Why I Oughta...

Over the past couple of years, our garden has been home to a couple of Spring Ephemerals:  Virginia Bluebells and Bloodroot .   They both naturalized via our neighbor's garden.  And... my neighbor dug-up a couple and gifted them to us a few years back .   They live in the 'kitchen curved' bed amongst the Oakleaf Hydrangeas and put on a quick Spring show.  Hence the name..."Spring Ephemerals".   As I was cleaning up a little bit in the beds this week, I came across this crown of a plant that was just emerging from the soil.  See below for the buds emerging from the soil - partially covered by snow: Since these things naturalize and have been spreading, I'm NOT certain which this is - but based on some of the images online - I'm pretty sure this is a crown of a Virginia Bluebells plant.   From snow-covered trees yesterday .  To these sure signs of life the very next day.  Spring is here. 

Another sure sign of Spring coming soon is the emergence of the pink, conical-shaped tips of Hellebores that we have planted in a small colony in our backyard.  I posted one-year-and-one-day ago about these same tips here .  And, in the photo below, you can see that they're back - peeking out of the soil, but living nestled in all of the leaf litter from this past Fall.  I took this photo before the snow arrived this past week, so the foliage clean-up will have to wait until the snow melts away.

Down in the IB2DWs bed near the sidewalk are now the home of one of the FIRST signs of Spring.  Some of our tulip bulbs have sprung tips and they've emerged in a purple-ish cone-shape that is peeking through the soil and mulch.  See below for the first couple of these Spring flower bulbs arriving.   Last year, we had a very mild Winter and the tulips emerged in early January .  Yes..January.  We're about a month-or-so behind 2024.   We're CLEARLY NOT done with Winter, so these will stay in this state for a couple more weeks before putting on any vertical growth.  But, seeing these sure warms my gardening heart and makes me remember that the season is right-around-the-corner. 

Right around this time every (early) March, the green tips of a set of daffodil bulbs emerge from the mulch in the bed behind the secondary Northern Red Oak tree.  These were inherited - and I didn't plant them.  I've observed them over the years - as far back as our first Spring here (2018) -  and here's last year's post .  They have flowered exactly ONCE.  Just once - in 2021 .   Will they bloom this year?  I doubt it.

I was away from the yard and garden for more than a week recently, so on a recent walkabout, I noticed a few new things - or seemingly new (to me).  One of those new (to me) things was all the Summer growth on the pair of Rhododendrons in our backyard.    There are two of these tropical-looking shrubs that I transplanted from our back stoop to the feet of the Dawn Redwood in the back .  They suffered and struggled in the stoop area for what I think are multiple reasons (the conditions AND the fact that there are Chipmunks eating the roots) and while I didn't want to just toss them out, I didn't have much hope that they'd come back strong. That's why I'm surprised at seeing all this new growth on the tips of these.  Are they (now) thick and full shrubs?  No.  But, are they showing signs of life that is surprising?  Yep.  See the photo at the top of this post that shows off the new five-or-so inches of growth that has pop'd-off on the tips of t...

When I was just starting to garden, one of the first things that I was able to document in my garden diary was the annual emergence of peonies.  Nat's Mom planted them for us in our house.  And, those red tips were one of my earliest lessons in the garden.  I've documented the Peonies being 'back' almost every year. Here's the 'back' post from 2021 .   And 2023 is no different.  Below are a few photos of the early, red growth from these tuber-based flowers that are planted near our kitchen windows.   I moved most of our peonies HERE because it is just about the *most* sunny spot in our yard.  Besides next to the patio (hey!  That gives me an idea).   I'm not CERTAIN how many are here - at one point there were four including a white one .  These photos are from a week ago (April 6) and I see two so far:

The patch of yellow Daffodils are back and are certainly a sign of Spring in our backyard.  These sit under the canopy of a large Red Oak on the south side and were Spring ephemeral flower bulbs that I inherited from the previous property owners.  Without any help at all, they keep coming back year-after-year.  They flowered just once - in 2021 - but maybe they'll bloom again this year.  Here's how they look right now - tips of green foliage peeking through the mulch:

Just yesterday, I posted some photos of the first tulips that I was able to spot in our front yard beds (in between two driveways down by the sidewalk) and mentioned that I wasn't sure if there were going to be more up by the house.  We took down the large Norway Maple tree and replaced it with a Triumph Elm last Fall .  As part of that process, the crew ground out the stump and with it (I presume) a bunch of the bulbs that I planted around the base on the tree.   But, life finds a way.  See the photo below that shows the trunk of the Triumph Elm up on a bit of a berm.  But...at the very bottom of the photo - in the middle - you'll see some tulip bulb tips: And, so too, have the tulips down around our parkway tree emerged.  See below for a few photos:

Just a few days ago, I posted photos of what I think is the earliest emergence of the tips of Hellebores in our backyard and talked about how I'm not sure what is driving this early Spring .  When I was out front, I noticed that there are other things *already* moving in the garden.  Specifically...some tulips.  Down in the little bed wedged in between the sidewalk, our driveway and the property line are some tulips that were planted in Fall of 2021.  Last year was their first season and I noted their emergence in early March .  So - just like with the Hellebores - this is about three weeks earlier than last year.  Here, below, is a peek at some of the tulip foliage that has sprung up.   H ere's a look at where these bloomed last season .   These are MOST LIKELY going to need a little protection from getting trampled by the kids and neighbors and their dogs.  I looked in a few other spots - around the parkway tree and underneath the...