Show us more signs of spring!
I had big plans for the garden today, but it's cold, wet and dreary. Inspired by Rouge's Forsythia post, I cheered myself up with a walk around the yard looking for signs of spring. Will you share yours too?
I'm happy to see seedlings of our native bleeding heart (dicentra formosa) popping up in my newish front bed. Seeds are coming in from the adjacent ravine.
Even though there aren't a lot of blooms yet (I didn't get my fall bulbs in...wah!), there's lots of colour from the newly emerging spirea leaves and a clump of heather in the front yard.
The spirea also looks pretty good next to this wallflower Bowles mauve, which stayed evergreen for me all winter and is now starting to show some flower buds.
In the background of the above photo, there's an aubretia whose rather garish colour is threatening her longevity. We shall see. I have a restrained summer palette but in spring and fall it's pretty much anything goes. I'm so glad to see any colour after our dreary winter.
What do you think...keeper?
This little patch of muscari is finally taking off.
And I’ve got some new babies waiting for a home in the front too.
In the backyard, the skimmia is doing wonderfully along the garage wall (soon to be painted black or a dark indigo blue). So pleased with this shrub. Tough as nails, red berries all winter and lovely scented blooms in spring. It grows at the foot of this guy who's as grumpy about the rain as me...
Excuse the frisbee in the tree. My dog digs craters in our muddy yard dragging it along with his nails, so it's frequently confiscated.
Our backyard is a disaster while DH adds on a deck. I console myself over the mess and dream of gardens to be while soaking in my new hot tub (Christmas present) on said deck. Still pinching myself, and I gotta say, there's nothing better than a soak after a day of digging in the garden. Don't get the idea we're posh. It's just a little 3-man jobby, 4 if you're friendly. My only regret is that I didn't get one sooner.
But I digress...
Here's a shot of the lovely skimmia up close and personal.
And lovely wallflower wants her close-up too.
Please brighten my day with photos of the signs of spring where you live.
Comments (76)
Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver) thanked mazerolm_3a
posierosie_zone7a
6 years agoRelated Discussions
More signs of early spring
Comments (2)Dawn, The main reason I've been able to fight the urge to really start planting seeds is I've had so many other things to do. I burned tumble weeds again yesterday when I needed to be shredding leaves and working the garden. My feet hurt so bad after all the walking it took any urge to plant last night out of me. Heading out to go pick up 15-20 bags of Ball potting mix at one of my favorite greenhouses. Talk to one of the owners this morning and they are in full swing over there. Sure I'll have a good visit while there. The rest of the items I ordered for the lean to arrived. All seem to be of good quality. Several of the items were made by Dayton. I'm trying to figure out how and where to mount the fan. I will pick up anything I need to mount if if I figure out how is the best way. It is cooler here today with a med breeze. Was real foggy not far east and north of us so I decided not to go to an auction. I don't take the chances I used too. I would say here most things are in mid March form. I caught a skunk last Saturday which is real early for them to be out. The henbit is really growing. Need to spray it and a pre emergence or I will be covered up in weeds after all of the tumble weeds. While burning yesterday I trimmed the asparagus. I expect to start seeing sprouts in 2 weeks from the signs I saw yesterday and that is very early for here. Saw some other things germinating and growing under the tumble weeds when I removed them. Imagine they had a cold night now that they are bare. I still expect a cool/cold blast or two but all the signs tell me that any extreme/extended periods are past. Doesn't mean we won't get a warm blizzard. We usually get our biggest snows/blizzards when it is warmer. When the temps are at or just below freezing. At least now the snow shouldn't stay around long. But don't see any extreme lows ahead. Still one night of mid-low 20's can set a garden back big time. But feel this maybe the year to gamble a little. I was around a few witty old men when I was young. One would always say he read the tea leaves and they said such and such about the winter and spring ahead. Not to be outdone the other would say he had read his fig leaves and they said something else. I'm basing the above from reading my leaves, animals and a feeling in my bones. Jay...See MoreMore Signs of Spring
Comments (7)I haven't seen any hummers here yet, though I've have had the feeders out for a couple of weeks. I think I can get by at least one more week without mowing. Have been hearing mowers in my neighborhood, though. The daffodils that I planted with very cold fingers in December are still looking very beautiful, and I should have tulips blooming soon from the same planting. My butterfly bush is getting ready to bloom - much earlier than in the past. No irises yet. Hollyhocks and foxgloves filling out nicely. Lots of cosmos have come up already as have some larkspur. I know some think violets are intrusive, but the violets that cover my front yard are plump and beautiful this year. I've never seen the blooms grow so large. Ajuga is also blooming beautifully right now. This is all under my huge pecan tree that will shade everything out in a few weeks. Right now that area is still getting sun, though. Monarda is sprouting everywhere. I'll probably have to thin it out this year. On Easter Sunday I had a nice salad with the arugula, parsley and cilantro that overwintered. Spinach and lettuce should be ready for eating soon, too. No sign yet of my asparagus. I covered it over a few weeks ago with sand, some compost and manure, to make the spears grow stronger. Maybe should have done that in the fall, though. I hope I haven't smothered it for this year. usually I forget it's there until it has grown into a big, tall fern border. Those are a few signs I've noticed in my yard....See MoreSpring 2018 in my yard. Show us yours.
