More on our little getaway to Brandywine Valley, PA.

Aren’t these tree blossoms lovely? I’ve never seen them before and thus can’t identify them. I pretty much know most of the plant names on the East Coast, but this one eludes me.

My sweet husband actually held the branch in place because the wind was blowing too hard for even the fastest shutter speed. Yes, he is a keeper. : )

You’ve probably guessed by now that I’m a little nutty for wisteria. I LOVE the color of this one! The shape is not typical and everyone who passed said, “Is that wisteria?” May be a rare type or just stunted because it was growing out of a pot.

OK, this qualifies for “strangest-looking beautiful plant” at Longwood Gardens. When I posted it on Flickr, I asked if someone could identify it for me. A very nice person enlightened me: Echium wildpretii or Tower of Jewels. Perfect name, yeah? I’ve seen the blue-violet, horizontal version of echium in California, but not this one.

It was soooo cold in Pennsylvania. 40s at night, 50s during the day. In May! I will be complaining about the heat and humidity soon enough. How it can be 15 degrees with four feet of snow and then 90 degrees and humid just four months later. I’m just not a fan of extremes.