1) Flowers blooming in the garden

2) The buzz of mowers on Saturday morning in the neighborhood

3) The urge to spring clean

In our area, the forsythia burst out in yellow flowers.

The bubble come off our pool, and we get to have water aerobics in the sunshine and under blue skies! YES!!!!

1. Longer days.

2. Lilac in bloom.

3. Fresh breeze in the house.

When the snow starts melting!

I'm in the foothills here in Colorado.

1) Whippoorwills at night.

2) Longer days.

3) Canadian geese have goslings following them around.

To me when the spring peepers start singing is a clear sign of spring, `cause its right there in their name.

Besides Vin Scully's voice drifting on the wind? (That's what I said in the other thread.)

Early Spring is the time when the roses go crazy. They bloom all year, but the shier ones are busting out. And the skies are heavy, the air is dank and I'm always cold...

When the snow is melted enough that I can hang my clothes outside!

Spring has arrived when folks begin to swarm the garden centers on the weekends.

My Mom's birthday (May 12). I use it as a safe day to plant flowers or start seeds outdoors.

Growing up, there were some daffodils that were always blooming by Valentine's day. It didn't matter if they were covered in ice, Spring was coming.

Here in Houston, I think spring started in January with the dandelions. My husband hates them because they are in his lawn. I like them because they look so cheerful. Spring feels like it is almost over. My crepe myrtles started blooming this week. It's pretty much summer.

The first sign of spring for me is when the Meadowlarks arrive back. Nothing like their song to lift ones spirits!

birds singing, croci, green grass and the smell of warmth in the air.

I've lived in many different parts of the country and understand the arrival of spring is heralded in different ways. As a child in northern IL, it was arrival of certain migratory birds, flowers and trees leafing out. In Japan, the cherry blossoms were the main event. As an adult, I watched for those birds and blooms along the east coast. Now, it's the Eastern Meadowlark, Barn Swallow and Purple Martins that really mean spring is here! I get the blooms too but the birds have been my signal.

Jasdip - I love the picture! Winter heralding into spring, perfect.

jim_1 - I was in Costco yesterday buying some planters and yes, it was busy. But they can do planters more cheaply than I can. I do my own planters for the front of my house because it is in the shade and shade-loving planters aren't very common.

vicsgirl - The date that is common here is the May long weekend for planting annuals and seeds. We have a long weekend usually the third Monday of May. Happy Birthday to your Mom.

adellabedella - Yes, those weeds which seem to be brought on (here anyway) by the spring rains and then the warming days.

dees_1 - Oh I'd forgotten about the cherry blossoms. Do you have them where you are living now? We get an amazing display of cherry blossoms all over the city. When they start to burst with their colourful leaves we all hope that we don't get a spring rain storm so they will last longer. This year the display was amazing. To get into my neighbourhood I drive along a road that has a central boulevard and the trees provide a canopy that you wind up driving under and when they are all pink it is so cool.

Trivia Quiz indicates that it's the ability to open our windows and I'm sitting here at 8:00 in the morning with the doors open and I can hear the birds chirping. We may get a little rain today and although my weeds don't need it my new planters could do with a drink of water.

Well for me it could be the date on the calendar, the first yellow bloom on the forsythia, or the coming out of the ground the first daffodil or the purple crocus but for me it is the first bud on the pussy willow. I love the pussy willow which started as a sprig from my sisters plant. Reminds me of walking to school in the 40's and passing by the lovely plant hanging over my neighbors fence. I have so many reminders of first day of spring. my birthday is 2 days before the first of spring too. Oh so many for me.

Mary

Temperatures are crazy this month. As BLF mentioned our official start to the spring is the long weekend in May, which is this weekend. Garden centers are swamped with eager gardeners.

Last weekend we had temps in the 30°C mark (high 80's) and this week it's been in the low teens, with temperatures hovering around freezing tonite.

I forgot about the cherry blossoms too. The Niagara area is known for their cherry trees and the blossoms are a touristy thing.

The smell of barbecue. People are so itchy they get the grills going when the last of the snow is still on the ground and their still wearing their parkas and gloves! The smell permeates the neighborhood and drives me crazy (in a good way!)

blfenton, when we bought our house 8 years ago, we planted several different types of cherry trees (and other trees as well). While the trees are still small, we get a decent bloom and relish the scent. We have apple, pear, cherry, crab apple and a little hydrangea tree. We saved a rosebud from the garbage and it's grown to about 8 feet tall. We planted many rose of sharon and a smattering of other trees. We have a large pecan tree in the backyard and a large stand of trees behind us but you can never have too many trees! Our soil is garbage (clay) but with an acre, it was naked so we had to plant trees!

I really miss the abundant lilacs I had in northern IL. They were very old, tall and smelled amazing.

cassandra - I don't notice the smell of the barbecues so much as I notice all the smoke pouring out of them - ours included.

dees_1 - With all the new buds that you must get on your trees each year you have some great first signs of spring. Do they bear you fruit?

Our native wildflowers...especially blue bonnets, Indian paintbrush, coreopsis, Indian blanket, and what we commonly call buttercups, but they are really evening primroses. Around my place, the spiderworts, which I love and also the Herbertia. The Spiderworts are in all shades of blue, purple, pink and sometimes white. The Herbertia are lavender but I saw some white ones yesterday. I need to go mark them so I can collect the seeds. The Cherokee Rose climbs a tree in the pasture....that is also a marker of spring for me.

Marilyn_c, I totally get the wild flowers. They are later than the meadowlarks, but they are also a true sign of spring. Here where I am, the first at are the crocus, (now done blooming), right now buffalo beans are in bloom and the prickly pear cactus and our famous wild roses will soon follow. I will be hunting for cactus berries in July, rose hips in August! YUM!

dees, we have those lilacs in MN. They are abundant, at their peak right now, and just gorgeous.

I miss the tall lilac hedge that my grandmother grew in Evanston. Now that we live in coastal southern California, there is not a lot that is seasonal to herald spring, but I always love the lengthening of the daytime and the boost that Daylight Saving Time brings.

My kids grew up here, and they have no sense of the seasons at all.

When I have a hacking cough, runny nose and the feel of sand in my eyes.:-)

Also when my koi start feeding.

Dwarf Korean lilac, about 5 feet tall and 6 feet wide. It is next to the window where I am sitting. I open the window and the fragrance fills the house!

Ahhhhh! Thanks for sharing Jim! I can smell them from here....I'm only 3-4 hours south of you! There's nothing better than having that scent waft through the house. I have a lovely white wisteria that is my main perfume.

blfenton, the trees do bear fruit but we try to inhibit because the trees are young. We want the energy to focus on growth before fruit. We let the blossoming take place for the bees and they do our best to control the fruit. Birds eat the cherries pretty quickly. The pears are still immature and our Arkansas Black apple puts out decent product.

jeff-1010: Ah yes allergies. Another sign of spring in our house is when the allergy medication finds its way onto the counter for my poor DH.

jim - what a beautiful shrub! Thanks for sharing. Do you cut some for a bouquet for the house?

marilyn_c - sounds like you have a beautiful array of colour with which to enjoy Spring. We don't have a lot of wild flowers where I am. We ran through the forest this morning as usual and the ferns are unfurling and the skunk cabbage is showing its shoots.

Spring is when I hear house wrens again and the tulips have bloomed.

All of the above!