Hallelujah! It's Spring
Hallelujah! It's Spring! The cherry tree was in full bloom this week. Today, the wind is blowing so hard that most of the petals have been blown away. Sometimes, the white petals almost look like snow flying through the air.
The hyacinth's are still in bloom and the daffodils are, too, but near the end of their blooming season. Last year, the miniature daffodils were just beginning to bloom on March 30th. This year, they have already bloomed and gone.
The forsythia is really gorgeous this year with cascades of bright yellow flowers on the branches. (It's actually our neighbor's forsythia, but it faces our garage door and we get to enjoy it.)
Remember we planted
butterfly weed early last fall? Monarch butterflies lay their eggs on this plant, a North American milkweed. I have been checking daily since everything has been coming up, and had almost lost hope, but there it is! It is planted just a few feet from the butterfly bush. The lavender butterfly bush alongside the butterfly weed, which has flowers that are flat-topped clusters of bright golden yellow petals, should be a striking combination.
I am pretty excited about this new plant and the thought of more Monarch butterflies. This Monarch butterfly was on the butterfly bush a couple of years ago.
The bad thing about the butterfly weed is that the caterpillar eats the leaves. The plant will be chewed up some, but that seems a small price to pay. Hopefully, the grandkids will be able to see the life cycle from the egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, to the butterfly. They will be in awe.
The tiny violets are blooming right now, too. This is really early for some of these plants to be coming up in Northern Kentucky. I want to cut a bunch of these and make candied violets before they are gone. A recipe for candied violets can be found here. ►Candied violets.
This 'Pink Champagne' Clematis has been growing here since May of 2014. It is only the first week in April and there is a multitude of buds on this plant!
Never having had any clematis before, I had no idea how to grow these or what to expect. The stems at the top of this plant looked dead and I had considered trimming it off, but refrained. Thank heaven I did! Look at all the growth in the past two weeks! There are a lot of stems coming up from the bottom, too.
This is a picture of a blossom from last year. The blooms are a bright fuschia color and the blossoms can be six to eight inches across. Last year they were about six inches. They seemed small in comparison to a lot of the clematis I have seen before. This early start has me anticipating a big pop of color soon.
This has to be my favorite season of the year. Watching all of the beautiful flowers and anticipating waves of colorful blooms for the nest few months is exciting. Hallelujah! It's Spring!
