More Flowering Going On!

It’s looking like keeping things blooming isn’t a big problem this year. The squils are popping up everywhere, though not yet fully emerged. 

Snowdrops in full bloom Last year the snowdrops got buried on the late April snow, but remained in bloom nonetheless.



Winter aconite just starting.

Crocuses, Snowdrops and Squills, OH MY!

All have arrived in the last week, along with the Winter Aconite and many sprouting bulbs of tulips, daffodils, alliums, etc.  Nice to see.

       

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.  

More Wet and Cold, with Better Times in Sight

The rhubarb is coming up, and I am anticipating the first taste of freshly made sauce soon. It's so dependable and hardy that we have no fear of cutting the earliest leaf stalks to taste the spring freshness. And the snowdrops have finally made their appearance. Usually the first flower, this year I had to watch and wait. I think it had something to do with the huge snowpile that covered them.

Two days ago, the cold rain started, and we had an inch of snow overnight. It is strange on the deck with the patio furniture already out. No way I'm going to shovel it.

This morning I got out early to take a shot of the water level in the creek. It was high, and I feared it would be much higher by tonight when I got home. But it really didn't change much here. The news report on as I write this is saying the rain/snow will continue though, so I can't relax yet. This is the closest to flooding that I've seen in quite a few years, though the first few years we lived here were much much worse. We'll hope for the best, and be thankful that the water tables are being replentished.