Green is springing up all around me
And I love it! After a winter full of brown, gray, and white tones, green is such a sight for sore eyes.
Seriously. Don't sunlit green leaves just make you feel happy?
(the deciduous trees are not yet green around here...this is just a large evergreen bush/tree in my backyard, and I am choosing to see it instead of the bare trees. I'm looking for the good, people!)
Hostas are peeking through the dirt (I keep my hostas in pots because the voles around here are voracious hosta-eaters.). I got my hostas free from my neighbor, who is a landscaper. Sometimes when he re-does people's landscapes, he comes home with extra plants from the old landscape design, and that is just lovely for me.
When I raked up the leaves from the corner of the yard, I was pleased to see that the tiger lilies Mr. FG's aunt and I planted last summer (they were extras from her garden) were poking their green shoots up.
And the lilac bush (ok, it was more like a stick last summer) from the same aunt is putting forth some leaves.
My hyacinths are getting awfully close to blooming. These were growing in random places in our yard when we bought the house, so I dug them up and planted them around the mailbox. They seem to be quite happy there.
The other green shoots are from my tulips, which I bought at Aldi.
These daffodils near the road were here when we moved in, so they were quite free. 😉
And finally, this is my hydrangea from Aldi (you may remember it from my post on frugal, patient gardening). I just promoted it to a big ol' pot, which I bought at Goodwill. I was SO tickled to see it because I've been watching for a large pot for months. I hope that the hydrangea will do some major growing this year in the new pot. I mixed some compost in with the soil in the pot and I figure that should make for a happy plant (some of the SunChips strips are in this pot, actually!).
I would plant it in the ground, but I haven't found a good not-too-sunny place for it in my yard as of yet.
And I am very worried that if I plant it in the ground while it's little, those pesky voles will eat the roots right up and then I will want to cry because I've patiently nursed this stick for two summers already (I shared a photo of the bloom last year).
You know, I thought this post was going to be sort of off-topic but since I am so excited about the green plants, I wanted to share anyway. Frugality is so soaked into my life, though, even some of the posts I plan to be off-topic don't seem to end up that way. All of the plants in this post were either free, or were purchased very inexpensively, and even my hydrangea pot was only a few dollars at Goodwill.
I think frugality flows through my veins. 😉
So, how 'bout you? Are things becoming green in your neck of the woods yet?
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Today's 365 post:"Brrrring, brrring!"
Joshua doesn't have a 365 post ready yet. Must go add "write 365 post" to his chore list on My Job Chart.
Update: Joshua has a 365 post up! It's called "Wonder why these are here?"
How absolutely amazing, that in another part of the world there area blooms beginning and grass starting and leaves. Where as in THIS part of the world, we still have 7' snow drifts, got another 5" of snow 2 days ago and are currently facing another 10" with our roads not closed but warnings of Travel at Own Risk. The wind is howling and could reach blizzard conditions. Just amazing. Beautiful signs of growth Kristen! It gives me hope we may one day see it too!
I felt that way reading blogs from Florida this past month or two. lol
Our warm air will eventually make it up to Canada to melt that darn snow. 🙂
Send it please...and I will send some maple syrup! It is flowing like crazy!
Same here...woke up to more snow.
Things are greening up in southern PA also, I'm so ready for it, winter seemed like it would never end! We got some topsoil from our neighbors last fall (they put in a patio so had some to get rid of) and last week I realized there were some tulips and irises in their topsoil, now they are growing in our yard, in very random places. I called my friend and asked her if she wants her bulbs back in the fall; she says she has plenty more and doesn't want them..so I will be transplanting them somewhere..Love free flowers! 🙂
My husband's aunt gave me some irises last year too! I hear they may not bloom the first year after they're transplanted, though, so I'm not getting my hopes up. In a few years, though, I should have a nice grouping of iris flowers.
We live with greenery all year long with the tall pines all around us. But it is also nice to see the return of the azalea blooms, the wisteria, the grass, and all of the other spring-time plants and flowers. Bulb plants do not do well here; after one season they do not return as well as the first season. Looking forward to planting my vegetable seedlings in our garden.
