Sunrises Softly

For 2 more days I will enjoy the sun. 2 more days will bring the most light for the year. 2 more days of hope. 

Then the darkness will return. Creeping slowly at first, then faster and faster - aided by the clouds and rains of fall. 

But today I still have 2 more days of light and I plan to enjoy them. Tonight when I get home, I'm taking our pup for a nice walk. 

I love the long days of summer. Even though they're so short!

Snow signals

One of the best things about spring time snow is that there is usually enough light outside for you to be able to see it snow.

The second best thing about spring time snow is that if you get to see it in the morning there is usually a lovely pink sunrise peeping through it which turns the whole sky into a painting.

The third best thing about spring time snow - and maybe I should have put this first - is that by tomorrow or the next day at the latest it will all have melted. No shoveling required.

Spring is Coming

This morning I saw crows at the train station. Normally I wouldn't give a hoot about crows, but these are the first crows of the year.

When I was in 3rd grade, my history teacher told me that the Indians believed that the crow was the god for spring. If they wanted spring to come faster they would leave corn out for the crows to encourage warmer weather. I'm not sure just how accurate that information was.

A few years back I read an article that said that crows come when the ground is soft enough for them to get earthworms. Our gardens are definitely soggy and the worms are coming up.

So this morning even though it was a brisk really frigid cold cold cold morning, when I saw the crow I got a little bit warmer inside.

Just a few more weeks till the gardening chores begin!

Returning Light

One of the hardest things about commuting from country to city each day is living in darkness for about 8 months out of the year. I leave for work in the dark and come home in the dark.

This is why I love the weekend! Well, that and the usual reasons for loving the weekend.

But today I noticed then beginning of lightness as I was boarding the train on my way home. I could see a little blue in the sky. There was definitely a bit of light remaining.

It wasn't much, but I'll take it! It's the start of what will eventually be Spring.

Cherry Blossoms

This week the cherry blossoms are in bloom at our bucolic manor.  In a few days, their petals will drift down and coat the drive like snow (that doesn't need to be shoveled).

When I see them, I am always reminded of the scene from "The Last Samurai" where they say you could spend a lifetime looking for the perfect cherry blossom and it would not be wasted.  I always look at each blossom - none of them are perfect by themselves, but together - perfection.

My friend planted this tree, but she never gets to see it in bloom.  So even though it got a little damaged by the October snow this winter, enjoy the blossoms, L-!

Tulip Surprise

I spotted this bit of red in my daylily species garden on my way into the driveway last night.  Naturally I had to get out and investigate.  It's tulips!

Aren't they pretty?  I totally forgot that I had planted them there last Spring when I was putting in the daylilies.  My DH had created this new space for the daylilies, so I was just tucking in little odds and ends to balance the plants and I ran across a bag of tulip bulbs.  I had no idea what they would look like when they bloomed - I wasn't even sure how old they were or if they would bloom at all.  But the bulbs seemed healthy enough, so I dug out a little space for them at the base of the column - worst case scenario they would turn into compost - and that was that.

Such a nice red, but you can't really get a good picture of it in the dark, eh?

There you go!  These guys are real beauties.  It's like my own little bouquet of tulips sitting outside and waiting for me to come and see them.  I really debated whether or not to cut them and bring them with me to the office.  But they're tulips - and tulips don't really last a long time as cut flowers.  If I leave them where they are, they'll last a lot longer.  So that's what I did.

I love that about bulbs - planting them and then forgetting that they are there (even if you do write it down on your garden plan).  When Spring comes around even if only one of them pops up it's always an unexpected treat.  What a nice surprise!

Sweetie Scape

Each Spring my neighbor and I have a little competition over whose daylilies will bloom first.  I do plenty of trash-talking, bragging and all those things to taunt my gardener friend.  Each Spring he wins.  He has this wonderful well-established patch of tetraploid daylilies on a protected southern hillside and they bloom before anything in my gardens.

Last year I was so devastated my yet another defeat that, as I stood there admiring (to myself) his earliest bloomer, I declared that we were only counting common roadside daylilies for the competition.  Not true, but I needed a second chance.  Of course, his common roadside daylilies bloomed before mine also.

