Showing posts with label hyacinth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hyacinth. Show all posts

Monday, January 21, 2013

Easing back in

I've been away from my blog so long that I feel like a stranger.  And the truth is that I've been away from my garden far too long as well.  The absolutely necessary chores have been attended to.  The birds are fed, the mulch and compost have been spread, the irises transplanted. The summer weeds were pulled (though the winter ones are now taking over).  But my emotional energy was spent in other places this last year.  Not only did I fail to write about the garden, I took fewer pictures.  It feels as though I missed both summer and fall.  My heart was elsewhere.
Blogging is like so many other things - the longer you neglect it, the harder it is to remember why you were doing it in the first place.
But I DO remember - I remember that all I wanted from this blog was a convenient way to keep a garden diary.  And I remember that it became so much more than that - it became a link to a supportive network from all over the world, thanks largely to Blotanical.  A link to inspiration, information, entertainment, encouragement and so much more.  That network is still out there, of course, but I've removed myself from it.  When I don't post, I don't read much either.  I've missed it.
So - I'm easing back in.  This week I carried my camera with me when I took Marty for his morning walk.
Around this corner


there are great mounds of forsythia that have already begun to bloom.



And just next door this early blooming tree (an Eastern redbud?)  
has already shed many of it's fragrant blossoms.


The early morning light brightens my spirits after several gray and dreary days.


As do the crocuses and the hyacinths 
peaking up from beneath the leaves.



It is still winter, but my spirits are lifted thinking about what's to come.

"Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle ... a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl. And the anticipation nurtures our dream."
- Barbara Winkler

Monday, January 23, 2012

Waking from a nap?

My garden thinks Spring is coming soon.  I would say that it's waking up, but I don't think it ever fully went to sleep - it's just been napping due to the mild winter we're having.  I hope we aren't in for a big freezing surprise - after all, we have a history of February and March snowstorms.
March 1980
February 2010
The Professor Sargeant camellia (seen in the picture above) is in full bloom.  It says winter to me, as it always blooms through the winter months.  But the other blooms and emerging foliage I saw Saturday say Spring is coming. They encourage me to think past the dreary days.
Vinca blooming in a container
Crocus emerging

Hyacinths blooming
Daffodils budding
Hellebore bud nestled in new foliage
And the sight of this little fellow always cheers me up.  Goldfinches aren't year round inhabitants this far east, so I only see them in the late winter months.  Their coats aren't as bright gold as they are in the summer, but they're still sunny!