Friday, March 29, 2013

Blue Sky and No Snow!

It is an exciting day in March - 5 degrees above freezing, big blue sky, and the first blooms are soaking up the sunshine.

I watched and listened for insects, but did not find any.  I need to stay out there longer to welcome them.
     The plants indoors are enjoying the sunshine today.  Such as the wee seedlings of Japanese Umbrella Pine (Sciadopitys verticillata).
Spring is slowly creeping in.  Bit by bit.   It's this time of year I need to remember in the fall, when I could be buying and planting more early spring bulbs.  Every spring I say this to myself, and every fall I get frugal and lazy.  
What I do have I will enjoy today!

Monday, March 18, 2013

50th Post - Huddled Before Spring

Well, I've been garden blogging for one year, come spring.  Fifty posts... not bad, I'd say, especially considering the fact I pretty much ignored the blogosphere for the whole winter!  I'm still not quite sure why I started blogging.  Basically it was an impulse that came from 'garden fever,' and a lust for new and unusual plants that I was discovering by reading blogs.  
     Today is a cold day... didn't get above freezing, and the strong wind made it a bitter day.  But the sunshine is inspiring.  Outside, perennials and trees I started from seed last year are huddled in the garden plot, shielded by bags of leaves and branches from the Christmas tree.

As I peek at them, some look hopeful, others dead.  Above are two varieties of Eryngium, Sea Holly.  Don't ask what species. One looks like it's a gonner.  The other seems ready for resurrection.  Only time will tell.  I'm not a gambler, except when it comes to gardening.  We all wait with bated breath each spring for some of our treasures, don't we?
     With the cold today, snowdrops are closed and bowed, and crocus waits for warmth.  They would have surely been open today if it were not still so freezing cold.  One more batch of snow is due - tomorrow evening - before Spring begins!
Inside, today, the sunshine (and the pellet stove) make it summery. 

The Amaryllis, the Banana, and the 'Shamrocks' (Oxalis) wish us well with a vision of things to come.  

Friday, March 15, 2013

Snow and Snowdrops


The snowdrops (two out of three of them) are blooming.  And, though one crocus is heaved right out of the ground, the buds are growing.  

Muscari - Grape Hyacinth
Just in time for the snow today.  The long range forecast is giving 20-30 cm for Tuesday!  That prediction will surely change by then, for the better, I trust.  
Snowdrop in the snow
I've been so out of touch with blogs and blogging this winter... I just realized today is Garden Bloggers Bloom Day!
I hope something is in bloom where you are!

Friday, March 1, 2013

Practicing for spring

February 23
It was late February; it was time to get spring started!
February 23
I brought in some promising twigs from a forsythia out in the yard.
February 25
In not time at all, spring arrived!
February 27
I could have trimmed this bush more, and had heaps of blooms now!
February 27
This vase-full is a delight.  Perhaps I'll bring some more in for a mid March display.
February 28
By then, the outdoors will actually be blooming.


Galanthus nivalis, February 27, 2013
At least, there will be one snowdrop blooming by then!