But this year... are you seeing what I'm seeing?  That's right - I see VICTORY!  My extra-early dayliles are in bud and a few are moments away from flowering.  Thanks to our mild winter, they are a few weeks ahead of schedule.  Thanks to careful selection for this particular garden the blooms go from May through October - and they are finally mature enough to put on a good show.

This year, victory is going to be mine!

Unless the deer eat them.

The Next Round

The next round of Spring blossoms has begun here at our bucolic manor.  The azalea is in bloom.  It's a little early, thanks to our mild winter this year.  You can still see the winter bronzing on the leaves.  But that doesn't detract from it's fabulous fuchsia blossoms.

I really felt like getting out my paints and spending the day capturing the essence of these beauties on canvas.  There's nothing like painting outside - plein air - with the warm sun and the fresh smell of the outdoors.

But, that wasn't in the cards.  Too many chores to do before the rain came.

So I will settle for painting with photoshop!  If I only had this years ago for my art classes.  When I was younger, my mother arranged for me to work with a local artist at her studio after school.  It was like a giant playroom to me.  I never knew what medium I would get to work with - oils, watercolors, clays - it could be anything.  She would work on her commissioned pieces or prepare for a show and I would make my own "masterpieces" of the still lifes she would set up for me.  My end results were - well, let's just say that they weren't gallery-ready.  No matter the results, though, it was great fun and I still take the time to sketch and paint now and again.

Even though photoshop can give me great results, I still do prefer actually painting.  I like that quiet time, the initial sketching, getting absorbed in the play of light and color.  So relaxing.

And my mother still thinks they are all masterpieces - you have to love that!

Planter Planting Time

It's mid-April and it is finally time to start putting out the flowers.  I let the last flowers of fall die off and start to compost a bit in the planters.  A little extra compost never hurt, right?  I know just what to plant - it's the same flower that I've planted every Spring since I was a little girl.  The only thing that changes is which color I choose.

I pulled out all of last year's remains and mixed up the soil in the planter.  It's nice and fluffy now so the roots from the flowers will not have to work too hard to reach out and grab ahold in their new home.  I have to admit that I know the folly that I am starting.  These flowers are for Spring - maybe a little early Summer bloom, but then they should...go away.  I just want a little color from what should be a Spring-only plant.  But I know that is not what is going to happen.

Because I'm talking about pansies.  Cute little Johnny-jump-ups (viola cornuta) and pansies.  My DH loves purple, so I went with a mix this year.  The johnny-jump-ups have that very traditional purple/yellow/white face and the pansies I chose are a dark velvety purple.  They really compliment each other nicely.

I put the pansies in the center of the container.  They only grow about 6-inches tall, which is sort of short for a center plant in a container.  But these containers are on front steps of our bucolic manor and anything higher would get hit by shopping bags or our very enthusiastic pup when she goes out for a walk.  So 6-inches will be just perfect for the height.

The johnny-jump-ups will go around the edge of the container and cascade a bit over the side.  This is going to make the planters look really full and the johnny-jump-ups will get a lot of room to move around in the breeze.  Right now they look very subdued - as if they know what their job is and are resigned to doing it.  They remind me of that sweet little look that our pup give me when I'm holding a bribe biscuit in my hand.  I realize that no matter how I planted them, they're going to do what they want.

I put some time-released fertilizer on top of the soil.  That should give them enough food to get started and hopefully ease their transition from the warmth of the greenhouse to the cool night-time temperatures that they will now live with.  They're starting to perk up already.

They really are such pretty little flowers.  I just hope they know that it's okay if they don't last until Winter.  Really.

Passing Storm

With all of the clouds over the city today, I thought for sure we would get some rain, but the sun broke through and streamed down just in time for the evening train.

We celebrated the lack of snow this winter, but of course that means that there wasn't any snow pack to melt.  So I was really hoping that there would be a nice heavy rain to soak everything.  But there wasn't.

I guess I should start celebrating the fact that I haven't gotten drenched once (yet) this Spring.  And when I look around at the flowers, they seem to be doing alright without any downpours (so far).

