New Flowers this week

There are many new things blooming and lots of things budding and pushing up shoots.  The warm weather this week is making Spring come quickly.  Just hope everyone stays careful until after the possible frosts we will be having next week.  But the rains we expect will be a good thing.

Daffodils and Bloodroot.  Had both in the yard for many years.

Not sure what these blue bulbs are.   The pink flowers are one type of Pulmanaria   And Forsythia of course.

 

There are also several Frogs in and around the pond so far.  No singing yet, but they do hang out on the cattail pot every day. 

Update a day later:  The frogs sang all night last night, and today there are at least twice as many in the pond.  Three pairs are hitched together, and soon I think we’ll have a lot of frog eggs in the shallow water.  The fish are already excited! 

Spring Marches on Quickly

Since the challenge of keeping something in bloom once the Winter Aconite started, there has been little challenge.  It has been such a warm gentle spring that things are just jumping up and into full bloom, sometimes faster than I can keep up with them.  Was away for a week last week, and the change in the yard was unbelievable.  The crocuses have bloomed and are done.  Daffodils are fully out now, some even past prime.  Tulips, Hyacinth, Squills, Grape hyacinth, all emerging. 

The Bloodroot came up, bloomed, and is done, pretty much all while I was in the hospital.  There is a single Trilium coming up next to the clump.  And Forget-me-nots are blooming there too, though I never planted them.  The Marsh Marigold has a single blossum, at least it comes up each year.  Forsythia is pretty much done, though it may have lasted longer if we didn’t have the 5 inch snow a week and a half ago.  Many Pulmanaria around the yard are blooming, as are the Pasque flowers.  Prairie Smoke is beginning, and so are the Darwin Tulips in the first berm.  Snowdrops have come and gone.  Shooting star is just getting ready to burst forth.  And I think the Japanese Lilac will be next. 

We had fresh asparagus from the garden for dinner tonight.  Not a lot, but enough to whet our appetites for more.  Also fresh chives for the baked potato, and a little mint just to smell nice.  And the frogs are singing in either our pond or the neighbors each night.  Hope we get tadpoles again this year.

It is surely good to be home.  Going to be difficult to keep up with all the changes in the next few weeks, but most things can make it on their own.  I poke around doing tiny jobs, and ask Bill to do the big things.  He’s also painting the house this spring, so he’s busy for sure.  Not sure when the garden will be plowed, but we are really still at least a month out from major planting time.  I should be able to do more by then, I hope.  

Desert Dry

There has been no measurable rain here in over 7 weeks.  It is very dry.  The grass is totally brown, with a few specks of green here and there.  Most of the rest of the perennials have dried up terribly.  I water the vegetable garden, and some of the pots and gardens around the deck and front porch.  But, most things are just going down.  They will not likely die, or at least most of them won't.  But it will not be a good year for any.

The Bufo americanus tadpoles are growing, some faster than others.  They grow legs and emerge as young toads only a few at a time.  I wonder if there is some sort of pheromone or hormone in the water that the mature ones exude to keep the others immature.  In any case, they really emerged in the small rain we had this evening.  I found them all over the leaves of the floating plants in the pond.  They've been hiding in the crevices, and sometimes getting caught in a low moisture situation that is deadly to them.  There are more than a few tadpole shapes dried up on leaves of the water lily.  But tonight they are happy.  That is nice.

Robins, Swallows, Tadpoles, Near Fullness...

It never ceases to amaze me how fast things happen once the spring really comes in. We haven't had a night below freezing for a couple of weeks, and it doesn't look like we will for this season (knock on wood).

The toads singing in the pond joined together and produced an amazing number of eggs, which now are clumped up in the shallow end of the pond. I took a few into the house in a large vase, and those have matured faster, probably because of the higher temperatures inside. They are swimming around a little. Outside, the ones in the pond are still in rows, not yet emerged from their gelatinous casings. But I bet they will do better in the long run.

Bill was off on Monday, so we had a three day work week. We got a lot done. Friday I cut the lawn after a couple of hours of yard work. Saturday was cold and rainy, so we shopped some and found some Rhododendrons for the front garden. I had been to Fernau's on Friday, and already had broccoli and leeks and onions to plant whenever the garden was ready.

Sunday we worked very hard. In the front garden we divided the grasses, a huge job. Once all of them were replanted, smaller and ready to be vigorous, we put in the three Rhododendrons that we bought Saturday. That doesn't sound like much, but it took most of the day. We did find time to work on straightening up the stem of the corner Juniper in the evergreen garden. The view of it from the house has been distracting for some time, and I hope we can successfully straighten it up.

Monday, Bill revved up the roto-tiller, and to my amazement it started on the first pull (though Bill later told me he had been working on it and trying to start it for some time before I came to be the anchor weight for a full-out pull.) I don't know that it has ever started that well. I pruned bushes, tried to pull the dead stuff out from the Alpine Clematis on the gazebo, watered plants, took out dead branches from the Hydrangeas on the east side of the hou se. Once Bill was done with the tilling, I planted the broccoli, leeks and onions in the new garden. Bill brought out the outer hose, and we got it strung out under the yard t hrough the PVC tunnel out to the island. Then he brought out the screens and put most of them up, with a tiny bit of help here and there from me.

We won (bought) a very nice plant stand for the deck at the Rotary Shines event last Tuesday. I've got the cacti out on it right now, but I don't think they will be the final sum mer residents. It is very pretty, and I look forward to seeing it later on.

This week I brought the Rex Begonias up from the basement, and put them out on the front porch. The planters are ready, and I will put them in shortly, I think. All of the basement plants, except for a couple of begonias I'm keeping safe just in case, are up and out now. And most thinks are out of the kitchen and living room also.

Newly Blooming this week: Jack in the Pulpits, Rhododendrons, birch, willow, Tulips!, Prairie Smoke, Apples, Serviceberry, Choke Cherry, Lungwort, Trilliums, Violets, Potentillia, Grape hyacinth, Ninebark, Bleeding Heart, Forget-Me-Nots, Magnolia, Marsh Marigold, Primrose, geranium sanguineum, Bergenia cordifolia, ....

I'm so happy to find the Forget-me-nots, given to me a number of years ago by Marsha Dawson. They tend to grow where they want to grow, and not necessarily where I choose to plant them. These have migrated from the garden to the woods, but they are coming up each year somewhere. Never can count on them, but can't forget them either.

Sprouting newly this week: Liatris, Joe-Pye Weed, Japanese Maple, Hostas coming on big time, Butterfly Weed, Russian Sage, Dill weed seedlings, Cleome seedlings, Leaves of the ninebark, ash, and many other trees, Oh, pretty much everything is showing signs of life.

Things are speeding up, and now is the time I wish things would slow down so I could enjoy every minute of the changes. I do love the growing season.