Spring color

Last year I called my lawncare guy and told him, "I miss my clover" (said no one ever). We eliminated weed control from the program, and I now spot treat the random dandelion, mulberry, and nutsedge that crops up. A little clover is coming back with no help from me.

I would also like to see drifts of snow drops and other early bloomers in the lawn, which led me to this posting by the Laidback Gardener. In brief, he recommends very early bulbs that will be done by the first mow. I can probably fudge that limitation, since I mow high, at least 4".

• Bulbocodium (Bulbocodium vernum) (While listed as a spring bloomer, it actually blooms in summer; also, poisonous.)
• Crocus* (Crocus spp.) (I would limit these to early crocus like Crocus tommassinianus)
• Glory of the snow (Chionodoxa spp.)
• Narcissi (early varieties) (Narcissus spp.) (Too tall and not early enough around here, me thinks)
• Puschkinia (Puschkinia scilloides) (a.k.a. striped squill)
• Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis)
• Spring snowflake (Leucojum vernum) (tolerates boggy sites and pond edges)
• Squill (Scilla spp.)
• Winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis)

For me, I think tommies, glory of the snow, puschkinia, snowdrop, spring snowflake, squill, and winter aconite will do nicely in the lawn.

About the only spring bulbs I have left in my yard post-native install are crocus, daffodil, and grape hyacinth (plus one lonely purple hyacinth of unknown origin and a tulip that must be 30+ years old). When I walk the dog through a nearby neighborhood, though, I see beds full of pink hyacinth, which look delightful. My daughter has lots of what I think of as Narcissus in her beds, more delicate than my daffs. Even though none of these bloomers are considered native, I still love seeing all that early color. We'll see if my excitement carries over to fall planting.

Meanwhile, the serviceberry shrubs in the backyard have popped, while their tree-form cousins in the front yard are lagging behind. Today I saw a pair of cowbirds a-courtin' in a redbud which is also starting to bloom, a bit early.

While listening to something on NPR the other day, a glacier expert commented that "climate change" should be renamed "climate weirdness". That pretty much sums it up, as we had more hail this past week, followed by an 80-degree day yesterday. Today it is just windy, too windy to enjoy the yard. Even the dog wants to stay inside.

Ex caliper

In the past, I have judged tree growth by how tall the said tree grows. Another way to determine how well one's trees are faring is to measure the diameter of the trunk. So today, using a not-very-sufficient caliper, I measured the oak (1 3/4") and the hickory (9/16") trunks. Hopefully, I will remember to do this every year.

What makes it feel like spring to you? For me, it is daffodils, forsythia, magnolias, and the greening of the grass. The lawn looked a bit raggedy, so I mowed today. I'm also still messing around with the arborvitae detritus.

A trip around the yard reveals more signs of spring.

Prairie Fire Crabapple

Hyacinth

Blue Star

I had to look up that last plant, as it is new and something I am unfamiliar with. The new growth is black, which is a surprise.

Some sad news: One of my garden blogger friends passed away, Jason of gardeninacity. I'm not sure how I came to follow his informative and enlightening blog, but through that venue I was able to visit his garden during a tour in that area. He and his wife Judy were also frequent attendees of the Garden Bloggers Fling, which inspired me to attend when it was in Minneapolis. Jason and his blog will be sorely missed.

A little pop

Now that the temps have risen to near June-like 80's, shrubs and trees are starting their spring show. The neighborhood magnolias are gorgeous, as are those all over town; last night's rain may have ended that show prematurely. The ornamental pears have magically popped as well, which is a mixed blessing as they are proving to be invasive. My completely unscientific observation is they spread to relatively open undeveloped land but not to mature woods. Has anyone else noticed this?

In my own yard, the serviceberry has popped. Some years it fails to bloom due to late frosts, but despite the erratic weather we have had, it patiently held on. Mine has never fully recovered from rabbit girdling its first year, hence its lack of height.

The grape hyacinth has made it's return. Started elsewhere in the front yard, it spread to the yucca bed. I recently did away with the yucca (or at least made a first attempt) and hope the grape hyacinth takes its place, as it's a harbinger of spring and a low-growing ground cover the rest of the summer.

Some people don't like violets in their beds, but I am not one of them. There are also some Johnny-jump-ups elsewhere but getting a photo of them would have required more agility than I have as they are growing under the elderberry behind some hardware cloth. (I don't know if rabbits eat elderberry, but I have lost too many plants and shrubs over the years to take a chance.) This pic also show a bit of columbine starting to show above ground.

Besides the pink hyacinth under the purple smoke bush, there are white ones behind the barberry. I have no explanation for this "hidden garden" other than I thought the white would be a nice contrast to the dark barberry. The barberry is being removed, to give the gold mop more room, plus it is another invasive (one I have not noticed in the wild... yet).

