signs of spring

A couple patches of green shoots are poking up through the leaves in the south bed. I'm not sure what the are yet, maybe chives. I'll investigate today.

Chives, tarragon, tulip tips, daffodils, and sedum uncovered from their winter blanket of leaves on the south side of the house.

Yay! Spring is showing it's beauty! And you sound like you love watching it unfold as much as I do, J_B.

I have a lot of snow crocus's up. But most of the signs around my house are within the animals. I have a pair of mallards that are hanging out at the pond and the male has been doin' some feather rufflin' :wink: I was outside last night and I could hear some spring peepers already. Starting to see a ton of different birds now. And I have a silly pheasant that has been trolling around my back yard. Well, actually - front yard too. But more the back. He seems like he's lost - or looking for a mate. :wink: My Dad said he was probably set lose cuz apparently a whole bunch were set free ... here and there in my county. He just doesn't seem to be afraid of too much. I always have to look for him before I let my labs outside.

I loveeeeeeeee this time of the year. But I also know Ohio. And as much as Spring is in the air - we are sure to get at least one more nasty snow in the month of March.

It was beautiful out today!!

Brooke--

Spring peepers. I miss spring peepers.

Spring fog and spring peepers--eerie, but delightful.

Oh Noddy, you sure got that right! When I was younger and still at home, I would sneak out at night and go fetch some of the spring peepers and bring them home. I just absolutely loved them!

In the middle of the night - someone would call out my name (generally my mom). Brroookkkklyyyyyyyynnn. *Uh-Oh* I be in trouble. Cause the peepers would still do their mating calls inside the house. And wake everyone up. I never got just one. I would catch as many as I could.

And it didn't matter, really, that I knew I was gonna get caught hiding the little peepers in the house. In my child's mind, it was all worth it.

I still love em'. Would miss em' dearly if I ever lived somewhere they weren't.

We're a ways away from peepers. Probably another month at least.

Brooke, we've had a pair of ducks in neighborhood for years. Every spring they would show up and stick around until things got too dry and then they would go to where ever it was they went to. Last spring, for the first time ever, they had babies - six of them. They were the most adorable little things. It was sad when they left in the summer. I'm hoping they'll all be back this spring.

That's what I thought too, for around here. I think this is the earliest I have ever heard them. I imagine the warm winter had something to do with it. I think they said it was the 3rd warmest winter on the record books. This morning before I took a shower, I took my coffee and went out on the deck barefoot and sat while watching nature waking up. And all I had on was a thin silk robe. Was plenty warm enough, at that. Even at that time of the morning. Unusually warm here. Wish it would last, but supposed to turn off cold by Tuesday.



Ahhhhh!! I would be thrilled if these Mallards would stick around and have babies!

Today I saw two dozen robins hopping around on a southern exposed lawn near the Twin Cities.

I was online very early this morning quietly reading and an unidentified songbird could be heard through the closed window.

The daffodils are ready to open, probably this weekend for sure. The ducks are back and we heard peepers one day last week when it was particularly warm.

Another sign of spring is that I'm ready to throw out my poinsettias!

The Dogwood Festival starts today!

I just saw a red tailed hawk flying past, carrying a very large "twig".

Hawks go for rustic decor.

sore muscles from digging in the dirt.

Irises popping up in the sand in the back yard..

I planted some of the daylilies I brought with me, so far so good, though I just near tossed them in the sand and said good luck. I plan on regrading the yard, so am basically tap dancing until I get that done and will transplant the daylilies and irises later. Brought a few irises with me, haven't planted them yet.

So, J_D, sedum makes it on the south side of the house with mulch in Chicago? Hmmmm. Sedum autumn joy is one of my faves..

I was given a bunch of iris bulbs last summer. I threw them in a couple spots and shrugged. I'm starting to see green tips.

Osso, yea sedum is everywhere, no mulch required. It's hardy down to zone 2 and very popular here. I'm glad you get to see something growing at the new house.

Good on eoe for digging. That's a good kind of pain.

Foxglove are poking through and the grass is finally greening.

signs of spring
(Go outside and look at the moon!)

I just came back from walking the neighborhood, and the moon is so large and beautiful...

It's been full-on summer here the last couple of days. Nothing like just walking out the door without having to put on a coat -- incredibly liberating.

It's been unusually warm here too, Soz. I raked out the garden bed on the north side of the house today. I'll have to wait a bit to see what eventually comes up, but I lost almost everything in last year's drought.

So far the beds on the south side are looking like I have about 50% recovery. I'm afraid to replant much (beyond the $$$$ of repurchasing and the effort of replanting it all at once) until I get a sense for what our water situation will be this year.

We've been sleeping with the bedroom windows open the last few nights. I've been waking up to the early morning sound of songbirds at daybreak, love it!

Shewolf, the full moon has been fabulous.

Oh, I have been loving spring in Oklahoma so far! We have had an unusual bit of warmth that doesn't ordinarily come til later I've been told. But I have been enjoying it very much!

Our new sod that was laid in January and very, very dormant at the time is all turning green and I get really jazzed about that! Pretty silly, huh?

I've been working on some plans for the entire yard landscape because all we really have right now is the grass and a bit of landscaping in the front of the house, some boxwood hedge babies, ornamental bamboo, some day lilies, a dwarf crape myrtle and some holly and other bushes that I don't know what they are.

Right now I am thinking of a full sun garden on one side of the house and a partial shade garden on the other side, both with lots of flowers and each with some sort of water feature, most likely fountain-like. In the back yard, I have room for about 8 fruit trees, a large area for some raised vegetable gardens, a gazebo, a grape trellis arbor that leads into the veggie garden, an Italian tile patio with a pergola overhead for outdoor dining, some limestone pathways and at the far rounded end of the tile patio, a firepit to settle around once the sun goes down. Lots of annuals and perennials, flowering bushes and multi-color greenery for added visual interest. I'll still have plenty of room for grass too and a real compost area! WooHoo!

As I mentioned on another thread methinks, its going to be at least a 3 year plan to get it all in place, but I am so excited. I've never been able to start from scratch before and I love outdoor gardening. Hehehe, all I have planted so far is some pansies in the planter boxes attached to the mailbox. It's a start! My hubby is such a love. He bought me a hedge trimmer the other day. Edward Scissorhands, watch out!

I'm so glad to hear you're enjoying it! I think you'll find gardening is really fun in Spring and Fall...the weather is great then. You probably won't want to work outside much from mid-June thru September. It's too hot. (Do whatever needs to be done early in the morning.)

Oh, and pansies are cool weather flowers. They can't take the heat. You plant them in the fall, and a lot of times they'll last all the way through the winter. Even through light snowfalls. But they fade out and die by June, so enjoy 'em while you can!

(The nurseries sell their leftover fall stock of pansies in the spring for people who need immediate color. Realtors, for example, love them for open houses.)

Did you tell me you're in the OKC area? I'm so sorry, I forgot.