Comments (83)This isn't my backyard (luckily), but it is nearby. We're currently experiencing terrible flooding due to rain and spring melt upriver (there was a lot of snow in the northern part of our province this year, and it all eventually flows down through here). The water has actually gone down about a foot, it peaked late last week. We took this photo yesterday flying into the city. The river is normally to the left of that tree-line, the road follows along the river on the right of the tree line. The building with the green roof is a roadside fruit & vegetable stand & bakery that I visit a lot during the summer. It been a devastating spring for many folks in this area....See MoreSpring frustrations
Comments (15)I retired from almost 30 years of teaching special ed last July. Our two old dogs had calmed down enough that they weren't digging or chasing in the garden beds. Created a new hosta + other shade plants garden in the fall. Spent the winter dreaming of creating tons of beautiful containers on the patio and deck this spring. I have the containers and I started planting. Seven-month old puppy (don't ask-a gift sort of) loves to dig the plants out-I am constantly sticking them back in if they haven't been destroyed completely. Put some coleus in the shade garden. Put red pepper flakes all around and pepper on the leaves. He didn't miss a beat-I was able to save one. I have now moved chairs and a bench around the already planted containers and will figure out what to do to protect the ones yet to be planted. Of course, now I can't see my flowers. Sigh. That is my spring frustration. Looks like I have a few more years to wait until my dream is realized....See More
sunnyborders
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoThe return of spring.
These snowdrops have been around for three weeks but the flowers are apparently just opening up today.
More crocuses flowering.
Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver) thanked sunnyborders
Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver) thanked kali_deere
Werner Stiegler
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoKaillean (zone 8, Vancouver) thanked Werner Stiegler- Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver) thanked kali_deere
sandyslopes z6 n. UT
6 years agoSpring is moving along quickly...
Blue flowers of Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost'
Just getting started Lamprocapnos fka dicentra spectabilis aka Bleeding Heart
Hellebores up top, Lunaria near bottom
Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver) thanked sandyslopes z6 n. UTposierosie_zone7a
6 years agoMy latest obsession includes dicentra (now lamprocapnos). I'm loving the spreading nature of this seedling that I was given last year.
Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver) thanked posierosie_zone7arouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoNothing too special, but such flashes of colour against the brown and grey of leaf litter and such is so nice to see.
And the "guerrilla garden" just behind our chain link fence:
Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver) thanked rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
oursteelers 8B PNW
6 years ago
Spring is here too! I hope I am putting pics on here correctly....they are all running together with no space
Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver) thanked oursteelers 8B PNWUser
6 years agoGreat pics!
Sorbaria 'Sem'
Myrrhis odorata
Bergenia
No ID Hosta w/Forget Me Nots
Podophyllum 'Spotty Dotty'
Aquilegia
Lamium orvala 'Album'
No ID Pulmonaria
Dicentra formosa
Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow'
Jenn
6 years agoThe first of the 40 Don Quichotte tulips I planted to bloom. In fairness, about 1/3 have already been bitten off by evil deer. Hoping for a few more to make it to bloom.
Narcissus 'Bell Song', my new favorite daffodils- shhh don't tell the others.
The last bloom of my much beloved Kwanzan Cherry, which at 40+ years, losing limbs, and draped on the garage roof, is sadly scheduled for removal. I have guilt.