But being the worrier that I am, I can't help but thinking that we are in for a scorcher of a summer with perhaps a drought thrown in for good measure.  I gues that makes up for all of the horrible flooding we had last Spring!

Up at our bucolic manor, we've already started putting our water conservation measures in place.  We usually are very conservative with water in the gardens.  I think about it a lot - maybe because I come from the Great Lake state and am living in a landlocked town?  We'll use the dish water on the flowers that can't stand it, and layering a lot of mulch everywhere we can put it.  That will help cut down on the weeds also.

But all of that is for later.

Right now, I'm going to just take a moment and enjoy watching the sun streaming through the clouds.  If you ignore all of the water issues, it's just a beautiful thing.

One More Time

I know it's a repeat - sort of, but I just had to do it because this little display passes so quickly.  These are the forsythia and chionodoxa with daffodils getting towards the end of their burst of glorious color.

The forsythia will fade first - the green leaves come in and the blooms fall off.  The chionodoxa goes next - just the grassy leaves stay for a few more months, soaking in the sun and recharging for next year.

The daffodils will last longer though.  They are early, mid and late season daffodils so we will have their flowers to look at for a few more months - the late ones haven't even come up yet!

But this week will be the last where the three of them are all blooming at the same time.  After this week, the gardens start to change and the hunt for the first lilacs begins.

It is the best time.

Parks on Parks

I went for a walk down by the park next to the park next to the park next to the park next to the river.  It was lovely - blah blah blah - as expected.  You can just glimpse the river through the trees if you zoom in all the way.

But there was something I just wasn't seeing at first.

There was another layer of park.  Yup.  This is the park, next to the park next to the park next to the park next to the park next to the river.

5 parks.  Separated only by roads.  But that tiny bit of separation is enough to give them all their own little names and plaques.  Some of them you can walk through on paths, others you can only view from behind an ironwork fence.

When I look out my office window I only see the trees and the river - not all of this separation of park-age.  (Yes, river view office.  I know! Right!?)

And on the few days that I actually make it outside during working hours to actually walk, I usually don't go over to the park(s).  So I never really noticed.

But there you have it.  A park, next to the park next to the park next to the park next to the park next to the river.

New York - Go figure.

No Denying Them

Even though it snowed yesterday, the daffodils will not be denied.  They will make their stand.

Here.  Now.  

This Spring.  

They will not surrender to the snow.

Billions of Blossoms

There is almost a billion dollars up for grabs in tonight's Mega Millions lottery so I thought about the one thing here at our bucolic manor that number in almost the billions.  Forsythia blossoms.

Now I haven't counted them individually (I'm saving that for a weekend activity!), but just by looking at the sheer quantity of them, surely there must be close to a billion, no?

Their perky golden yellow blooms fill the front garden, the side and the bower gardens.  Even though there are bare spots due to the snow/warm snap last October where some of them bloomed early, there are still a ton of blossoms that came out for the Spring Show.

Just lovely - right?  And this is only a portion of them.

I wonder if forsythia blossoms were ever contemplated the way that cherry blossoms are.  They say that you can look at each individual cherry blossom for a lifetime and never find one that is absolutely perfect.  Has anyone ever done that with a forsythia.

I'm going to have to give it a go.

I've Got Your Back

These two beauties were not stopped by the freeze last night.  Maybe because they really believe in the buddy system.  They clearly have each other's back!

When we get a freeze at this point in the cycle of Spring, it is a hit or miss type of thing.  Because of the mountains surrounding us we often get hit really hard - or totally missed by the weather.  We'll see rain on the radar and in the sky, but it will be 1/2 mile up or down the road.  Or they'll say the rain is going to miss us and we get flooding that Noah didn't even think was possible.

These two beauties are in a pretty good spot.  They have a nice little hedge behind them to block some of the wind.  A lot of mulch to keep their roots warm.  Full sun from from first light at sunrise to sunset.

Even with all of that going for them, they are still looking out for each other.  I think that's so sweet!

Apple Blossom Time

Last October our apples tree took a big hit in the snow storm. We had to prune them back really severely and we weren't sure if they were going to make it through, so it was wonderful to see them come into bloom this weekend.

