Annual Spring Report 2022

It looks like if it were not for my annual spring report, this blog would be dead by now. But here I am again, with a few photos from our garden.

Winter this year has been mild, but spring has been rather cold, until we suddenly got a warm spell around Easter.

Then one morning two weeks ago we looked out of the kitchen window and discovered that the woods had turned green overnight. We had some beautiful days before the chilly weather returned.

Hopefully the colder weather will cause the flowers to bloom a little longer. Almost all the narcissi came out at once, and the early rhododendrons are just starting.

The narcissi by the south wall are starting to fade.

Also by a south wall, 36 tulips are in bloom.

On top of the old compost heap, two kale plants have survived winter, and are starting to form flowers.

The lilac has large buds already, and looks promising.

The staghorn sumak is budding, and behind it, the flowering currant has been in full bloom for some weeks now.

The wild anemones show up everywhere in the garden, and in the woods. Great food for the insects. Very soon the cuckoo flower will bloom all over our lawn. We usually postpone cutting the lawn, or some of it, until the flowers have faded.

Spring snowflake is also in full bloom, which is a bit early, – but of course they are welcome. I seem to remember having theese in bloom around June 1st in previous years. But it could have been a cold one I am remembering.

The downside to posting so seldom is that the platform has changed a lot since my last post, so it took some time to find the functions that I needed. I have not figured out everything about photo placement yet, but hope it will look ok in the post.

Happy springtime.

🙂

Eldrid

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Annual Spring Report 2021

This spring has been quite cold, as was also the winter this year.

On May 1st there were not many green leaves to be seen in the woods, and there is still snow in the mountains. Crocuses and snowdrops are all finished, and most of the daffodils along the fence have large buds.

The earliest daffodils and those by the south wall are in bloom, and so is the flowering currant. The rhododendrons have lots of buds this year, so we expect a riot of colour later in May.

Last year DH cleaned out our raised beds by the steps, – they were so weed infested that they were impossible to keep. So instead we bought some large pots to place in the beds, planted roses and perennials in them, and filled some gravel around the pots. We will be getting a couple more pots this year. Everything has survived in the pots despite the cold winter.

The begonias have come out from the basement where they have been kept in a chilly and dark place all winter. Usually they have a lot longer sprouts than this, so maybe our basement was colder this winter. Keeping an eye out for the weather forecast to see when we can put them into the earth. May can not be trusted not to bring on some night frost and snow occasionally.

Our white rosebush is sprouting despite the chill, and the spiraea bush is turning green, but no flowers yet. The old rowan tree has large buds, at least on the branches that are not dead yet. It is very old, – my husband who is 68, can remember there were two trunks when he was a little boy, and his grandfather cut down one of them. So it was already a big, grown tree 60-65 years ago. We will have to cut it down eventually as it is getting unsafe.

The lilac bush to the right is not quite as old, – only 45 or 46. My father brought a sapling from their garden, where I grew up, and planted it here the year we moved into our new home. Some of the oldest stems are starting to give, and we had to remove a big one a few weeks ago. But there are lots of younger stems, so we hope for lilac blooms many years to come still.

Our so called lawn has got quite a few wood anemones now, as we do not bother to remove the moss. I think they are prettier than grass.

Some years ago we planted 8-10 tulips by the south wall, and they have returned every year, although in varying numbers. This year they are at an all time high as I counted 32 buds. Fingers crossed that the deer do not get to them.

And lastly there was a nice surprise in one of my pots as last year’s violets seem to have seeded themselves. I will only remove the dry stalks carefully, and then leave them alone to do their thing.

🙂

Eldrid