My First Washington Favorites

My first love of Washington flared when in the middle of January, the first January of my WA citizenship, I looked out my kitchen window while doing the daily, never-ending task of cleaning up after mealtime. Towards the back fence of my yard there was a tree-bush (picture a lilac tree, you know - not for climbing but has pretty flowers) with a flower blossoming. In the middle of January! That was when I knew I was in the right place. We might have our gray days and we might have a near-constant drizzle six months at a time, but we have blossoms in January and I'll keep it!

The other picture is of a little plant I discovered. It is very hearty and has lived through some really cold temperatures (cold for WA, you know - 25 degrees or so). I can't remember the exact name, but it is a shade plant herbovore or something like that.

As you can probably guess, some years (like this one), my blossoms don't come till Feb 1st, that's OK. It still makes me happy.