It was a beautiful day yesterday, with bright sun and temperatures in the 50s....the excitement of Spring! We've had an almost worryingly mild winter, so things are getting off to an early start this year. Snowdrops are the first floral harbinger of spring: last year March and April were very cold; as I look back on the photo I took of snowdrops in 2015, it is dated April 7th, more than 3 weeks later than today.
As I wandered across the mud of my vegetable garden I saw bits of green: here last year's parsley regrowing. It's a biennial, but I've never had much luck having the plants for a second year, but maybe this year I will.
Perennial herbs begin to pop up early. The slender fingers of chives wave upward....
....and the rounded leaves of sorrel poke up. They have a lovely red tint early in the season; as they grow they become pure green. At this stage the leaves are very small, 1 or 2 inches long, but so resolutely growing.
There are some green leaves on the parsnips. I went into the garden this afternoon with my shovel, planning to dig them up and have delicious roast parsnips with dinner, but when I put the shovel in the ground it only went down a couple of inches: the ground is still frozen solid under a layer of mud. Soon......
Other flowers are beginning to pop up: the tulips I plant for cutting looking like elongated candy corn....
....and some daylilies, encouraged by the warmth radiating from the south-facing granite foundation of the house.
Lastly, the earliest of daffodils, the small yellow February Gold is off to a good start. They will be the second flower to bloom in my garden. All this happens every year and is quite ordinary, but every year this reawakening thrills me and fills me with anticipatory joy.
Love the look of those candy corn Tulips. We are also ahead of schedule. Now we need some rain. Below normal snow this winter and now warm and sunny for the most part.
ReplyDeleteWe also had hardly any snow this winter, but we've had plenty of rain. At least it seems that way; I didn't put out my rain gauge yet.
DeleteGreat to view these signs of spring, as I am in Tucson with wild flowers in the desert... And missing this early spring
ReplyDeleteGreat photos & words, observing with subtle attention, as always. Here in Chicago, we may be even a month ahead! Much-needed rain this week after dry, warm El Niño winter
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments, Maggie and Julie. Today we went back to winter, with temperatures in the mid 20s and snow; not much snow, but it's white out there again.
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