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Saturday, April 11, 2015

Signs of Life

Spring, in all its fickle glory, has arrived in northern Illinois.  The earth is slowly coming back to life after our long, snowy winter.  Spring flowers are beginning to bloom, trees are budding, and the grass is greening up.  Despite the general greening, there are still dead leaves hanging around from last fall, which drive me crazy.  You'll see some in the picture below.  We rake multiple times in the fall, and I have been raking and hand gathering leaves for two weeks, and they just keep appearing.  Maybe once we mow the grass, the remaining leaves will be gone.

I love spring.  It's such a joy to be back in the garden.  One of my favorite things in our spring yard is the carpet of blue flowers under the hackberry tree.  They are quite common in our neighborhood, and I believe they are Siberian squill.  Whatever they are, I adore them.


Here is a close-up view of the squill.


I always have big dreams for the garden in the spring.  This year, it's adding birdhouses (One is already built and put up!  I'd show you a photo, but we knocked off a design we saw on the internet, and it turns out, it is a copyrighted design.  Oops.), and putting in mulch paths in some very shady areas where grass just will not grow.  We'll see how much I actually get done.  In the meantime, I hope the weather is nice wherever you are.


    

16 comments:

  1. Those little flowers are so pretty.. I've never heard of them! Lucky you to have them all over. ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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  2. Your house is beautiful and my favorite color is yellow! I'm thinking you might be living in my dream home! I've never heard of those flowers but they are so pretty. Where do you live in Northern, Illinois? I'm from Hanover which is near Galena. Were you close to the storm that hit Fairdale, IL?

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  3. Those squill flowers are gorgeous. I don't think I've ever seen them before. So sweet!

    Judy

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  4. WOW! Your house is BEAUTIFUL! I just love the style and everything. I would love an inside tour.
    I just love the flowers...gorgeous under that amazing tree.
    xx oo
    Carla

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  5. It gladden my heart to see the spring flowers, our garden is bursting with life, and yes still picking up leaves too

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  6. I adore them too and have never seen anything like that. We have some random wildflowers that comeback each spring. They remind me of African violet flowers.

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  7. The 'squill' is pretty. Reminds me a little of our gorgeous ground-cover (Vinca Minor--called Periwinkle)... The flowers are different but the color is similar. They are so pretty around our yard in Spring.

    Congrats on getting some birdhouses. My son just wrote me this morning sending pictures of the Bluebird family who is checking out their new Bluebird House they put up recently. They are SO excited to see Bluebirds.

    Have a wonderful Sunday.
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  8. I can see why you love those dainty blue flowers. Beautiful. Warm and windy here in Minnesota today and I was out cleaning leaves from flowerbeds. Finally, spring seems to be here. I hope. But given this is Minnesota, I don't ever fully believe it until we reach Memorial Day (when we have had snow, too).

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  9. I too love those beautiful blue flowers! Happy Spring!

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  10. Happy Spring! Nothing better than when the Earth warms up and beautiful flowers appear. Enjoy.
    Meredith

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  11. Hi there! We get a carpet of little purple violets in our backyard in late spring, but unfortunately, they're a weed. Oh well, at least it's a pretty weed! I'm in northern IL, too. Have I discussed that with you before? I don't remember. I will email you privately about that. :-) Love your house - bet it has lots of charm.

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    1. PS - my computer is acting up...when I click on your email link in your profile, it tries to open AOL desktop for some reason. I haven't had AOL for my email in years! So if you want to email me instead, I'm at melriley62@gmail.com.

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  12. Spring must be so welcome after all that whiteness from the winter. The blue flowers are just gorgeous. How lovely to have so much colour in your garden xx

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  13. I have never seen these pretty little blue flowers before – I guess we don’t get them in the South. We do get a blanket of violets though, and they are pretty too. Right now our big azalea bushes are in full bloom and they bring so much color to our backyard. Thanks for coming to my blog.

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  14. The little blue flowers are very dainty looking. Up close, they look like little fairies dancing with their skirts swirling around them!

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  15. What gorgeous blooms! I wish you well in your garden pursuits this season. :-)

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