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.

    

More Signs of Spring

The weather has cooled off lately and returned to more normal springtime temperatures, and the spring flowers are loving it.  My bleeding hearts are not quite as tall or as bushy as in previous years; I think the quick warm-up and then cool-down might have confused them, but the blooms are still as lovely as ever.

Our bluebells are also in full bloom.  We have lots of bluebells along the property line with our neighbor on the west side.  In fact, they are really kind of like weeds.  Most years, I pull the dead blooms off to keep them from setting seed, but they still spread like crazy.  They grow out of the stone wall, in the lawn, and have even migrated to a spot in the front yard under our hackberry tree.  Luckily, they are a pretty pest!

I love how the buds are pink before they open.

I hope spring is beautiful wherever you are!

Springtime

Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love! -- attributed to Sitting Bull

Spring doesn't officially arrived until March 20, but I decided that spring came to my little corner of the world yesterday. It has been freakishly warm in northern Illinois for mid March.  The grass is beginning to green.  And yesterday several things came together in the universe to create SPRING.

back door pansies

First, Lowe's began selling pansies -- two weeks before they originally planned to stock them.  I know the original date because I am like a drug addict for pansies in the spring.  I've been calling everywhere to find my pansy fix.  Pansies are probably my favorite flower.  Yesterday I stopped by Lowe's to make a return, and [trumpets sound] there were pansies!  Two days before, a garden center employee had all but wagged a finger at me as she told me that it was still too early and uncertain to plant pansies. Luckily, someone above her in the chain didn't agree.  Many years I focus on purples and blues with maybe some yellow mixed in.  This year I went for the whole cornucopia of color.  I put my pansies in pots all by themselves.  I've heard the whole thing about a thriller, a spiller, and Phyllis Diller (ok, not Phyllis Diller), but I really like a simple, one-flower look.  They look a little bedraggled now from the transplanting, but they'll be gorgeous in no time.  That is, if the squirrels leave them alone.  I went out a couple of hours after planting and some of the back door pansies were already on the ground.  A squirrel had dug in to search for a nut he must have buried there in the fall.

front porch pansies

Second, while I was potting up my pansies, I saw my first pair of robins.  Robins are a sure sign of spring.  The house finches and mourning doves are also back.  Third, the forsythia buds are getting fat and heavy, ready to burst into bloom before too long.

forsythia buds

Yep, more pansies, but see the
cocoa shell mulch behind the pot?

I continued with yard clean-up yesterday, raking and bagging up leaves and debris. After raking walnut leaf stems from the side of the garage, I decided to reward myself with some cocoa.  No, not to drink.  I had half a bag of cocoa shell mulch left over from last year, so I spread it on the hosta bed by the garage.  I think I've mentioned cocoa mulch before, but it is worth talking about again.  Honey child, I do love cocoa mulch! Even the leftover mulch released the faint aroma of chocolate.  I'll need to pick up some fresh bags; then I can just stand by the flower beds and breathe.


Finally, my earliest daffodils opened up.  For me, that makes it official.  If the daffodils are blooming, it must be spring.

Ah, spring!