The signs of spring are actually coming fast and furious at this point. It hit 90 degrees here today. Still, other than bulbs, only phlox, candytuft, and pulmonaria are in bloom...today.
Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver) thanked Jennsunnyborders
6 years agoBeen stop and go. Think it may have been hard on the crocuses; a rabbit is not helping either. The hellebore leaves looked so bad that they've all been trimmed off: the bare look's not my first choice.
Yesterday: Chionodoxa 'Giant Pink' and hellebore 'Merlin'.
Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver) thanked sunnyborders
woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
6 years agoForsythia just started blooming around here yesterday - and daffodils have started too. The two yellows look good together. We don't have forsythia and most of our 'daffodils' are white narcissus, but a neighbour likes yellow - and last fall helped another neighbour make a bed with her big forsythias... This is what their front gardens look like this morning - definitely spring shining in these ones!:
Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver) thanked woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver) thanked Emily Sabasunnyborders
5 years agoposierosie_zone7a
5 years agoMy geum "mai thai " is blooming. I just love the colors and form of this plant.
Johnny jump-ups overwintered and look so cute and happy now. They are dotted in clumps around the garden. By the end of June they'll just be a memory....
princeton701
5 years agoMy first tree peony bloom arrived last night (6b)!
(For perspective, this 7yo tree peony is waist high on me- I am 5'5").
Werner Stiegler
5 years agoEmily Saba
5 years agosunnyborders
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoprinceton701
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoPrimula vulgaris Belarina® Pink Ice -delicate looking, but tough as nails:
Poncirus trifoliata “Flying Dragon”:
sunnyborders
5 years agoposierosie_zone7a
5 years agosunnyborders
5 years agoposierosie_zone7a
5 years agorouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoWith you guys and gals seeing Bloodroot in your gardens I was impressed to see so much of it (albeit the regular single fowered ones) yesterday in an untended woodlot in Guelph Ontario.
Clearly Bloodroot is quite hardy.
sandyslopes z6 n. UT
5 years agoschoolhouse_gw
5 years agowoodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canada
5 years ago'Tis magnolia season here now... Ours are still small and just starting to bloom with the serviceberry at the back of the big front bed, but there are some nice ones in full bloom in the neighbourhood. The best one around is on the front lawn of a house about to be torn down to build a bigger house. There is a 'tree protection' fence behind it but we all fear the tree will be damaged :-( That tree tree is a spring highlight for the neighbourhood. Our next-door-neighbour's M. stellata is just finishing blooming - it is the first magnolia to bloom here but it doesn't last long.
These pictures are from yesterday afternoon:
Ours:
The big, beautiful one on the street behind us (notice the protection fence behind the tree....):
M. stellata almost finished:
Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver) thanked woodyoak zone 5 southern Ont., Canadasunnyborders
5 years agoToday. Been trying to get a picture that does credit to the light lavender blue front of Anemone nemorosa 'Robinsoniana'. Best so far.
Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver) thanked sunnyborderssunnyborders
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoA frustration of Spring: bought this as 'Peppermint Ruffles'; but is clearly not.
Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver) thanked sunnybordersprinceton701
5 years agodelphinium - can't remember which variety
noid herbaceous peonies
'beacon silver' lamium
mini hostas - several types
noid pink azalea & 'Alba' bleeding hearts:
blooming now: noid LupinesNot yet blooming:
'Midnight Prairie Blues' baptisia - buds are up, but not yet open
Baby oriental lilies scattered throughout the bed
'Sweet Kate' tradescantia
noid tall bearded irises
Orange rhododendron (can't remember the variety)'Empress wu' hosta - sooo slow growing. This one is 4 years old +. Does anyone else have experience with Empress Wu & is yours slow-growing as well?
Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver) thanked princeton701Thyme2dig NH Zone 5
5 years agoBeautiful photos!!! I really enjoyed the lenten rose this spring. Finally got around to cutting a flower from most to photograph since they're scattered around the garden.
GardenHo_MI_Z5
5 years agoposierosie_zone7a
5 years ago- Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver) thanked rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a)
Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver)
5 years ago
StevePA6a
5 years agoathyrium 'Ocean's Fury' with, disporum 'Golden Geisha'
polygonatum humile
athyrium otophorum
arisaema thunbergii
dryopteris erythrosora 'Brilliance'
...I was into the close-ups
Kaillean (zone 8, Vancouver) thanked StevePA6a
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