Spring blooms

Spring is definitely here.  The days are warming, as are the overnights (a little too quickly for my taste).  I wake up to the chorus of song birds, and fall asleep to the lovely sound of the spring peepers.  The bunnies, chipmunks and squirrels are frolicking around the yard, and we had our first siting of Mr. Woodchuck yesterday afternoon as he ambled over to the apple trees from his winter burrow.

All of this is wonderful and magical to witness; every year feels like my first experience of spring.

As magical, is the awakening of the garden.  Green is evident everywhere now – in the grass and all of the flower borders.

I finished cutting back all of the dead perennials yesterday and was astounded at the amount of basal growth I was uncovering.  Even the roses, which are usually very slow to awaken up here, have little, pink buds.

Daffodils, Hellebores and Scilla are blooming, and the tulips, camassia lilies and alliums show a fair amount of growth (although none should bloom until I return from Ireland, I hope).

 

I was delighted to see this pansy growing in the peony border, although also somewhat disturbed as it’s evidence of our increasingly mild winters (i.e., climate change).  Pansies are generally annuals up here and do not over-winter.