it's hard to keep up...

firespray (praestans tub. var.)

white star magnolia

forsythia

azalea

magnolia

bleeding heart

beautiful day...

Today is my 43rd birthday. It was a really beautiful day - not sure what the high temp was, but it was pretty hot.

We worked outside all day...from around noon until 8pm. Still not done. In the morning only the one set of tulips and the one daffodil had bloomed. By the end of the day, you wouldn't believe how many things had bloomed.

Even the little flower buds on the lilacs are starting to show some color.

Here's some pictures from this evening - a little dark. I tried to lighten them up a bit.

firsts...

Can you tell me the name of these...some kind of violet?

First Tulip to come out

First Daffodil

I call these glories of the snow...but I really don't know

still snowing...

for the record...

Snowed last night - still snowing. We have about 4 inches on the ground with another 4 or so predicted. Flower anxiety hits!

what to look for in april...

In April, these are the flowers in my garden that we need to watch for since this is the month that they begin to bloom:

Daffodils
Glories-of-the-snow
Primroses (primula vulgaris)
Forsythias
Tulips
Greater Periwinkle (vinca major)
Azaleas
Ground phlox (pholx subulata)
Lilacs
Magnolia
White star magnolias
Forget-me-nots
Bleeding heart

disaster...

The sweet little bunnies ate ALL my crocuses on the side of the house! I guess the fox urine washed away with the rain and snow. Note the carnage.

I have to make sure they stay away from the ones under the bushes in front because I noticed yesterday that there are two white crocuses coming up…I’ve never seen the white ones before – the bunnies usually eat them before they get this big.

for the record...

snowed last night - not much, but it stuck.

say it with pictures...

I think this garden blog is going to have mostly pictures :) I mean, there's not much else to say other than what I can show you in a photo.

Top two are Siberian Squill (I love that they are blue!) and the bottom of course is (giant) Crocus.

Squill are like Bluebell, only they come out sooner are are a deeper blue. Squill are supposed to spread like mad.

uneaten crocuses...

I am using Deer & Rabbit Repellent to keep them away. It's working and I think this is the first year that I've seen so many crocuses under the front bushes.

If you look close, you can see a little bee at work.

scary garden...

Jerome says this looks like Cousin Itt.

getting smaller...

the last bit of snow...

...aka; snirt.

Dirty and ugly, but it's the last bit in our yard. Let's hope it stays that way!

crocus, tulips and squill - oh my!

Today doing the ritual walk around I noticed one tulip head! This should NOT be. I think it's really going to be a retarded tulip (I know from last year that we have many).

There are already squill starting to show thier heads...and many at that.

(This photo is from 3 30 2008. This years Squill look like this today - 10 days earlier!)

Crocuses under the front bushes are all purpley and just about to bloom. I really hope the rabbits don't get to them before I can see just how beautiful they can be.
(This is how my crocuses looked last year after the dreaded bunnies!!!)

mild weekend...

This was the first weekend with very mild temperatures. We were able to get out of the house on Saturday and Sunday and work in the yard.

Jerome used a sawzall and cut up the garage door into pieces. The garage door has been sitting at the side of the driveway since Christmas waiting to be cut up so we can take it to the scrap yard. We're planning on rebuilding the garage this spring/summer. He brought the ladder out and took down the Christmas lights along the front of the house. He hung the historic plaque. He raked the front yard and burned the twigs and leaves.

I cleaned up the leaves all around the house and got halfway up one side of the driveway. There is still so much to do. This was a 5 Bextra and two nights of the heating pad weekend.

You wouldn’t believe all the growth! Many, many, many crocuses, tulips, squill and daffodils are coming up through the still frozen ground.

The weather is still supposed to be very nice the rest of the week, so maybe we’ll be able to get the majority of leaves up so that the plants can start coming through. It’s really early to get all of this done, so I’m very happy that the weather cooperated this weekend and we were able to get so much accomplished.

