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Monday, April 29, 2013

Spring Changes

One of the most interesting things about spring is that there is constantly something new. Plants and wildlife are changing daily. While I'm quite ready for the grackles to move along, I always wish the bleeding hearts would last a bit longer. These and some other flowers last such a short time, it is important to get out and appreciate them every day!





This year, a pair of ducks have decided they really like my bird feeders. They must be nesting in the not-really-a-pond messy hole in my neighbor's yard. The rest of the birds and the squirrels do not seem happy with the intrusion. The red-wing blackbird stood on top of the feeder pole and squawked until I gently encouraged the ducks to head out.






Around the flower beds and veggie gardens, the perennials are starting to show. The Mountain Fire Pieris is shifting from its early spring white flowers to its summer show of red leaves.
mountain fire pieris in flower
mountain fire pieris going red
redbud
Violets are all over the yard and the beds. I'm okay with that! I don't treat my lawn, I welcome the violets and clover. The dandelions are not my favorite, but the whole neighborhood is again covered in a bumper crop, so I suppose it is time to start putting them in salads. Or wine.


Last year, my fellow-gardener neighbor gave me a baby lilac. She was very happy today when I could report to her that it is indeed blooming! Her whole side yard is full of them, and the scent is wonderful right now.


almond

apple buds
apple blossoms
Lots more budding and peeking out. By tomorrow, even more! Check back...
Easter lilies

azalea buds

hawthorne

maple

oak leaf hydrangea

peonies

peonies

Friday, April 12, 2013

Spring is Here!

Spring is here - with its typical roller coaster of hot and cold weather. 80+ on Wednesday, 50-ish today. That's okay with me. Confusing, but okay! What to wear, what to wear? Susan Hill says that "gardening is [one of] the most optimistic and hopeful" of human activities. I would go a step further and say that spring really is the most optimistic of the gardening seasons. Perennials return and annuals re-seed even in the midst of the unpredictable and oftentimes inhospitable weather. So many worry about whether the crocuses and daffodils will survive a bit of snow. Leave them alone, I say, they've been doing this for millennia without our help and they'll do fine again this year.

from late March...
I put the rain barrels out this week, hopefully for good. They'll be okay with no hard freezes.

Meanwhile, spring flowers and cool-weather crops are making their appearances. Peas finally came up. A little slow, but there will be peas yet! Lettuce and radishes beat them to the sunlight by about a week. The rhubarbs the mowers didn't destroy by mistake are back. Maybe this year I can keep it from bolting and get enough for a pie...




horseradish

lilac

peony

pieris

radishes

redbud

blueberries

raspberries

bleeding hearts

forsythia


peas!




redwood

rhubarb

sedum


weeping willow