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Plum trees and raspberry bushes and strawberry plants and ferns galore

When we were last up north at the land, things looked very different.  The nice winter clean look has given way to a jungle-like appearance!

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We are learning more about what we have up there now.  If I was a bird or an animal I would be delighted.  The place is overgrown with raspberry bushes, strawberry plants are everywhere, and there are small plum trees.  A friend told us we may not ever harvest the strawberries and plums.  They are small and the birds and animals get them pretty quickly.  As for the raspberry bushes, I did not feel bad about cutting some of those down to get a clearing.  They are all over the land!

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Just like the tall ferns that now line everything!  They, too, need to be tamed a bit.

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I think it’s going to be a very gradual process.  Taking some from the land so we have a place to be without a crazy amount of ticks and mosquitos and black flies, yet leaving a whole lot in its natural woodsy state that we fell in love with.

Tulip update

The tulips I planted out front last fall came up beautifully.

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A single survivor out front from years past and another bunch out back were mysteriously cut off.  The ones that were cut off out back totally disappeared.  Bunnies?  I did see a deer wander through the neighborhood very early one morning a few years ago.

There are a few more bunches still coming up.  We’ll see how they fare.

A day’s difference

What a difference a day, and especially two, make at this time of year.  Two days ago only the cherry trees had leafed out.  Today this site was common.

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Yesterday our ninebarks hadn’t leafed out.  Today they looked like this.

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Two days ago the clematis was inches closer to the ground.  Today it looked like this.

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The tulip are starting to show buds.  The sedum are starting to round out.  The daylilies are up 4-6″.   The asian lilies are popping up in back.  Even the new red asian lilies I planted in front popped up overnight.  And a few hostas are starting to come up.  Not as many as I’m used to this time of year, and that slightly concerns me.  We lost some very healthy full hostas during the 2017-2018  winter and I was at a loss as to what happened.  I’m hoping it doesn’t happen again.

But almost all the daylilies are up, including one from last year’s seedlings.  And THAT is very exciting.

Our “Guest in the Garden” gets a promotion

WHAT!!!???

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Yup, it’s true.  Since I started working from home, our “guest in the garden” has gotten a new set of responsibilities, and a promotion.  He is no longer a guest.  He is now the full-time monitor of the garden, and, more importantly, the office manager.

About an hour into the day he comes in to the office to make sure everything is up to snuff, then returns to his garden monitoring activities (and occasionally a snooze). When I call in for meetings, he hears the speaker phone and comes running to circle around on his office blankie and listen in.   And at the end of the day he reminds me not to over-work by prancing and sneezing to ask for his walk.

Sandy’s contributions have been invaluable and he has worked very hard for this promotion.  Everyone please congratulate Sandy and welcome him to the team full-time.  Please feel free to reach out to him if you have questions about the squirrels, ducks, birds, and bunnies.

Not yet

In true Midwest form, we had the first wave of a spring snow storm come through today.  It’s melting a bit, but there’s cold air and more snow on the way.  We started the day with a visit from our duck friend.

Now the ground looks very different.

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We’re not totally at gardening spring weather yet.

Time to wake up

Twelve days ago the tulips were the first to pop up out of the ground.  They always are.  It is an incredibly welcome sight.

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The next day I started to see tiny bits of green in the lawn.  Tiny, but unmistakable.  Then I saw the one clump of iris we still have was popping up.

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And the pink asian lilies were popping up.

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Then the robins came to take baths.  And the first hen (duck) arrived.  The next day she came with the drake.  Then I noticed that by 5:30 am the cardinals were already singing.  And the chickadees were starting to look for the hummingbird water.  And the dark-eyed junkos were flocking up.  (I suspect they will be leaving soon.)  And the sedum were popping up …

Today I absolutely had to have my first serious garden day.  Out I went with my gloves on, to trim the sedums I left for the birds this past winter.  Then I picked up the large branches that had come off the linden (very normal).  I left the smaller pieces for the birds to use for their nests.  They do such a nice job of cleaning up!   I was cleaning up the debris around the hostas, and then I saw it … the daylilies are starting to  come up!!!  10 minutes later I got a text from our son’s girlfriend.  Her daylilies are coming up!   Now I’m jazzed – lol ☺  Out come the garden pretties (fun decorations) – the spinners, the toads and turtles and hiking and hunting bears.  The bird bath.  The whole shebang!!!  Spring is here!!!  The garden is waking up!!!

Just as I was bringing the last item – the bird bath warmer – into the garage, the predicted rain came.  Big plops.  Yes!   I “coffeed” section two of the four areas of the garden today.  Perfect timing.

Up in northern Minnesota, not so much, yet.  But that’s for another day.

Two more gorgeous days!

We had another gorgeous day yesterday, and a third today.  Besides more sun and increasingly longer days now, 47° F is quite a treat for January in MN!

Here’s sunrise pics from the past two days

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and sunset pics from yesterday.

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Tomorrow is supposed to drop more than 10° F and be cloudy so we took every opportunity to enjoy this special treat!