Golden Afternoon
Music: Sammy Fain
Lyrics: Bob Hilliard
Performed by: Kathryn Beaumont [Alice], Chorus [Flowers]
Little bread-and-butterflies kiss the tulips,And the sun is like a toy balloon.
There are get up in the morning glories,
In the golden afternoon.
There are dizzy daffodils on the hillside,
Strings of violets are all in tune,
Tiger lilies love the dandy lions,
In the golden afternoon,
The golden afternoon.
There are dog and caterpillars and a copper centipede,
Where the lazy daisies love the very peaceful life they lead...
You can learn a lot of things from the flowers,
For especially in the month of June.
There's a wealth of happiness and romance,
All in the golden afternoon. ...
All in the golden afternoon,
The golden afternoon...
It was definitely a "golden afternoon" with "a wealth of happiness and romance"--just perfect for the week of Valentine's Day.
The little Apricot Antique shade violas had an air of romance about them--the old Victorian kind of romance. Kissed with the dusty light purple of the gemstone of February, the amethyst, the little violas now fill a curving bed in the front garden in front of leafless rosebushes waiting for this year's leaves to grow. Their tiny little faces cupped water droplets after I watered them with garden hose. Like a little jewel in the center of each blossom, the water droplets added a particularly whimsical touch to the lovely blooms.
To my surprise, I discovered that the blue anemone has bloomed again with two perfect blue blooms! Usually it blooms around Christmas (it's a winter flower in our zone) and then it's done. I was so pleasantly surprised to discover that it's going to give me more of its beautiful "blue-ness" to enjoy. In case, you didn't know... I LOVE blue flowers and purple toned flowers. There is something magical about that hue in the garden amidst so much yellow, pink, orange and red. Blue doesn't seem to "belong" in the garden, so that's why I always seem to want to see it there.
The two anemone blooms are adding color to complement the little hyacinth that comes up in the same bed that is occupied by oregano 3/4 of the year. The oregano dies back every winter around the end of November. I wait until the end of January or the first part of February, and then I remove all the dead oregano twigs so the hyacinths have room to come up. I'm so pleased that the anemone have stuck around to join them. I think I've even got some volunteers from last year's Sorbet Mix violas that I planted to fill in the gaps. That would be a wonderful welcome addition too.
Another blue flower that's a favorite for me is the blue hyacinth. My hyacinths are early this year, but I don't mind. It's wonderful to have them here for Valentine's Day because they are a particularly romantic flower to both Hubby and me. We honeymooned in Victoria, British Columbia in late March back in 1998. Part of our visit included a tour of the famous Butchart Gardens. We found many of the beds to be chock full of hyacinths of every color you could imagine! The scent was absolutely heavenly as we strolled by each bed. 
We returned to Victoria for our 5 year anniversary and experienced that same wonderful display for our eyes as well as our noses. Now everytime the hyacinths come up in our front garden and we catch a whiff of their perfume, we fondly remember our honeymoon and all the wonderful romantic reasons why we fell in love and are still in love. Now you know why the hyacinth is a romantic flower for us.
I visited Butchart Gardens back in, ahem, 1985. That was before I called myself a gardener. I was breathless with excitement at all the flowers, the design, the style! And to think it was created on a quarry site!
ReplyDeleteI hope to go back someday.
Robin at Bumblebee
We had an unpredicted ice storm this afternoon and everything including my garden is encased in a sheet of ice. I feel sorry for my poor fledgling bulbs, they were looking so promising, too. Nice to see it's spring in another part of Bloglandia.
ReplyDeleteI love blue flowers, too, as you know. Those anemones are about as gorgeous of a shade of blue as it gets!
ReplyDeleteAnd do you know what cultivar the blue hyacinth is? I bought one this fall that I thought was going to be blue, but as I look at photos online, it appears that it's magenta, which is NOT my favorite in most flowers.
Flowers mean beauty to humans, but to cats, it's more like "If you can't eat them, what good are they?"
ReplyDeleteTom Tom is such a handsome fellow!
Tom Tom, I am glad you got your just reward for being so good.
ReplyDeleteCindy, your blog is beautiful. I love all your kitties too. Thanks for visiting and commenting at Blackberry Creek. have a great day. Oh, and thanks for reminding me of the Golden Afternoon song. From Alice in Wonderland, right? --Susan C.
ReplyDeleteWhat lovely lyrics Cindy, thanks for sharing I didn't know this song at all but it's great for gardeners isn't it? especially for one like me who has named several of her kittens after plants and stuff, like my little Dandy Lion who had such a lionheart.
ReplyDeleteGuess what, I have blue anemones in flower too, isn't that fun? Our blooms are binding us together even though we are thousands of miles apart.
Oh that Tom Tom, he's such a charmer! What's that? Oh, the Bliss team just asked me to google Whisker Lickin's as they want to know what that is. :-)
If curiousity really killed the cat we wouldn't have any left, would we? ;-)
How lucky you are to live where you can garden year round. I just can't wait to see those first flowers bursting through the soil!
ReplyDeleteThose are such pretty flowers. I love the hyacinths, but I've never tried growing them, maybe I should try this year.
ReplyDeleteCindy...your flowers are lovely...your photos are always so pretty!
ReplyDeletehugs,
Robin
I was oooing and aaaing over your lovely flowers and then almost fell over when I came to the picture of the cat sticking out his tongue. Too Funny.
ReplyDeleteCindy,
ReplyDeleteWhat a gorgeous post! I enjoyed your description of the various flowers and of your golden afternoon.
I love "Alice in Wonderland" myself--always have--but never quite caught all the words to that song! Even when I was a kid and had a collection of Disney records!
Now I know the words.....