Friday, April 24, 2015

Spring Fever

The snow has all melted, the days are (mostly) warm, the Crocuses are up, and the Daffodils are even starting to bloom.  It's now official...

Crocus chrysanthum 'Romance'
it's finally Spring!


After this long winter, hungry critters are coming out of the woodwork.  I'm almost relieved to see that there are still deer alive after the incredible amount of snow we got.  They romped through my front garden, biting the tips off of the Crocuses and Tulips.  They even nibbled some Hyacinths, which are supposed to be poisonous, so they must have been pretty desperate.

The deer bit off the tips of the Crocus, pulling out some of the bulbs in the process.
The bees were out as soon as the weather warmed up, emerging even ahead of the Pussy Willows and other early spring food sources.  For a couple days, all the Crocuses that were saved from the deer were being swarmed by the hungry bees.  I don't think I've even seen my Crocuses so popular before!


Thankfully, it wasn't too long before the Pussy Willows started flowering their distinctive silky catkins, quickly followed by the little blooms of the Maple trees, and the bees dispersed to find more plentiful food.


One early warm day, I even saw a butterfly flying by.  It was a strange sight to see, as I felt that we had just been shoveling snow a few days before.

Iris reticulata
Now that it's Spring, it's time to take stock of the garden.  Thankfully most everything made it through, including a few that I was surprised about.  I was very happy to see new shoots of the woodland Mayapples, which had barely made it through last summer, poking through the dirt.

The strange shoots of Mayapples coming up
There are a few dead-looking plants and empty holes in the garden, but I'm still holding out hope for a few more weeks before digging anything up.  Other than that and a few shrubs with broken branches, most of the damage we sustained from the winter actually occurred inside the house.  Due to an ice dam (something I had never heard of until this winter), some water soaked in under one of our upstairs floors, so we are in the process of getting that fixed. We were fairly lucky, though; I know a lot of people, especially those with older homes, that had a lot of water damage to their walls due to ice dams this year.


Now that the snow is all melted, we have started all our outdoor projects.  Our backyard is soon going to look very different; we are getting a patio built, which Mr. Red House has been looking forward to for a very long time.  (What is it with men and patios?  I think it's a barbecuing thing...)  We've also been working on building raised beds for the vegetable garden, as the plants did not fare as well as I liked last year in the existing soil, even though I had amended it somewhat.  Mr. Red House is building the beds, and I am painting them - red to match, of course!

new raised beds being built
While Mr. Red House is excited about the patio, I'm very excited about a very different brand new addition to our backyard: a Red Trillium!

Trillium erectum
I bought this little guy as a bare root back in February at the Boston Flower & Garden Show.  It sat in my refrigerator until I could finally plant it in the woods out back, and I am so happy to see it actually flower.


I am also keeping busy with starting probably hundreds of seeds, as well as working on plans for expanding the front garden... by a goodly amount.  Mr. Red House thinks I am a little crazy for wanting so much space for gardening, which I very well might be.  I might have caught a bad case of gardening Spring Fever.


But after this past winter, can you blame me?

20 comments:



















  1. So good to see that spring has finally arrived for you! What a winter you had--and an ice dam doesn't sound very good. What a lovely trillium! Spring has been around awhile here. In fact, last week it was so warm that all my tulips seemed to bloom at once; the sad thing was, I was in Texas so I missed them! Fortunately, most were still in bloom when we returned, though they're fading fast. Sounds like you have lots of projects to keep you busy for the next month or more.


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    1. That's too bad you missed the big display of tulips, though I know you had so much fun in Texas seeing your grandson! I'm glad you got to see at last some of them. I'm not sure why there is such a big space above your post - I do hope Blogger is not acting up! Computers don't like me very much :)

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  2. Yay! Isn't it lovely when spring finally comes? (It always seems to take forever, no matter how long winter lasts...). You have so many lovely flowers coming out in your gardens -- I can't wait to see what else will be blooming in coming weeks! Thanks for sharing your gardens with us. -Beth

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    1. It doesn't seem like spring until those crocus and daffodils start blooming! I try to plant the earliest blooming varieties I can, but with this winter, I'm not sure it mattered. It makes the spring all the more lovely, though, as everything is blooming in rapid succession!

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  3. if your reward is a red Trillium - no one can blame you!

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    1. A great reward, isn't it! I planted a white trillium as well, but that one doesn't want to come out of the ground yet. I'm still keeping hope!

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  4. Yea for spring!!! We too have ice dam damage in 2 rooms and damage in the garden too.... Michelle

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    1. Oh, no! It was such a hard winter for so many. I hope it is easily fixed, Michelle!

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  5. Oh, sorry to hear about the ice dam. I'm finding, too, that raised beds can be great for veggies--especially lettuces. My Mayapples are opening more and more each day, in spite of the cold (32F) nights we've been having. Tough plants. You have some beautiful plants blooming at the same time. :)

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    1. Thank you! I've got some Garden Cress coming up, as well as Snow Peas. I planted a lot of Spinach seeds, but they are still taking their time coming up. I don't blame them as it snowed the other day!

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  6. I think you are ahead of me....our weather turned bitter again last week with frosts and a stop in the garden growth...hoping it picks up again...love the red trillium and new beds. Time for loads of projects here too that have been on hold for years.

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    1. We had a nice streak of gorgeous weather, then recently it hailed one day and snowed the next. I'm hoping it goes back to the nice spring weather this week, too!

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  7. I love your red trillium! I also like those red raised beds. And you will love the patio as much as Mr.Red House. Spring projects are a great way to celebrate the newness and regeneration of spring!

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    1. Thanks! I'm sure I'll love the patio - it will help us spend even more time outdoors!

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  8. Indie, just noticed your comment--the space in my comment was my doing. I don't know what key I hit, but I didn't realize it was there until I hit publish and it was too late.

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    1. Oh, no problem. Just glad Blogger isn't acting up on me! :)

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  9. Those darn deer! I saw a morning cloak butterfly today. I couldn't believe it either. I've seen only a few bumble bees, no honey bees yet. Your trillium is so pretty.

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    1. The great big carpenter bees have finally started coming out. Somehow it's strange to see them after the long winter.

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  10. I've been through winters like yours before and was almost nuts by the time spring arrived. You deserve every second of gardening time you can squeeze in! Happy planting!

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    1. Thanks! I'm hoping for a couple of nice, mild winters after this. We deserve it!

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