Spring Time Mystery

Since we moved into our new house at the end of November we are seeing spring time for the first time. Every bloom is a new mystery for us, and certainly a learning experience as I am completely ignorant when it comes to horticulture. Today as we played in our yard, I decided to make my next blog entry an opportunity for people to help me identify what some of our blooms are.

I could not resist posting a picture of our little papoose playing in our front yard. Yes I know it's bad enough we have the ugliest house on the the street (I am not joking when I say ugliest), but we have our toys in the front yard. We'll change that eventually once our grass comes in some more. She's playing on my consignment sale bargain. I paid $5.00 for that entire setup.

This view is of our backyard. You may remember that this area was a mess after we removed the concrete slab. We had a lady with a company called "A Girl and Her Tractor" level out the yard and plant rye grass. Most of the brown you see is the hay she laid to shade the seed for better germination. It was a bit late to germinate, but we are very pleased with it's appearance. She did a fantastic job, although I was a little skeptical of hiring a women in this field. I will never again underestimate a woman in a male dominated industry, she did a knock out job!!! We'll eventually build out an outdoor space, but that will be much later down the line.

The two mysteries to us are the below pictures:

The tree to the left we thought was an Oak Tree, but to our surprise it's something else. These trees are pretty popular in Atlanta, but are a complete mystery to us. The bloom is best described as a red ball with tentacles coming out of it.

The yellow bush, I just noticed today as I was taking pictures. I was just wishing I had one as I was driving home, and low and behold I DO!!!!! It's on the other end of our property near the AT&T substation (that I just love) which is why I had overlooked it. Any ideas what it could be?

Finally the last picture is of a rose tree that we have in the yard. The blooms seem a little sad, but I think it's been neglected for so long. My goal is to trim it well at the end of the season, and see if they bloom a little more brilliant next year.