Category: Spring in Minnesota

The bird bath goes out

Each spring we wait on the weather temperatures as “go” signals for next steps. One of those steps is putting out the bird bath. If we put it out too early, the water will freeze solid, at least at night. I had a bird bath heater for a while but uck! Too much messing around! And cords sticking out. That was not a “keep”.

This morning I looked and the night time temperatures forecast looks like it has finally consistently reached above freezing temperatures. At the beginning of May. It has been a very long winter.

Looks like it has already been “discovered”. And the daily water changing begins.

Decision Time and Priorities

Last year was a weird year for home improvement projects. Labor and materials were an issue. At the townhouse there was no exception. Planned, and even marked, projects got pushed off and pushed off and eventually pushed to this year.

Yesterday my husband asked me if I had seen the landscape company come and spray our grass and flag an area in the front rock. I hadn’t. I went and looked. Sure enough, the area is marked for what looks like last year’s project – getting the gutter runoff diverted underground. It seems odd to me – the new roofs aren’t even started, and certainly the gutters that need to be replaced and re-angled aren’t on. But who knows? So I have a few decisions – Do I move the ninebark and a few sedum and a daylily from that newly marked area in front?

Last fall

Well, the daylily and the sedum are probably a yes – I would spend energy on finding new homes for those. They do well at the little house up north and could go there. Even if they become deer food, that would be better than becoming landscape discards.

Digging out a shrub at the townhouse? Probably not. The landscape provider’s trimming is different from what I used to do – less rounded and more like a pillar. I might have replaced it myself in a few years with a perennial. That whole front area was actually on my list of potential projects this year.

More and more, however, I am convincing myself the time for significant landscape investing at the townhome is … not this year. Maintenance, absolutely. Puttering, for sure. But hard work and money investing – not this year. Whether this is a more permanent change in approach for the townhome gardens, or just this season, time will tell. But definitely all signs are pointing to a “sit tight” garden year right now.

Now, whatever will I do with my daylily seeds this year? Add to that “rookery” up north?

Spring Beauty

Beautiful spring. The crocuses blooming, the oak leaves saying goodbye, and a hint, just a hint, of bunny activity. Now I need to research – don’t rabbits like crocuses? I thought they did. Or is that the coffee grounds at work? Should I move that oak leaf covering the crocus or will that be the temptation tipping point for the bunny – who we often see, and its buddies. What is happening here? Ok with bunnies eating the garden??? It’s ok – those tulips don’t bloom – haha!

Well, for sure no more coffee grounds – that is in moderation only. Maybe leave it as it occured, and let the wind make the decision.

It did.

The tulips out back

Most of our “tulips” here are actually just tulip greens. For some reason, tulips around here don’t have a lot of staying power for blooms. Yet every year, consistently, the tulip bulbs I have planted over the years are one of, if not the first, greens to emerge from the thawing ground.

There is, however, one stand of tulips that does bloom every year, and has for over 15 years. They are starting to come up again now, and I am hoping they will have their usual cheery purple blooms again this year. Time, as always, will tell.

Our Spring Buddies arrive, our Winter Buddies leave

Every year the robins arrive as the first big wave of migrating birds. They are here for a few weeks, and then the dark-eyed juncos start to leave. The robins have been here for, oh I don’t know, four weeks? We noticed last week the dark-eyed juncos have begun to leave. We read about their migration a few years ago. They leave at night. One day there will be the normal abundance, and the next day we have to really search.

Thanks wonderful dark-eyed juncos, for another wonderful winter of your on-the-ground hopping around antics. Safe travels!

Speeding up

We have a Bluebells clematis out front. It never has bloomed very well, which has been a surprise, as I bought it from an online seller that has always sent me very well producing bulbs, tubers, and plants. It is supposed to bloom on both old and new growth. Maybe I have been limiting it. The vine and leaf growth is very proliferous so every fall it has gotten a pretty good trim. Last fall I was tempted to remove it, but instead we left half of the 2021 growth as a test. I am hoping it blooms more this year. It is a nice cover up for the shepherd’s hook where we hang one of the two hummingbird feeders.

A few days ago it had just leaf buds. Now it has “sprung”. Besides the very sparce blooms, it is a healthy plant and holds up well in the wind, so I am hoping this is the year we see it’s true bloom potential.

South Seas daylily up

I enjoy all of our daylilies tremendously. I do have a favorite as well. It is an unlikely choice for me based on performance. It has way less blooms than many of our other daylilies. It is orange – which is not my favorite color, even for daylilies. But nevertheless, it remains my favorite. It is our South Seas daylily. We have only one. And it just started showing up this week.

It doesn’t look like much right now, but it is back, and that is the start.