned lotus blossom.

The fushia is dropping handfuls of gorgeous pink, purple and violet blossoms all over the dock.

There is absolutely nothing in the world like waking up and going to the upper deck to spend a few moments of early morning sunshine with a vine of bright purple blossoms nodding their heads in the breeze in a salute to sunrise.

Jasper likes to keep an eye on the marina. if anything is amiss, he sounds his Siamese foghorn.

Our new kayak!

I forget what these are named but I picked them out because they were purple.
I'm sure Green Boy knows what they're called.

Steve adds: They're petunias. And the red flowering plants between them are Salvia splendens. To be fair, I did have to go and check my notes.

I love that sunflowers look like they're waving and shouting an excited "HI!". This one is an Autumn Beauty, and the other blooms should be various October
colors like orange and yellow and chocolate.