Since Sunday morning, there have been three important events that herald spring and the opening of gardening season here.
- The annual Skunk Cabbage Run (half marathon or 10K, take your pick) goes by our front door every year on the first Sunday in April, or at least that’s my recollection. Sometimes it’s snowy or sleeting or generally miserable. But this year it was beautiful. Sunny and 50s as the runners passed and 60s later on.
- When I finally finished my taxes and got outside, first thing I noticed is the bees are back — working over the spring ephemerals (pix below) like Fred working over his bowl of kibbles.
- Then tonight while doing a little more tidying up outside, I heard the spring peepers for the first time. They haven’t turned the volume up to 11 yet. But it was a nice chorus.
Here’s what was blooming yesterday …
Iris
Hungry bee
Another bee …
OK, last one (even though I have more) …
And one last Iris shot.
And a crocus series …
Closer …
Closests
Yellow crocus
I should know this but I don’t …
OK, one last bee shot …
And my snowdrops. Not as impressive at Hitch’s. But I like ’em.
While I was still in Austin, I called home on Sunday, and the first things I was told were: 1) the weather was gorgeous 2) the crocus are blooming in full force 3) the bees are back. Well, there are more bees than last year, but still not as many as some years.
I think your snowdrops are absolutely gorgeous. And so are the crocuses and the irises. Can’t wait until I have an outdoor space for a real garden again. For now it’s just containers for me.
I am a native of Southern Californian, but now live in very rural Central Oklahoma (by choice). Gardening here is a very different experience and challenging, but not without its joys and rewards. You learn what and how to grow things here.
I enjoy your website very much.
Here are some experiences I have had on my place in the Oklahoma Hills.
Honey Bees :
Last year, there were few bees by comparison to the normal numbers, maybe a few hundred, but this year there are thousands of bees again visiting my gardens and orchards and flower trees and shrubs. I am going to be putting out saucers of sugar water to feed them and encourage them to come and visit my flowers and fruit tree blossoms. Happy me. I love my little fuzzy buddies.
Peeper frogs and Spring weather:
For the past few years we have been experiencing warmer, drier winters and earlier, wetter, springs. This year it was more the normal. The peepers began singing in early March. We had a warm and pleasant March, with day temps in the 60s, 70s and even a few days of 80s and night temps in the 50s! As you said, Peeper Frogs are harbingers of Spring and it is a welcome song to hear after months of snow and ice and cold, gray days. It is the promise of rebirth and renewal. Now here it is April and we are having chilly temps and strong winds, with cold fronts moving down into the state, one after another, churning up sever thunderstorms and severe weather. The months of March and April seem to flip their order and this is not abnormal in Oklahoma. The official tornado season kicks off in May, but this year we are already having them. There were bad storms again last night.
Because of late cold snaps that can bring temps way down into the teens, we often as not end up losing our fruit tree crops due to the deep freezes that come through just as the trees are in full bloom. Bummer! Pears manage to make it through and do fine, but I often lose the early blooming apples and peaches, and apricots seldom make it the fruiting stage. When they do I am deliriously happy!
Small Livestock:
It’s Spring and I think of getting new chicks and ducklings. I have a lop-ear black rabbit that is a spoiled bunny, but he does provide ample amounts of perfectly pelleted manure. He was a rescued pet. I lost all my dear feathered friends, chickens and my sweet guineas that I raised from chicks and had for several years. The neighbor’s dogs and marauding bands of raccoons took them out one by one. Coyotes never come down into our yard although they do come close. Owls and Marsh Hawks have accounted for three loses, but mostly it was raccoons and dogs.
I am getting more chicks soon. I will keep them up in the henhouse and chicken run until I get the rest of the field fencing up so I can let my dogs run out back at night and hopefully keep the neighbor’s dogs out of our yard during the day. My two big dogs will take care of the raccoon problem at night.
And hopefully this will also keep the raccoons out of my fish pond too. I lost over 120 goldfish, Shubunkins, and my big beautiful Butterfly Koi. (grrr)
Spring Gardens:
I love Spring!
My strawberries are blooming and the asparagus is sending up shoots.
I am restructuring my Kitchen Garden and incorporating my herbs in with it and doing away with my old herb garden up on the hill that I loved so much. I had seven distinct gardens at one time, but due to my arthritis and other problems I have had to consolidate my growing areas into one area around the east and north side of the house and let the rest go back to Bermuda grass. I want to get some dwarf fruit trees and keep them trimmed so I can reach the fruit and be more able to care for them. I bought some new thornless blackberries and can’t wait to get them into the ground.
Don’t you think cabbages, broccoli, green onions and other early garden crops are among the most beautiful things a’body can grow? The combination of leaf textures and all those various hues and shades of green are just gorgeous! Anxious for all this rain to stop so I can get out there and play in the dirt!
~ Annie