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.
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!
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.
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.
It is a late spring this year. But sure as can be, the gardens are starting to emerge. Even without doing any digging I know the ground is thawing because when I come in from doing the early garden prep, my boots have mud on the soles. Ahhh! Dirt! And out of the thawing ground the tulip leaves are up quite a bit in the past few days. Those may or may not bud and bloom. Tulips do not have much year over year blooming power around here. But it is good to see green again!
Could it be? Yes! The first flower of the year! Of course it is a hardy crocus! Yeah for crocuses!!! Or croci. Whichever you prefer, the first flower of the year deserves celebration! Look close 🙂
We seem to be in a holding pattern year. We personally won’t be making any improvements to the townhouse gardens due to the uncertainty on the schedule for the new roof project. First things first. So this year my focus is normal maintenance only. But longer term the landscaping outside the homes that weren’t refreshed two years ago is pending refresh. Rock replacement, trim re-levelling, things like that. I am torn. Should I plan for a more cookie cutter look at the townhouse going forward? Remove a lot of the unique look – bring it elsewhere? We are not in an optimal world right now. Labor was an issue last year, for sure. The garden refresh could be pushed off for even more than a year. So what to do in 2022? Hey, that rhymes 😉
Nothing, for now. Until more is known. Keep enjoying the “little things” – the hostas and daylilies and sedum that make it through the construction, and the planning of things we CAN do. Maybe more up north. Once that snow melts and the ground thaws we can assess those options.
For now, just getting past continual snow and massive winds would be a great start.
Here’s what the garden progression looks like right now. A few things poking up through the ice and snow from our last wave of winter hanging on.
Susan's Daily Garden 