May week 1

It seems like this was a week of missed opportunities. I was out of town for part of the week and when I got back Ifound I had missed a couple of my favorite blooms. There's a beautiful specimen of golden chain tree behind the sorority houses on Richmond Road. It's not very common this far south. It must have bloomed about a week earlier than last year. I also missed the blooms of the umbrella magnolias in the woods behind Bassett Hall. Oh well, here's a bit of what I did see:

On my way to look for the umbrella magnolias, I took a stroll down the long axis leading from the back yard of Bassett Hall into the woods to take a look at collection of rhododendrons that line the path.

Elsewhere in CW:
I came across these yellow-flowered bushes blooming in the parking lot. I'm not sure what they are...any ideas?

These sweetspires were blooming in the same parking lot.
Along the Palace Green, the catalpas were in bloom.

At the Custis Tenement, there was a lovely display of foxglove and sweet William.
In the CW nursery:
baptisia,

love in a mist,

and amsonia.

Out in some nearby woods I found another patch of umbrella magnolias, all small saplings,

as well as the pale blooms of hearts-a-bursting,

rattesnake weed,

some naturalized oxeye daisy,

and the tiny double flowers of partridgeberry.

The rest of my pictures from the first week of Mar are on flickr.