Spring Thoughts

My living room window is covered in peck marks, made by a robin that wanted to come in last Friday. All day long she flew up in the air and knocked on my window. There is a Dutch children’s song about just that: “Little robin flies into the window, peck, peck, peck. Let me in, let me in.” It was highly amusing. When I wondered on Facebook if I should let her in, someone suggested she wanted to let me out.

It’s so unusual to walk outside and be enveloped in warm air. We went from freezing temperatures to high seventies and eighties practically overnight. I love it, don’t get me wrong, but the transition is rather sudden. But oh, how glorious to go out barefoot. Alas, tomorrow the temperature drops again.

Every day on my way to work I notice the trees are a little greener than the day before. There is a subtle hint of green on the branches right now, which I am sure will be more pronounced tomorrow. Our lilac literally burst into leaves yesterday. It is full of buds, ready to become gorgeous and fragrant purple flowers.

The mini crocuses I planted last fall have come up and they look so lovely. There are flowering daffodils by the side of the house that I did not plant. They just showed up. The rhubarb is pushing its way out, and the catnip is going strong. Ryan and Lola have cleaned up the Lily-of-the-Valley beds.

It is finally spring.

Four Hundred And Counting

The absence of gardening weather has not stopped us from planting seeds. We like to get a head start where our veggies are concerned, to maximize our summer yield. And now that we have a place to put everything, we are really going for it. We are also throwing some flowers in the mix.

It began last month. We sowed forget-me-nots, lobelia, alyssium, black-eyed-susans, cardinal climbers, and two different varieties of cherry tomatoes. Almost every single seed germinated. Yesterday the seedlings were transplanted to bigger pots to accommodate their growth. In the empty seed starter pots we planted large tomatoes, leek, corn, cucumber, okra, echinacea, marigolds, and more lobelia.

If they too germinate well, and why wouldn't they, we will have nearly 400 plants living in our dining room. The plan is for them to go to the greenhouse, but obviously it's still too cold for that. Not to mention part of the greenhouse roof blew off this winter and that needs to be fixed first.

Which reminds me, I have never shown you any pictures of our greenhouse, have I? Last year we turned the dilapidated potting shed into a cute little greenhouse by replacing the old windows with floor to ceiling ones, and installing clear acrylic sheets on the sunny half of the roof. I'll dig up those pictures and post them tomorrow.

The Journey Of A Seed

The squirrels have finally figured it out. After numerous attempts to get to the birdfeeder with the squirrel guard, they recently noticed there is another birdfeeder hanging in the ornamental cherry tree that has no such protection. So now the birdseed disappears even quicker. The chipmunks take care of the feeder outside the kitchen window and the squirrels empty the other one.

It's not all bad news, though. I don't know who is responsible but either the squirrels or the chipmunks, or both, buried a sunflower seed by the garage. That seed subsequently sprouted. Lola found it and asked us to transplant the seedling to her garden. I have done this before in Washington and while the sunflowers did bloom, it wasn't something to write home about. They grew less than a foot tall and had itty bitty flowers. I figured this would be the same thing.

It was not.

Impressive, no? Naturally we are saving the seeds of this one.

Sun Bathing

Spring Green

I brought some lilac branches inside. They had succumbed to the snow last month. Rather than throwing them in the bonfire, I clipped them and set the smaller ones in a vase. The larger branches are our Easter tree. They look very cheerful in the hallway filled with eggs and bunnies.

I don't really expect the lilacs to flower, but the green is nice. The daffodils have grown since I took this picture. It feels good to have flowers in the house again. Especially since we don't have much popping up in our yard. We'll have to remedy that next year.

Countryside Snapshots: Sun

I cannot remember the last time I drove past a field of sunflowers but I know it was in France. I have never seen them growing in such abundance anywhere else. Imagine my surprise when I was driving down a Wisconsin country road and happened upon this sea of big yellow sunflowers amidst the fields of corn.

Fall has started to set in up here. The lush green of the foliage is gone, the ferns alongside the road have turned yellow, and I see a little fiery red peeping through here and there. But standing in front of this bright sunny patch made me briefly forget summer is about to bid us farewell for another year.

Dandelions

Yellow as far as the eye can see

Luscious Lupines

Lupines are one of my favorite flowers, along with peonies and daffodils. I love their vibrant colors and tall flowers. I used to grow them in a pot, on my balcony in Amsterdam. When the bottom flowers would start to form seeds, I would snip them off to prolong the blooming period and enjoy their beauty just a little bit longer.

Where I come from, lupines are only available as annuals or semi-annuals. But not here, in the Northwoods. They come back year after year, growing bigger and stronger every spring. And they are everywhere. In the woods, by the side of the road, in the fields. An abundance of color so visually appealing, I drive an extra mile or two, three, just to snap a picture.