Daffodils

The annual blooming of the daffodils is near its end in Maryland. They’ve bloomed alongside hyacinths - after the crocus and before the tulips. There are much larger numbers daffodils than any of the other spring bulbs. Everyone recognizes their familiar blooms.

The bulbs are planted in yards, along roadsides, at the edge of forests or rocky creeks…just about any place that is not swampy. Sometimes they are in small clumps, sometimes they make a neat row, sometimes it is easy to tell that small clumps have merged into an amoeboid shaped profusion of blooms. The daffodils seen frequently are all yellow or yellow and white. They can be miniature - a few inches high - to a foot high; the taller ones sometimes lean over after a rain because the water catches in the flower and makes it too heavy for the stem.

They bloom year after year with little tending. Their bulbs do not attract squirrels or other rodents so the gardener need only dig them up and enlarge the bed periodically to keep them from getting too crowded - it’s easy to tell when this needs to be done because they stop blooming as profusely.

Brookside Gardens - March 12, 2012

The weather was sunny and warm this week. Brookside Gardens is brightening with some spring blooms - daffodils, crocus, cherries, deciduous magnolias and miniature iris. There were a few hyacinths but not the profusion of previous years. The tulips are not blooming yet although their leaves are growing and the display should be quite lush once they start blooming.

A pair of mallards swam on one pond and a lot of turtles  were very active swimming in another - playing their springtime tag.

Early March - Signs of Spring

Our yard is showing signs of spring. 

The few crocus that escaped the squirrels are almost done for the year. The daffodils and hyacinths are taking over the show. The maples look flocked in red from afar but full of bursting buds on closer inspection (see my post from two weeks ago about the edge of spring to compare).

The deer are still hungry. I put some plant stakes around my day lilies and tulips to deter them but noticed this morning that they've nibbled the tulip leaves. The bottom branches of the maple tree have no buds remaining; it is very obvious how far the deer can stretch for food.

Quote of the Day - 02/29/2012

Everything mourns for the forgotten, For its own springtime dream - Anna Akhmatova in The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova

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We are forging into springtime (in the northern hemisphere) - the grand reawakening of all outdoors after the ‘sleep’ of winter. It’s is easy to spot something growing fresh and new…to be caught up in the wonder of the present and lean toward to make the future…warm summer fruits and bountiful harvest of fall.

In the midst of this waking dream of springtime, we sometimes have a niggling at the edges of our thoughts for things not quite remembered or maybe not known at all. This brings an overlay of nostalgia to springtime. For me ‘mourns for the forgotten’ does not exactly describe it. It is a savoring of what I do remember and recognition that there are some things I will never know. I’ll never know any details of my great-grandparents relationship or what really happened to my grandfather’s older sister that died as a teenager or my great-grandmother’s feelings about leaving behind all her family in Europe or how my great grandfather’s fiddle playing sounded.

March Celebrations

March is just about here. What is there to celebrate? Here are some ideas:

St. Patrick’s Day on the 17th. You don’t have to be Irish to enjoy the green. My favorite green drink is a mint chocolate milk shake but there are plenty of others. Celtic fiddle music and dancing also are popular ways to celebrate the day.

Kites. March is breezy and the temperatures getting a bit warmer make is easier to indulge in outdoor activities. March is a great month to dig out the kites from the closet and enjoy their flutters overhead. Many communities have kite festivals during March. The one in Washington DC is associated with the Cherry Blossom Festival and will be held on 3/31.

Cherry blossoms (and other flowering trees). Washington DC is celebrating 100 years of the gift from Japan this year so there are a lot of extra events from March through mid-April. The dogwoods and fruit trees will begin to bloom in many parts of the country in March … so take a walking or driving tour through an area where they grow.
 

Early flowers. Crocus, daffodils, hyacinths, tulips…the early blooms of the year. Celebrate spring in a garden - either your own or a public one.