Intense For Spring

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 Yesterday's weather was odd.  There was an icy north wind early in the morning, so painfully cold it drove me back inside.  Yet a couple hours later, it was blazingly, uncomfortably hot, with sunlight intense for spring.  The saturated tulip colors seem to match the hot weather, though I think the tulips I saw at a neighbor's house would have preferred the cold.  A dainty and delicate springlike scene, with splashes of fire:
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I did not realize how photogenic tulips are.  I never plant them because we are guaranteed a heat wave just as they open, which destroys them in a day.   
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My neighbor's lawn looks stupendous despite the dry winter:   
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And how does it look so stupendous?  Because it's plastic!
Not a drop of water does it require.  Oh dear!  I'm growing tolerant of, even positive towards...plastic grass



Back at home, Rose 'George Burns' held up to the heat fairly well.
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'Wild Fire' tried to match the intensity of the sunlight, and succeeded.
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However the patches of cheap big-box iceplant I put on the slope three years ago, and the last of the winter's aloe blooms outdid the roses.
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Spring is early this year.  
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Comments

  1. Intense colours on those blooms, that lawn looks superb! Fake lawn has improved so much, gone are the obviously plastic ones.

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  2. Great photos. Oh my, that lawn is really nice. I think the cost savings factor from maintenance, water and regular work is converting us all into more tolerant gardeners. Happy Friday.

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  3. I wish I could afford that lawn! It looks beautiful. I hope it lasts a long time for your neighbors, and takes lots of money out of the pockets of your for-profit water company.

    The second to the last photo with the iceplants, aloes, and limonium is breathtaking.
    Renee

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  4. @Mark & Gaz, yes the artificial stuff has improved a lot!

    @Andi, very very true, the higher my water bill goes, the better the artificial stuff looks.

    @Renee, I was very surprised to learn my neighbor's artificial turf is four years old. It looks as good as my brand-new little lawn for the dogs. It helps, I think, that the neighbor's lawn is somewhat shaded, so there is less UV exposure.

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  5. Your garden is a picture of beauty, I love the tulips, the roses and the aloes.
    The plastic lawn does look really nice but I don't like them, they get hot and they don't have that lovely fragrance of living, real grass.
    xoxoxo ♡

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  6. @dianne, absolutely true about the plastic lawn, but when you don't have the water...

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