The Bravest of Them All

The sun has been shining, but don't let that fool you; it is still COLD out there! At least to me, with my thin southern blood. Oh, I went outside yesterday, thinking to spend some quality time in my garden with the camera. Ha! The first gust of chill wind had my teeth chattering. Today is only marginally better. The following is a view from the arbor garden, down from the patio. Can you feel the cold, even though we have no snow?

Yet spring should be here within six weeks, and I am getting more excited every day. Once Christmas is over, I am done with winter; although, in truth, it hardly gets here till January. So in spite of the wind, I did spend some time yesterday looking for signs of spring. That is not unreasonable; in some years past we have had forsythia, quince, and daffodils in bloom as early as January.

Buds: You have got to be kidding! Have you forgotten those single digit temps we had just a couple weeks ago?

Me: No, I haven't forgotten, but I was hoping...

Buds: Well, we are not crazy. We plan to stay wrapped up nice and cozy, and we suggest you do the same.

Me:  So you say, but I know you well enough; with a day or two of warmer temps, you will be peeking out. Then the next minute you will be dancing in the breeze!

Buds: Just like you.

Me: Yep, just like me. I can't wait for spring!

So, I saw no signs of daffodils, and buds were staying inside their wraps, including these:Clockwise from top left: Camellia 'Red Candles'; Edgeworthia crysantha - If these buds seem closer to blooming, it's only because of the fuzzy coats they wear; Witch hazel; Viburnum opulus.

Most of what I saw yesterday were 2013 dried-up leftovers:Dried hydrangea blooms lay on the ground amidst fallen leaves.A dried sedum still holds its head tall.

I found a single hellebore bloom that had poked its head up and then hunkered over, wishing it had not been quite so anxious:

Only little violas were stalwart enough to show their full faces. So delicate in appearance, but surely the bravest of them all! No doubt this is why their common name is Johnny-Jump-Ups!

I have always loved violas. They are the first flowers in my memory. I was three years old, and my next door neighbor Mrs. Jordan had them growing in her back yard. Mrs. Jordan may have been 80 or she may have been 60, but I remember her as being very old and wrinkly in a navy blue dress. She let me wander through her garden, and I was enraptured by the violas' sweet faces, just as I still am today.

Have a great week!

The Landscape Awakens

The nights may be cold, the days may be dreary, but spring has crept in nevertheless — slowly this year, not in an explosion of buds and blooms, but incrementally until I am forced to concede the season has overtaken winter. What winter? We hardly had one this year. Lou was outside yesterday, and mosquitos the size of land rovers bludgeoned him. With exceptionally mild winters two years running, the bugs have continued to breed, and I am left wanting at least a month of hard frosts. Too late now. 

But joy! The landscape is awakening. Cheery daffodils are always among the first blooms, and other flowers are joining them in the early spring garden.Clockwise from top left: Daffodils, candytuft, flowering quince, and snowflakes (Leucojum)

Edgeworthia is has been blooming with the daffodils for several weeks now. They remind me of ballet tutus!Above is what you see from the topAnd this is what you see from below!

Hellebores continue to amaze me. They are meant to be studied. Mine were once named varieties, but they have wantonly mated with each other and produced babies of questionable heritage. I love them all. (But I still ogle new hybrids with all sorts of frills and uppity pedigrees and prices to match. I would love to have some of those too!)

This is the year of the birdhouse. Among others, I recently refurbished an old cabin style birdhouse, and it has found a new home in the front garden in the area formerly inhabited by the cancer tree. I planted several shrubs in this area, unseen in the following photos and still dormant. I also plan to put flowers around the base of the birdhouse. The old iron stand once belonged to my father, who used it in his workshop with a piece of machinery bolted to it. I buried its heavy cross shaped bottom so that the appearance is more of a traditional post. The cancer tree, by the way, hasn't given up. Already I have found several sprouts insidiously snaking out of the ground, and I suspect I will be battling it with herbicide for a while.

Forsythia, seen above behind the birdhouse, is another early spring bloom that brightens even the gloomiest day. Another one is located at the edged of the woodland garden:

Camellias are blooming in several areas. The lovely shell pink one below is a mystery. Long ago we had to move a red flowering one from its spot behind the mailbox because of nearby construction. Some years later a new one sprouted in its old place, coming up through the low growing junipers that now occupy the site. I let it grow, and I was surprised when it produced a completely different and more beautiful flower than its presumed parent.

Top photo is the gorgeous mystery camellia. Below are two photos of another lovely camellia, Taylor's Perfection, located in the woodland garden.

Finally, here is a peek at a meandering moss path in the woodland garden, just as morning sunlight comes streaming through the trees. I hope to see more of this sunshine, now that spring is here!

May your heart be filled with sunlight, no matter what the weather may be....Deborah