Spring Flowers

Although the first official day of Spring has passed, it is still too early here to begin planting the garden. But to tide me over, flowers have begun popping out. And the colors and fragrances are definitely cheering me up.

The first ones to emerge were crocuses, which in my yard are very small and hardly visible at all. Next up were hyacinths, with tiny blue bulbs showing at first but then growing a bit taller and very fragrant. We have a few tulips, but for some reason they too are quite short and hard to see. Daffodils, most of which were gifts and are of many different types, are appearing all over the yard. While they aren’t making a great showing, it is a bit of fun because we have splashes of color for a longer period of time.

The forsythia are somewhat sparse, but starting to flower, and I hope they will grow with time. Our crabapple, apple, and apricot trees are all in bloom at the moment. And for a garden that had absolutely nothing a couple of years ago, it is encouraging to see a bit of spring that occurs because of what we have done in seasons past.

We also saw our first three butterflies of the season: one a small black one, another a larger yellow one, and then a small yellow one. They were visiting the native wildflowers in our field. When I was out weeding the other day, a bumblebee decided to follow me around. Maybe I look sweet? Doubtful. But we have seen other bees as well.

And the birdfeeders continue to be very popular. I haven’t seen any new types of birds yet, mostly the usual suspects, but I expect the migrating songbirds will arrive soon.

All very welcome signs of spring after a cold winter. I do love living where there are four seasons, but I think spring is my favorite of all.