It's a Different Year.

When looking back over last years blogs I came across this one for St. Patricks Day, 2009.  It was one of my earliest blogs and very few people read it back then. I decided to recycle part  of it.

What is interesting is how things have changed in a year.  For one thing, I now have a fence around the garden.  For another, There is no color in my garden except a few crocus blooms. The ones in the photo below are the same plants I featured in the March 12, 2010 entry.  This February was a bit colder than last year.  I don't know about the average, but I know that we did not have any warm days like we do most years. The Magnolia shows little signs of blooming.  The buds are swollen as are the dogwood, but we will need some sunshine coax the blooms out. I'll see if they show color by tomorrow, St. Patricks Day 2010.

So, please enjoy seeing what I say a year ago.  

 (St. Patricks Day, 2009) The Morning fog is fading as the sun burns it off. Last night it finally rained so I figure that todays sun will cause the grass to green up quickly.

Up until last week there was very little color in the garden. The deer must be having trouble finding food in the woods because they have decided to spend their evenings eating whatever they find in my garden. I have hooked flags of fabric softner everywhere in an effort to deter the deer. It seems to work for a couple weeks. hopefully by then Spring will have brought new shoots and buds to the woods, giving the deer another place to take their meals. Notice that in this picture, taken a week ago, there is no sign of blooms. Now things are changing by the hour. Exuberant signs of creation are everywhere. Once the robins and worms began their movement, every thing else followed. The ground is bulging with signs of Spring. The crocus blooms show bright purple and yellow and the jonquils have begun to shine. These early jonquils were rehabilitated from a home site that was abandoned over 100 years ago. In the late spring, if you can find the spot now in the middle of the woods, you will come upon hundreds of yellow blooms of jonquils or daffodils amidst thousands of blue periwinkle blossoms. I haven't taken the short trip across the hill to the site, recently because the last two summers have seen heavy logging on top of the woodland garden. While I understand the need for the money brought in from the timber, I'm afraid my heart will break. I'll go back after the forest has had time to heal. Meanwhile I'll enjoy the yellow that is the first color of my own garden.

Yesterday the Star Magnolia bloomed. At 9:00 am there were only a few buds showing pink, but by 2:00 in the afternoon, some flowers had fully blossomed.

The peonies have even poked their heds through the soil. Of course the Resurection Lillies (you may call them Surprise Lillies or my favorite name, Naked Ladies) have had leaves up for a few weeks. It pleases me to know that they will die back; then, once I've forgotten all about them, their bright pink flowers will bloom atop tall stems, "naked" of leaves

Besides all the blooming and budding activity, Spring brings activity of the birds and the bees. A couple days ago a flock of about thirty turkeys sauntered through the yard. The hens and gobblers were so preoccupied with each other that I had time to get my camera and take a few shots. There were three pairs of males paired off as each tried to prove his "turkeyness" They were fluffed out huge with tail feathers displayed as they slowly circled each other.

The birds know that winter is not yet gone for good. All the regulars are still here, juncos, bluejays, red bellied and downy woodpeckers. Llast week were were even visited by a yellow bellied sapsucker. Isn't that the best name ever? It spent the day checking out the suet feeder then closely examining the trees for bugs. I suppose it is here all winter, but we seldom see it.
(Note - The yellow-bellied woodpecker came back this winter, 2010.  Perhaps it will be a regular winter visitor)

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