First Day of April

A lovely little daffodil

Some early wild tulips getting ready to open. I noticed the seed there on the ground from the bird feeder. Uh-oh!

Vinca

Hmm I 'm not sure what this is I believe I planted some bulbs here, but didn't mark it. Heck this could even be a weed. We'll wait to see....

And this will be the first year for this liatris. At least I think this is what it is? I planted in a flurry last fall and didn't mark everything. Which is ok to me because I do like surprises sometimes.

March Sprouts

Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn. ~Quoted by Lewis Grizzard in Kathy Sue Loudermilk, I Love You

The Stella D'Ora seeds are srpouting at least some of them. I know it's easier to divide, however, I wanted to try this little project of mine. These won't produce any flowers for 2 years. My next project will go underway this summer where I will be trying hybridizing daylily's.

Warm weather has finally arrived here in Indiana this week, some signs that our spring flowers are enjoying it as well.

Tulip

Daffodil

Tiger Lily

First Signs of Spring

I took a walk around last evening and was surprised to see ..... tulips.

Not crocus, not daffodils but tulips?

Below are my red tulips which face the south side of my home. Last year these didn't start sprouting until March.

Uh-oh a bulb popped out of the ground, I think I'll just push that rascal back in the ground.

Another tulip facing on the north side of my home.

And this morning ....................... snow

What's Growing?

When one of my plants dies, I die a little inside, too. ~Linda Solegato

Here's what's been growing in my garden the last couple of weeks , most of which I planted last fall.

I especially am excited about my clematis (I think it is "Dawn"), this is the third year and it has exceeded it's growth from last year already. It has four times more buds and it's still April!

First Bloom

Ahhh alas, my first bloom on March 29th, a bit late this year for the crocus. I'm late posting as well, I've been busy, busy mostly with my 8 to 5 job.

I did manage to get some work done in between rainy days. I finished the flower bed on the south side of the house. It was a little messy, over the winter the brick edging fell over in some spots.

I dug the brick edging line out about 6 inches more as well.

The orange daylily looks like it needs to be dug up and seperated, I hope to get to it this fall.


The main reason I started this blog was to create a journal of how my garden is doing each season. So... the plants on the south side of my house are as follows:

Tiger Lily or orange lily - lillium ancifolium (here when I moved in)

Hollyhock - alcea rosea (here when I moved in)

In the fall of 2007 I planted:
astillbe red fanal

carnation desmond - dianthus

daylily autumn red - hemerocalis

tenor tall phlox - paniculata

bee balm - monarda

allilium

iris

I hope to start the rose bed this weekend. The weather outlook is supposed to be sunny and warm. Let's hope! Rain, rain go away!

Signs of Spring - Finally!

God made rainy days so gardeners could get the housework done. ~Author Unknown

It has been a rainy start for March. No complaints though, it's better than snow. It's just been difficult to get outside and get to work on some things.

One area of my yard is so wet that when I walked through my feet started to sink, and mind you, there wasn't any water standing, so it took me by surprise. I did manage to get some quick pictures (in between rain) of some plants sprouting in my garden.


Here is a tulip peeking through along the pathway to my front door. Believe it or not I'm not a big tulip fan as far as growing them. But they are beautiful in bloom. The tulips along this pathway are reds and pinks. Very pretty last year.








Another tulip sprout through the snow on the north side of my
home. The only place the snow hadn't melted a couple of days ago, but the snow is gone now. This tulip is under my tulip tree. It's a small or dwarf type tulip, I don't know what type it is, it came with the house. The colors are magenta looking and yellow. Unique and different than the tulips I am used to.

And here is a daylily I inherited as well. I believe

it is a Tiger Lily. These are on the south side of my house.

I think by the end of this week I'll see some more progress and hopefully a bloom or two. I bet the daffodils are (which I neglected to take a picture of) are really growing.

Gotta Dig

You can bury a lot of troubles digging in the dirt. ~Author Unknown

I got to dig yesterday!

Warm temperatures brought me outside to work on some landscaping. Fixing edging, rocks, blocks (you get the idea). What I realized was how much I missed being outdoors. Still not warm enough for planting but on a positive spin this gives us gardening lovers time to fix, plan and most importantly not work ourselves to the bone trying to get everything done. You can ease back into it and out of hibernation from winter.

I almost thought I was going to have a cabin fever breakdown. Luckily I think I'll make it through.

I noticed signs of spring with crocus, tulips and even some lilly's poking their way out of the dirt towards the sun. I wish I had some pictures, my camera isn't working right now, but I am working on that and will post some later, I just had to post today and share my excitement. In the meantime, here are some pictures from last year's garden.