Yesterday, for the first time since Sunday, I got home early enough to take a walk around and enjoy the yard. In the two days since Sunday, the yard has started the green up thing.The crocuses have been bringing me hope since March, but now you can see the daffodils (I think) starting up, too. Weirdly, a couple crocus bulbs seem to have been upended, so I stuck them back in. I should water them to give them at least a bit of a chance.
I missed seeing these last spring, and had forgotten how many different colors I'd put in (mixed bulb bag). Now I want to put in a lot more, because a little patch here and there isn't enough! In my yard fantasy, I have something blooming all season long. But in reality, I have a tendency to plant a lot of early blooming stuff because I'm so desperate for spring.
Two summers ago, I planted a couple forsythia at the side of the house where there was nothing really interesting. It's not a side of the house that's easy to see from anywhere except the neighbor's yard, pretty much (or my own), but still, I wanted something there. But last spring, of course, I wasn't here, so I've never seen these bloom. They'd probably look more promising in front of a dark backdrop, and without cages, but a good many of my plants live in cages because otherwise the rabbits kill them with alacrity. (And even so, the deer trim the tops.)
But best of all are the Tamaracks! They have these lovely soft green needles all summer, but then the needles turn bright yellow in fall and drop. All winter, they look like Charlie Brown's Christmas special.And then in April, they start to bud, and little bits of green start to show, the needles beginning to grow. And tiny bits of pink here, too. I think those are the parts that will become the little cones.
I put the Tamaracks in the first summer I moved here, along with a couple of pine trees (in different places). The pines have probably doubled in size, but the Tamaracks seem to be growing very slowly.
All this, and it's mid-April and spring has come bringing joy to the Northwoods!
QED.
(Photographing plants up close, I really need to think about getting a lens for doing such things, so that I can get more of the picture in focus.)
I'll have to disagree with you today. The weather is beautiful here - sunny, warm, the whole deal. Sadly, the outside world is also swarming with marauding bloodsucking insects that attack the moment I step outside.
ReplyDeleteI'm stuck inside staring out at the warm sunshine, wanting to go out but fearful of the swarm. That is a cruel cruel April.
Oh, our crocuses have just come up and what a difference it makes in my mental outlook. The grass may be sere and yellow. Rills of snow still lurk under bushes, but there is hope again!
ReplyDeleteApril is the cruellest month?..not so much here in Florida. I find July merciless.
ReplyDelete[Sigh] It snowed here this week; the high today crept into the 50s. Next week is supposed to be warmer, but so far spring in northern Utah has been a long, slow tease. I've hardly even been out on my bike! Take comfort in knowing that there are places in the US where winter is longer and more bitter than in the northwoods...
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