Tulip Wednesday: Final Report?

Green leaves are everywhere I look these days and Spring seems poised to enter the next phase, with fuller leaves and the transition to summer's abundance.  In my backyard, the dogwood's flowers can still be seen, but green is slowly replacing the sweet white blooms.

Some of my tulips are nearly past their prime.

Others are at work to finish the job of blooming.

There are a few more tulips yet-to-bloom and so one more tulip Wednesday might just happen next week.  In the meantime, I am turning my attention to flowerpots for the porches and to the planting of my summer garden.  This weekend, I will treat myself to a leisurely review of the zinnia seed packets available for my planting pleasure.   Then I will turn my attention to creating bouquets of flowers. That's happy!

Late Breaking Spring: Dogwood and Tulips, Week 6

Much like the Spring warmth, for which we continue to wait, I am behind with this week's dogwood post.  Understandably, as we have given over some days to just being and remembering a good friend.   Spring seems to have made a pause of its own in the last few days as the weather has been cool yet again.  Despite the lingering chill in the air, the dogwood went ahead and bloomed.  I was so grateful to see these cheerful flowers.

In the front yard, there are stately yellow daffodils now turning their blooms to the sun.

More blooms and blossoms will yet come, as we march ever-so-slowly toward lush green trees and warm days.

Tulip Wednesday: Week 5

The smell of Spring is in the air.  I've slept with windows open for the last few nights and awakened to chirping birds.  Everywhere I go, there are daffodils in bloom.  My own daffodils are partially bloomed and the tulips aren't far behind.  The collection next to the house is in a lot of shade for most of the day but the flower stems grow taller each day.

I planted another circle of tulips in a strip of sunny grass in the front yard and those are also thinking about blooming.

I check out my flower bulbs every day, breathing in the smell and hope of Spring, reminding myself to embrace the people I love because life, like the tulip season, is awfully short.

Tulip Wednesday, Week 4

The last few days around here have been mild ---- warm, even by the standards of spring.  After supper last night, I sat out on the front porch to watch the night sky and write down some thoughts.  It was a chance to bask in the overdue warmth.  Like me, the tulips are drinking it in.

At some point on Monday evening, I awakened to the sound and smell of a spring rain.  It's welcome, that wetness.  The plants here need another drink and then the blooms and blossoms will unfurl with abandon.

Bit by tantalizing bit, our spring is unfolding.  It's lovely.

Tulip Wednesday: Week 3

Five months ago, I put dozens of flower bulbs in the ground.  Ideally, each of them would bloom into a spring flower.  Reality is a bit less abundant: a certain amount of bulbs must be sacrificed to squirrels.  I planted so many bulbs in the ground last fall I can't remember where they were all planted.  At some point last week, walking across the yard I caught sight of a stick in the soil and idly wondered why it was there.  A few days later, a realization struck: that stick was stuck there by me to mark some bulbs.  These bulbs seem to have escaped the squirrel rampage and have started to emerge.

Tulips aplenty dot my flowerbeds.  I check their progress daily.

One of the reasons that I like to garden is that it reminds me to be patient and to acknowledge the things I cannot control.  Flower bulbs are a case in point:  I plant and fertilize them in the fall and then, several months later, beautiful flowers emerge from the soil to award my waiting heart.  Not all of life can be that neat and tidy, but my garden brings that gift every year.

Tulip Wednesday: Week Two

Yesterday at lunch I sat in the windowed corner of the dining commons, dining on sunlight.  There were a number of us at the table, soaking in the sun like turtles on our rocks, eager for the warmth and light.  I imagine that's how the tulips are feeling.

Our cold and wet Monday yielded some sun on Tuesday and today looks promising for some more dapples of light.  We're creeping toward warmth and the prospect of flowers.

Each day when I come home, I take a walk around my flowerbeds, numbering the green shoots like a greedy banker counting her money.  Day by day, I see my flower account growing and I am glad of it.

First Day of Spring: Sunlight & Tulip Wednesday

For the next few weeks, Monday has been given over to pictures of my dogwood tree, whose limbs are beginning the seasonal transition that I love so much.  In the meantime, after days of cold grey skies we were treated to sunlight yesterday afternoon and again today.  It's still quite cold, with temps in the 40s and a stiff breeze to remind me that the first day of Spring happens in March and follows the last day of Winter.  Even so, it is finally Spring and March cannot last forever.    To celebrate, I am declaring Wednesdays to be Tulip Wednesdays.

Monday's snow and sleet has melted and these blooms are on their way.

Happy Spring, y'all!