Greening Up

Yesterday afternoon, WS and I took a tour of the open grounds (as opposed to the woods out back), to see how all the plants and trees had fared thru the winter. We started off in the front iris bed (the one against the front of the house) where all seems to be doing well and greening up. There is a rogue tulip pushing up foliage there, I am not exactly sure if I planted it there or not, but it seems happy, so there it will stay.

Then we went to the bank along the driveway. The forsythia are starting to bud, which means the ground has finally thawed out a bit (it is always in shade and has been frozen into June before). The lilies by the well are just starting to show some green, but the peonies have not even attempted to end their winter nap.

The new flower garden, that I put in at the corner of the driveway and street laste year, seems to be doing well. There are bulbs pushing up and some of the perennials are sending out experimental green shoots. This too, is an area that is beset by a lot of shade, so it is slower to get going than other places. I need to get out and clean up the dead stalks and leaves this weekend (provided it doesn't rain the entire time)

Next we visited the area below the fence. The lilies are growing great guns there and have obviously been busy splitting off young lilies. They are even starting to invade the yard inside the fence (fine by me, but amazing since that is where the dogs "go" most of the time).

The flower boxes in the railroad tie retaining walls are for the most part greening up. There are a couple of areas that I am concerned about, but I will have to give them time. I transplanted several plants there last fall, so they may just be still recovering from that.

The fruit trees are all showing promises of leaves to come. One of the peach trees will have to come down this year as it leans so badly that the only thing keeping it from laying on the ground (on the downhill side no less), is that some of its branches are caught in the crabapple tree. Having Jimmy drop the birch tree on it a couple of years ago did it no favors. We staked it after that, but it seems determined not to try to stand tall.

While we were inspecting the trees, I heard a cry in the sky and looked up in awe as a hawk circled our front yard several times before moving to the back yard, then over the woods in back. I told WS to take a good look and we would try to find it in one of my books. It had a white unerbelly, with perhaps a small band of dark feathers outlining the wings. When it rolled during its turn, we could see a distinct band of white across the tail. We never found a picture that matched what we saw, but I think it might have been a broad-shouldered winged hawk (in its light phase).

After the hawk disappeared, we inspected the back yard. The roses are showing a tinge of green and the forsythia is in full bloom. The strawberries I planted on the bank below the dog pen are putting out leaves too. Those were transplants from the neighbor last fall, so I don't really expect them to produce this year. Heck, I'm amazed they survived since I didn't amend the soil so they are trying to grow in heavy clay!

So it seems that the people, animals and plants came thru the winter in pretty good shap. Can't complain about that!

Comments

[Cop Car]

Great! It would be a shame to have your hard work belayed by winter. Our strawberries will be ready for me to start picking them, this week, I think. I've you to thank for our strawberries. Not having ever grown strawberries, your example served as strong encouragement. Thank you. Your hawk paragraph gets e-mailed to Elder Brother.

[Cop Car]

Correction: Strawberry season started today! In fact, a little critter had been there before me on a couple of nice, ripe berries. We should have a good crop of gooseberries since the bush is loaded with blossoms (they're falling off, now.)

[bogie]

Hope EB has an easier time of identifying it by our description than we did!

We were all excited last night because WS spotted a cardinal below the birdfeeder in the center of the driveway. We have never had a cardinal in our yard. We watched it peck around for a while before winging off.

[Cop Car]

How did you wing off? Syntax, dear, syntax. No, EB didn't have any more idea what you and WS saw than I did (or, at least that's what he wrote back). He did say that only a woman could have found a broad-shouldered hawk, though. (That was a jab at ME--lol.) I knew that he would enjoy the account. Now he'll read about your cardinal.