Some of the daffs are done already, but others continue to brighten the landscape. Too many daffs are never enough.

Yellow isn't the only color of daffodil around here. I think this was marketed as a "pink" daffodil, but was not quite what I (nor the catalog) pictured. I still like them.

One of these days the redbud will pop. Meanwhile, the trees are starting to leaf out, even the Prairie Fire crabapple I planted this year in the backyard. Hopefully, those leaves will turn into branches, as right now it mostly resembles a stick.

For the record, my order from Prairie Nursery arrived intact but with no forewarning. The plants look really robust. One flat of coneflower, one of rubekia, one of butterfly weed (for clay), and one of mixed this-and-that. Not pictured: a one gallon pot of Culver's Root. Guess what I will be doing for the next couple of weeks.

April showers and a few flowers

My SO and I were in Kansas City last week, where we thought there might be some signs of spring. No such luck, except for a magnolia. On our way out of town, I spotted some daffodils and forsythia. A winter weather advisory for the region was on our heels.

Not much blooming at home, either. The earliest clump of daffs are showing but the rest are lagging behind. The pink hyacinth are also blooming. I gave up on crocus because of rabbits but they keep trying to make an appearance, along with something I don't know the name of.

While surveying the yard, I discovered the bark is peeling off my 'Winter King' hawthorn tree. Yikes! But some research reveals that this is normal, part of the tree's winter interest. Whew!

The seedlings (that I planted WAY too early - most are large enough for transplanting) survived my absence although it looks like a certain someone did not water them. Right before I left, a few items arrived from Gurney's and Breck's: one 'Prairie Fire' crabapple tree, two red penstemon crowns, and three 'Lucifer' crocosmia corms. I was a little worried about the crabapple, as it needed to get in the ground before it broke dormancy, but I had no choice but to wait. I planted it yesterday, and one branch bud looked ready to pop, so I hope it does okay. It's getting plenty of water today.

Good-bye February!

My annual complaint, that February is the longest month of the year, is about to be stashed until next winter. I find myself thinking the worst is over, but it really isn't, despite the bulbs popping up here and there. March usually brings one more snowfall.

Naturalizing Daffodils

Yesterday I did some more yardening, pruning back the hydrangea, cleaning out this and that. I tend to work on particular plants, like the catmint and milkweed, instead of beds. There is more to do, of course, but it doesn't hurt to get a head start.

Pink Hyacinth

I did find a pair of hand pruners that disappeared last year, far from the area I thought they would be, oddly close to where my SO found his missing Fitbit. I'm also rediscovering my gardening muscles. All that winter walking does not help with the bending, stretching, lifting.

Pink Snow Crocus

Inside, most of the seedlings have germinated, even the 'Luna Red' Hibiscus! A germination heating pad helps. Right now, the only holdouts are the Japanese indigo (dyers knotweed) and the parsley.

Early Snow Drops

I ordered an electric fence to limit the dogs free space. I also bought them passes to the city dog parks. We went to Camp Canine at Johnny Appleseed Park yesterday, and they zoomed to their hearts content before my SO and I took them for a walk along the River Greenway behind IPFW. Today they are still tired.

Robin's nest from last summer

This morning's rain has given way to a little sun, so maybe I will venture outside again, before the rains return. Happy yard cleanup!

Back acres

Today was one of those perfect spring days - perfect temperature, perfect humidity, sunny, no breeze to speak of, and a Saturday, so one could actually be outside enjoying all that perfection. So enjoy it we did, to the tune of one load of mulch. Since my neighbor threatened me, I had to use his pickup truck to fetch said load of mulch from the biosolids site (mulch is free, but having it loaded cost $5). And my SO, who washed my windows yesterday (I know - best boyfriend ever!), helped with the transfer of said mulch to various and sundry locations around the backyard. We ran out of mulch and energy about the same time. I need more (of both mulch and energy), but the perfect weather is scheduled to end at midnight tonight.

Before I trudge off for a long soak, here are a few pics from around the yard.

White hyacinth:



Grape hyacinth:



The march of the pink flamingos past the pink hyacinth:



I severely pruned the forsythia last year, and it is still pouting, so no golden arches this spring.

Pretty in Pink

I guess, technically speaking, the rhododendron is lavender.



And this hyacinth is actually pink and white.



We are having a week of lovely weather - sunny, in the 70's - while the weekend promises to be rainy. Isn't that the way it always seem to go? With DST, I could be out working into the yard until bedtime, but mowing grass at 9PM just feels unnatural. Maybe the weather forecasters will be wrong about the weekend rain; they are usually wrong the rest of the time.