They're not as heavily blooming as last year, but considering that they have lost over 1/2 of their limbs, I think they're doing really well.

Their blossoms are so delicate and lovely.  It's to bad that we're getting a hard freeze tonight.  Tomorrow they will be gone and no apples for us this year.

They good news is that the trees survived their storm damage and will live another year.

Not bad for "rescue" trees.

Checking In

It's been a whole week since I planted the peas in the vegetable parterre.  Of course I had to rush outside as soon as possible to check on them.  How high would they be?  Did they have their little leaves yet?  Or those cute little tendrils that grasp onto anything within reach like a baby's hand?  I'll bet they are going like gangbusters!

Ummm.  Not so much.

No sign of them yet, but it's only been a week.  It's okay.  I didn't really expect anything to be there yet.  I only thought that it could happen because it's been so warm this week.  It almost feels kind of summery.

I'll check them again next weekend.  Maybe they will be peeking out by then.

Commuting Bud-ies

In Manhattan, all of the trees on the avenues are in bloom, but up north we're just starting to get some serious buds on the trees and bushes.  After a night of gentle misty rain, the buds on this magnolia seemed to swell up instantly making for a lovely lace against the dark morning sky.

It will be a race to see if it will bloom before the next weather roller coaster ride brings us some frost.  There is a chance that the buds will stay nice and tight and make it through the frost, so only the tips get a little frostbite.

I'm going to hope for that.  

A few years ago when we had a warm February, all of my flowers came up early.  I was so happy!  There were blooms everywhere and they looked magnificent.  But then, as it usually does when we have a warm early Spring, an ice storm came along.  Every single flower died.  And not only did the blooms die off in a single night, but all of the foliage died as well.

This meant that not a single one of the flowers that bloomed that early Spring survived to bloom another year.

So while I am enjoying the buds, I am very cautious in my optimism.  I am looking forward to them opening, but like with any new tiny little growing thing, I worry about it's safety.

Maybe I shouldn't worry so much.  These things have a way of working themselves out.

Happy Spring!

The streets were in bloom today, celebrating the first day of Spring!  Up and down Broadway, the daffodils  from the Daffodil Project were in full bloom.  They say there are now more than 10 million daffodils in the city now - and I think they were all open today, showing off their fancy frills and bringing a smile to my face.

It wasn't just the large daffodils either, even the smaller ones were showing off.

Of course the dogwoods had to get in on the excitement as well.  I just love how such a gentle pink can make such a bold statement when you put them in the middle of the avenue.

Their blooms are fleeting - and very messy.  Good thing the street sweepers don't have to contend with snow.  Did I mention there's no snow?  Because it's SPRING!

These are my favorites, though.  They line the streets for block and blocks and give off a wonderful scent.  I'm not sure what they are - strangely enough I've never bothered to classify them - I just enjoy them.  Their little white bundles of blossoms are so delicate and beautiful.  It makes walking down the street feel as though you're walking through a field of flowers in the middle of the city.

Ah, Spring!

Weather Math

Here's the question.  What does 79 minus 42 equal?  Answer: 1 winter coat, 1 scarf, 1 sweater, 1 hat and a pair of mittens.  

On this last day of winter, I left for work bundled up from head to toe in warm winter garb.  But!  Since I work in Manhattan it was much warmer by the time I got down to the city, the temperature difference at this time of year is about 40-degrees.  Today it was a 37-degree difference.

So while I enjoyed walking around outside all day without a coat or even a sweater, I still had to lug my winter clothes back across town to the train and then layer them on to get to the truck once I got upstate.

I've been commuting a few years now, but this strange weather gap is something that I've never gotten used to.  I've been snowed in while my southern friends are picnicking at the park.  I've spent the day buried under blankets in front of a wood stove, they've spent it in shorts and T-shirts in front of a barbecue.  It is the time of year when I really feel as though I live on a different planet from where I work.

This year, again no complaints here as I am not still living in an arctic icebox, but still it seems strange to go to work wearing mittens and then walk around without even a jacket once I'm there.

I'm just sayin'.