southern spring flowers and seattle garden report

i just looked at the date on the short rib ragu post and realized it's been two full weeks since i've updated! i feel so negligent. i've been traveling-- first to south georgia to visit my fabulous family, and then to portland to visit some dear friends. meanwhile, i've barely even stepped into a kitchen! i'm looking forward to some cooking this week, so hopefully a couple of food posts are on the way! here are a few garden pics to pass the time until then. 

i arrived in my hometown just in time for peak azalea season. my parents' yard is FULL of azaleas and other flowers that they dug out of the yards of each of their parents, and they were gorgeous! just perfect. spring is wonderful anywhere, but in the south, it's absolute magic. 

the couple of iris in the back were spectacular. i love this color combination, the two purples with the yellow accent. so pretty. 

as an unexpected treat, my favorite aunt brought me a stack of old issues of bon appetit and gourmet! i've already started my list of recipes to try from the april and may issues. can't wait to get started!

back to seattle... one nice thing about leaving town for a week is that the progress made in the garden is so apparent when you return. here are our broccoli and cauliflower plants, and our long row of peas along the back. the ones going nuts on the far right are called "golden sweet edible pod." so far they are winning the race with the other climbing varieties, but we'll see who the real performers are when they start blooming and making peas. (i hope they all take me up on the offer to climb the sage sticks i gave them today instead of throttling the poor cauliflower starts...)

not all of the broccolis are doing as well, but the "italian green sprouting calabrese" is looking great. this variety supposedly makes a big broccoli head, like the ones in the grocery, so fingers crossed. i'd love to eat some big ol' broccoli from the backyard!

the salad bowl is going CRAZY. yeah, rob and i better get used to eating some serious salad, beginning tonight. might even need to have a giant salad party just to stay on top of this thing! 

alrighty, so that's about all i have to report for now. pretty flowers. climbing peas. promising brassicas. major-league salad greens. and since you're still here, another shot from my parents' garden-- an absolutely stunning dutch iris.