Easter = Spring

Happy Easter! I am enchanted by all things spring in my neighborhood right now. The grass is so green you would think it is not real, and trees are starting to explode in leaves.

As you are facing the house, this is on the left, but I'm looking down the hill at the three new allium I planted in fall, plus the foxgloves and anemones returning for action.

This is a previously planted allium but what's interesting is that behind it, there is a single stalk of an allium that did come up and bloom last year - but it has no leaves this year. Wonder what happened, and will it bloom?

Apparently I should have pruned the baptisia to the ground last year. Must get on it now!

The backyard hydrangea starting to leaf, and the ever-reliable bleeding heart, which will probably perish when work begins on the yard.

Daffodils close to the house.

Daffodils along the back wall of the back yard, planted my first year in the house and returning strong! Not all of them did so.

These may be the only hens and chicks that survived the winter.

I am still hoping these are self-sown Larkspur in the foreground - also note the healthy-looking allium transplanted from the back yard!

Hydrangea and mystery weeds.

Remember I was worried this peony wouldn't come back? Wonder if it will bloom this year, unlike last year?

Lilac is preparing to bloom

Glorious lungwort in the back plot, about to be displaced with our planned yard work.

This phlox patch grows every year, to my delight

Robust poppies, but not sending up any flower stems yet

These very little purple-flowered weeds (a violet variety, perhaps?) are scattered around the back yard and we like them

This is one site of the seedlings we transplanted earlier this month from our mini-greenhouses. Frankly they were too little to transplant but the timing of our vacation last week was such that I thought we might as well stick them in the ground and see what happened. I bet a few of them will make it.

Another seedling site

The foot of one of the back yard trees. I like this scene. Kind of fairy-friendly.

The perennial tulips are returning!

The viburnum is blooming beautifully. Both bushes.

Garden happenings

Things have been veritably shooting up out of the ground lately, aided by vast amounts of both rain and sun. I mowed the back yard for the first time on April 30, and it was already very tall (and is in desperate need of another mow). The Ramos team finally mowed our front yard for the first time on May 8, seriously overdue.

Yesterday I bought $45 worth of herbs, anemone, and creeping phlox at the Maplewood Garden Club plant sale but have not yet put them in the ground.

The baptisia was starting to bud on May 1 and has actually grown a lot in the 10 days since then

The bleeding heart started blooming around May 1 (date of this photo) and is still blooming

This is my new peony on May 1, the one I thought wasn't going to appear. It's a lot smaller than my established peony but nonetheless wonderful.

Viburnum and creeping phlox on May 1

Tulips on May 3. Very pleased with these perennial tulips; I hope they really do return.

May 4. Daffodils at their peak.

May 4

May 4

I finally got the remaining seedlings from the mini-greenhouses into the ground. From left to right, I put in Larkspur, allium, and foxgloves (which had really tiny seedlings - prob better to direct sow). I also put in the pepper seedlings in a spot closer to the house, between Emma's other plantings.

Sweet peas on May 4. I am delighted with these - they look so healthy and eager to climb!

The pepper seedlings went into the middle between Emma's patches of flowers, on May 4.

Tulips on May 4. They probably peaked around May 7ish. Lovely.

This and all below are from today

The cherry blossoms blew across the street from a neighbor's house!

Garden happenings

Most of the mini-greenhouses are now sporting little sprouts, the exceptions being foxgloves and peppers.

Allium

Gypsophila

Sweet pea

Also, everything else around the yard is looking stupendous and full of promise.

Magnolia

Alliums in the front yard

Perennial tulips... please don't let them get eaten before blooming!

April 19, 2017

Side-by-side comparisons of the front at this time of year are below. There were more daffodils than I remembered that didn't make it back this year, but the main takeaway is that everything else looks a little behind this year - no surprise whatsoever, given that spring only just showed up. Note the viburnum already blooming this time last year.

April 18, 2018

Finally, yesterday I saw an Eastern Towhee (bird) in the bush, and today a pair of chickadees made an appearance.