That's interesting...is it because the weather is so cold where you live?
I just posted on my blog about our signs of green popping up... found some daffodils coming up under the leaves. A very welcome sign here, but then it snowed yesterday and covered them up again 🙁
And, I have a VERY newbie photographer question... How do you take a photo of a bud on a tree? I tried and tried to get my camera to focus on the buds, but it always defaults to the trees in the background instead. Any helpful hints?
Does your camera allow you to choose between manual and auto focus? If so set it to manual and you can get the buds.
No green here, not yet. We live in the Chicago area and they are predicting some snow this weekend. Sighhh, this is what spring is like in the upper mid-west. I am glad I can enjoy the photos from your yard though. Thank you.
I'm right across the lake from you in Michigan....my day lillies are starting to push up, but they'll probably have a dusting of snow on them this weekend. *Sigh!* That 72 degree day we had on St. Patrick's Day was just a tease!!
It is greening up here!
I have a really large flowerbed in my front yard that is bordered by liriope. Well, this is the year that they need to be split and divided. Coincidentally, our side yard needs some sort of ground cover (it is very hard to get a mower there) so our weekend project - while time consuming and back-breaking - will net us a free solution to our landscape problem.
But I'm with you - I'm loving the tree buds! My sour cherry trees are starting to bud, and I have babied those two 'sticks' for now going on the third season. One day, i hope to have a cherry or two from them. 😉
Ooooh. What is wrong with my neck of the woods? We've gotten tons of rain lately (which is a nice change from snow--but snow is expected on friday and saturday!!). But nothing has turned green. Or even hinted that it may be harboring green colored tendencies.
It's all very earth-toned in Chicago right now. With a bleak hazy gray sky that matches all the cement pavements.
I'll just live vicariously through your spring photos 😉
Dear me. I can't imagine having snow at the end of March. It hardly EVER snows here after February is over.
Just a note for you eagerly awaiting your lilacs. Lilac bushes will often not flower for up to two years after transplanting. You should still get a lovely green bush but may not see any beautiful smelling flowers until next year. I have seen them flower the next spring after tranaplant but it doesn't always happen. As a lilac lover, I thought you should be aware.
Oh yes, I'm not expecting anything from that bush for a while. It's just a spindly little thing, and we just planted it last spring.
I'm just happy it's got something green on it!
I love spring and it's blooming all around me and their are robins doing the jitterbug in my yard!!! True story!
We're experiencing what I call our "Irish Season" here in Northern CA. All the rolling hills are densely covered in lovely shades of velvety green. It seemed the daffodils were mostly spent, but we've had a weird stretch of unusually cold and rainy weather. I noticed new buds on some of the daffodil plants this weekend - Is it possible that we will get daffodil happiness twice this year?
Oh, it looks beautiful where you live! "The grass is always greener on the other side!" He he! 😉 Ok, well living near Chicago, my husband and I noticed the grass is getting greener! Yay! And I saw my hyacinths peeking up along with my purple irises. They were both planted near the house so maybe they feel a little warmer, I don't know. But for some reason my tulips are not happy and the dirt seems to be sinking into the ground from our raised garden bed, so I need like 4 huge bags of top soil, ugh. Where is the cheapest top soil to purchase?
I got 3 bags of topsoil yesterday at Lowes for $1.25 each.
Despite things being forever brown here in Vegas, my backyard remained a lush green throughout winter (and yes, it's real grass) 😉
But as far as NEW growth, my potted garden is doing wonderfully already. We've had plenty of warmth here for them during the past few weeks. We don't have any flowering plants in our yard (anymore) though thanks to my 2 favorite dogs--Boxers & Bassetts love to dig unfortunately. 🙁
It'll be our turn soon and we'll all complain that it is too hot (the Canadian way). Thank-you for the lovely preview:)
Man oh man, I can't imagine being too hot in Canada. I'm so used to summer being very very warm here in Arkansas. True story I swear..... Last summer, mid July maybe, we were at our neighborhood pool and my daughter begged to leave because it turned so cold and windy, she was freezing and I agreed it had cooled off a bit; we got home and put the weather channel on, it was only 88 but with a 10 m/hr. wind. There's no way she'd be able to handle a summer vacation to say Cape Cod or anywhere North like CANADA!!!!! I guess we all have thin blood in the South.
