Sunday, April 17, 2011

Here They Come

Tsar and I took a stroll around the yard looking for those wonderful signs of spring and we had mixed results.

We found this Robin hopping around in the grass looking for bugs or worms to take home to the family. When we lived in the Northeast, seeing a Robin was often the first sign of Spring, but Robins winter here so we see lots of them even in the snowy months.


 We decided to look down first and we found lots of green shoots pushing up.

These are Iris and will soon have their pretty purple flowers.

The Hosta are just waking up in the rock garden.

We love how the wild Violets are moving into the rock garden. These always make me smile. I pulled Tess out of a patch of them when she wanted to roll in them.

Some flowers are already up and in bloom.

This Bleeding Heart makes me smile. I've actually tried to kill this plant several times and it keeps coming back. It's poisonous to dogs and when the pups were younger, they loved to chew on plants in the garden. I tried cutting it down and pulling it out, but it's still here. Fortunately, the dogs pay no attention to it anymore.

The Clematis are climbing up the trellis and will be flowering soon.

Do you see the Periwinkle flowers hiding under the leaves? These are growing under the porch and around the front steps.

Now Tsar and I looked up.

The Plum tree bloomed this year, though not as fully as in other years.

This is part of the reason I love Spring so much. The trees and flowers put on such a beautiful show for us.
The Maples in the side yard are sending out their helicopter seed pods. With the next wind, they'll be flying all over the neighborhood.

The apple blossoms were beautiful this year, but we were sad because neither of our Cherry trees flowered. We don't know if it was due to the drought last summer, or because the weather has fluctuated so this spring. We're had days in the mid to high eighties followed by days in the twenties. The delicate fruit trees probably couldn't adjust. I miss seeing the cherry blossoms.

13 comments:

SissySees said...

We saw much of the same on our walk today. It was truly a perfect 48 minutes. Sissy even had her game on and never missed a single request.

Dexter said...

We still aren't seeing too much of that around here, but a few more days like today should do the trick. Tsar is looking quite dapper.

Mango Momma

soulbrush said...

Their coats are so long, they look terrific.Can't wait to see them hunt for their Easter eggs again this year.

♥♥ The OP Pack ♥♥ said...

Great garden tour with handsome Tsar. We have a tree that looks very similar to your plum tree. We don't know what it is, but every season it bursts into bloom and then the heavy rain and wind come and blow all the pretty flowers away:( Thanks for the tip about bleeding heart. We don't have any here, but good to know.

Woos ~ Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara

Marjie said...

You're way ahead of us on the flowering department! Tsar sure is a pretty guy. It looks like you had a successful hunt for spring!

Bella Roxy & Macdui said...

It's just beautiful. We pretty much have flowers all year, but always look forward to those that just come out in Spring and Summer.

XXXOOO Daisy, Kendra & Bella

rottrover said...

Spring has sprung in your yard! Thanks Tsar :-)

-Gizmo, Bart and Ruby

Two French Bulldogs said...

and you did a wonderful job finding spring
Benny & Lily

~Kim at Golden Pines~ said...

We're finding more and more signs of spring here too, and we share your excitement in seeing everything!

Chewy said...

we see that too! I am so happy spring is here!

Chewy

Wyatt said...

We just love this time of year too. So much promise, all things are possible!

Wyatt and Stanzie

Molly the Airedale said...

You guys are ahead of us!
We love seeing all of your beautiful flowers and flowering trees.

Love ya lots
Maggie and Mitch

gMarie said...

I love signs of spring. I did not know that bleeding hearts were poisonous. Thanks for sharing that - I don't think we have any in the yard, but I do love them. g