I’m sure we’re still in for some cold weather and even some snow. The last two years we had snow in mid-April. But it is so nice to have put a dent in the work so early.

We were also able to take a small walk up the new path that the county has just finished. They took apart the old railroad tracks and created a biking and walking path. We walked for about a half hour ~ 45 minutes. A lot of people were out there with their bikes or walking their dogs. It was so nice.

Saw the first robin of Spring!

what to look for in march...

In March, these are the flowers in my garden that we need to watch for since this is the month that they begin to bloom:

Crocuses
Running myrtle / periwinkle (vinca minor)
Siberian squill

the walk...

Yesterday we did the ceremonial first walk around the property to see if things are growing. We do this ritual daily every spring.

To our surprise, things are starting to come up!

We saw some crocus greens and some tulip tips coming up on the east side of the property. Along the west side; some daffodils.

It’s spring!

Look at my Smokey out in the c-c-c-c-cold...(I wanna come in mommy).

The tulips are from the bulbs we were given by the B&B hosts on Mackinac Island. Nice to see there is still a tulip in there since we planted around 100 of these things around the house last fall.

The azalea branch

missed opportunity...

It snowed again...big time. This is the snowiest winter I've seen in a very long time. Was going to cut some new forsythia branches either Saturday or Sunday, but it snowed and I not only don't like to walk in the tall, wet snow these days, but I don't like to leave footprints in fresh snow...for aesthetics.

The azalea branch is starting to bloom. I'm sure when I get home tonight, I will have at least one flower on the branch.

The little dwarf irises that I received from Ilene Lock last week, I left on my desk over the weekend and all the pretty flowers that bloomed last week are all dried up! Oh well...I'm pretty sure more will be blooming.

let the flowering begin...

The forsythia that I brought in a week ago Sunday has started blooming; meaning that the flowers are unraveling from their casings. Just a flower or two at the moment, but within a day or two, I’m sure the whole branch will be yellow.

The Azalea hasn’t shown much “growth” yet, but give it another week and I’m sure the blooms will begin.

The tulips and daffodils that I planted a couple of weeks back are also growing. The tulips are already over three inches tall and over the weekend I’ve noticed the tip of one daffodil. I’m not sure the other daffodil will bloom since I noticed when I planted it, the bulb was very light and dry, so it’s possible that it will not grow, since it may have died over the winter.

I find it interesting that the tulips are growing quicker than the daffodils since the latter is supposed to be one of the first to bloom in the spring; along with crocuses.

spring thaw...

Since we are experiencing some milder weather at the moment and a lot of the snow that was close to the house has melted, I decided to rake the leaves that were in the flower beds by the backdoor of the house. Usually these bulbs start growing earlier than any other because they are next to the south facing brick and get warmed up pretty quickly.

The first rake through, I noticed that ALREADY a tulip is poking his head out. When I cleared more leaves, it was amazing just how much growth was under there – everything is growing and quite a bit! I really hope that they survive now that I’ve gotten rid of their insulation. I guess it’s time that my spring flower “growing/dying anxiety” rears its ugly head. It’s just that last year it was nearly impossible to remove the leaves once the flowers started growing into them – the leaves veins would choke the greenery.

Yep, I just checked my gardening journal and I noticed them growing 2 weeks sooner than last year. Some are already over an inch high.

forcing...

It’s been just over a week since I’ve planted 2 tulip bulbs and 2 daffodil bulbs in a terracotta pot for forcing. I did what I was supposed to do; only accelerated. I had them in the cellar for a few days, then I put them in the cold dining room for a day, then moved them to a nice place in the sun in the living room. Noticed on Friday that I could see the top of one tulip poking through the soil. Last night one was over an inch tall and another one is poking his little head through the soil.

On Sunday I clipped a few forsythia branches and an azalea branch to bring into the house for forcing. In the past, forsythia took a week to bloom and azalea took 2 weeks.

Just trying to bring some Spring into the house.