Here in Oklahoma it has been 70-80 for the past several days. My daffodils are at peak bloom and the henbit and those little tiny white flowers have made my front yard a sea of Spring. Almost time to break out the lawnmower.
And the lillies... I personally am not fond of the daylillies I inherited from the previous owners of this house, so last year I tried digging them up. They were in huge, entagled root masses that could barely be plucked out of the ground. I ended up removing three paper grocery sacks full of them to give away and got tired so I left the rest. They appear to have liked it and are now growing better than ever. More daylillies. Just what I needed. 🙁
First daffodils blooming this morning and hyacinths almost ready to pop!
Things are definitely greening up in northwest Arkansas. The jonquils have been out for about 10 days, and the flowering pear trees are...flowering. They look gorgeous. I have something (some kind of shrub that came as a stick, I don't really know what it is) that my sister got in the mail and I planted it. It took root and wintered in my garage. I need to get it out onto the deck and give the poor thing some water. Out of sight, out of mind. I just hope it lives.
Hurray Spring!
I am jealous! Two days ago the daffodils were poking through the ground and the grass was starting to green up, and this morning I woke up to 2 inches of snow. I was hoping spring was on it's way. Oh well, a guess all good things are worth waiting for! 🙂
Yes I love nature photos. Take care.
"For the message of the cross...is the power of God."
1 Corinthians 1:18
Thought you and your readers might enjoy this website:
The Dogwood - The Christian Symbolism Found in The Dogwood Tree
http://www.visualforces.com/christian/photography/nature/the-dogwood/
Wonderful shots! I've got lots popping up around here too. My tigerlilies, tulips, daffodils are all doing wonderful. And I've got TONS of garlic coming up, from grocery store garlic! My tulip tree did it's thing and now the blooms are all over the ground, but it's still a pretty mess (lol). I've been starting a whole lot of veggie seeds too, going for broke on my seed collection this year! My back yard will be chock full. Hoping for "too much" of EVERYTHING this year. 🙂
Thanks for sharing these photos! I'm in Minnesota, our ~3 feet of snow has melted this past week so our green things are a bit behind you! Your photos are wonderful remedy for sore eyes 🙂
Thanks for showing me some signs of spring! We are in the midst of a spring snowstorm at the moment and seeing those plants makes me smile, reminding myself that this new snow will not last forever and I will be seeing my flowers poking their heads out soon.
Tons of snow and ice here in Alberta. We won't see any leaves on our lilac tree until May! ............ heavy sigh!
It snowed here today ( Alberta, Canada). BUT, some snow melted last week and I gog the slightest glimpse of grass & some green columbine leaves in my garden. My front garden is sadly covered with at least 3 feet if snow ( it faces north) which means I sometimes have tulips in June! It's a month behind the south facing gardens in my neighborhood.
My five year old spotted the first yellow crocus which popped up in our front yard. Had some beautiful weather last week but it has been getting progressively colder and snow might be seen tomorrow!
I'm in Dallas and our first bulbs have already bloomed and the flowers are now dying off. We put our vegetable garden in last weekend, using starters from the nursery as well as a lot that we grew from seeds ourselves. We already have some blossoms on a few of the tomatoes, and there are tiny little cucumbers on one of the vines. We just love walking out in the yard after work and seeing every new little leaf on the grapevines and new sprout where we sowed seeds. Exciting!!
What do you use for potting soil? I'm not a very good gardener, but trying and ever so slowly improving... I don't have a lot of space so I use a lot of pots which, from what I read, you are supposed to use potting soil. I feel like I spend a small fortune every spring on dirt! I know you use your compost, but do you mix it with the potting soil from last year? do you use garden soil? Do you have to add some sort of peet moss type thing to it? Thanks - Kimberly