Seen On An Afternoon Stroll

Click on a picture for the slide show. Day two of a full week of sunshine with no rain and all work and I already need a nap.

Ride On

A lot of chores got done today.

And now that it doesn't get dark till eight, there is time left over.

To wander

The Rider On The Lawn

Keeps calling my weary body down.

I look to see what is waking up.

It reminds me of what I planted.

And makes me wonder what happened to some other things.
Ride On.

A Spring Like Bloom Day

It is more spring like down in the valley.

Bulbarella has some kin folk. In more ways than one. They are both lucky to have me for disaster management services.

High on the low spot spring is coming along.

Sadly the first big wave of daffodil blooms got zapped. They seem to have gotten ahead of the earlier crocus and anemones bulbs somehow.

This is Bloom Day. I have plenty blooms. The lighting was bad for pictures though. There is even the beginning of color as the half zapped and unzapped start to open. The daffodils even got ahead of the Trout Lilies which are among the very first blooms to show up.

The deer chomped Oconee Bell is going to put out a few blooms. This one little start has multiplied enough that I think I can safely take a cutting or two to plant new patches this year. I'll let it grow some new leaves first. Damn varmints!

I wonder if Ms. Carol at May Dreams has daffodils yet for her Bloom Day? Soon enough I will have more.

Stinze

My mother has been planting, dividing and spreading spring bulbs on this mountain for the last thirty years. It earned her the blog name Bulbarella. We do not have anything resembling a proper lawn in our forest setting, but her obsession can be and is applied to actual lawns with the same results. It goes by the Dutch name Stinze.

You may have seen lawn areas where things like crocus, snowdrops, grape hyacinth or other small blooming plants have naturalized and put on a pretty impressive display. You can do this intentionally. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon a derelict back yard with thousands of crocus in full bloom.

The smaller bulbs work best for mowed areas or actual lawns. In our forest setting daffodils can be used. Ten thousand daffodils and counting.

At the 2017 Philadelphia Flower Show, the landscape designer Carrie Preston showcased the Dutch practice of flowering lawns.

Stinze is a thing.

In our woodland setting everything is allowed to die back naturally and anything left standing is cut down over the winter before the Stinze begins again in the early spring. Doing this in a more proper lawn does mean no herbicides can be used and the first mowing has to wait until June. Nothing wrong with that as far as I am concerned.

Bulbarella Stinze, now she has a last name.

So it begins each spring. Her handiwork has spread even further than it seems.

Outside In The Warm

Today was the first sunny day without rain, in would you believe, a full four day stretch of no rain ahead. Lord it is wet out there. Houses and highways are sliding down hill. There is water drama all over the place.

Niwaki - The 'Gold Mop' chamaecyparis got their second training session of cloud pruning. I'm going all Pearl Fryar on them. This is going to take a while.

Today was aiming for 70 degrees. It's good to have backup for those days when it is 10 and all in bloom is lost.

Back to spring again.

How long will it last? I'd also like to place an order for more dry and less water.

The early ones of ten thousand daffodils spread over three acres of wild cultivated gardens took a significant hit. The first flush of bloom will be stunted.

It's always something. Good to have plenty kind plants for backup. The show will go on.

Outside In The Cold

The snow was rime. The low was 10.

Spring had been stirring.

There was bound to be some freezer burn.

Tender engorged petals.

Many are no more.

Time.

And circumstance.

It's all about the timing.

When did it hit?

How far along has this gone on?

Outside in the cold
With layer upon layer in waiting.