Friday, April 5, 2019

Startled By Spring

When I look out my windows, I am startled by the changes that are now happening so quickly. 

There are leaves emerging, and flowering shrubs blooming and things popping out of the ground. 


The native dogwoods are beginning to bloom. 



The Oregon Grape and Viburnum burkwoodii are highly fragrant and fill the air with their sweet scent.




The native purple wood violets are popping up and beginning to bloom. 
Fancy trillium and pulmonaria.
Podophyllum, May Apple, is emerging. 
And that is just what I can see from my front window.  Around the yard, spring beauty is spreading.
 Freely seeding violas, once confined to a patio pot, have escaped and are blooming in the patio seams. 



 Bright new leaves on the bonsai maple.





 Lamium


 Grape hyacinths and chives.
 The espaliered apple trees are sprouting leaves. It remains to be seen how much they bloom this year. 

 Native flowering red currant.
New leaves on the red leaf Japanese maple. 


Tender shoots of bleeding heart. 


 So much beginning to erupt. 


 Low growing native Mahonia
 The first hostas emerging.
 Fat stalks of meadow rue pushing up. 
 A  martagon lily erupting. 

 Another bleeding heart already blooming as it pushed up out of the earth.
 Golden Japanese Forest Grass and grape hyacinths. 
 Tom has corralled the golden hop. He says it is growing a foot a day. 


Native wood sorrel, Oxalis, bubbles up under the cedar tree. 
 The Mouse plant, Arisarum proboscideum, is hatching little mousies.

 The sword ferns will soon send forth their fiddle heads. 


I took these photos on Thursday, when it was sunny. Now it is raining. Good. We need it. And from the house. looking out, the rain just makes the garden glow. 


I am startled by Spring! It is glorious. 

17 comments:

  1. Everything thrives in your lovely yard!!

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  2. it is amazing how spring suddenly blooms, even in our desert our red bud tree is blooming and a few hardy plants-will have to take some photos. Love having leaves on the trees again.

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  3. I can see your soil is so rich and good. We have to bring in soil as a deep vein of clay is what we find when we dig down 10 inches.

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    1. Our soil is glacial till - sand and gravel. Years of leaf mulch have added humus to the soil to make it richer and a bit more moisture retentive.

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  4. Your garden is in overdrive. It is looking beautiful!

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  5. Spring at its finest. While your garden is beautiful in any season, there is something compelling about spring blooming that speaks right to the heart.

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  6. So very beautiful! I am excited by the incredible changes so quickly. It's a little behind up north of Seattle, here in Bellingham. But glorious here, too. :-)

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  7. The plants you have are resilient and respond quickly to the increasing light. It is surprising after some of your recent weather.

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  8. Such a beautiful garden! Spring is such a special time with all the plants beginning their journey. I love the fullness of the garden in summer but spring brings joyful surprises. Thanks for sharing!

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  9. Wow! Wet. cold winters are rather nifty because of the beauty of spring in your neck of the woods. We don't have winter to spring here in Hawaii. Our plants don't really die back and are just always there. Not complaining, but your pictures make me awestruck!

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  10. Just beautiful. You could easily charge a fee to tour your garden and you let us do it for free. Thank you.

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  11. I know I already commented on this post but I have a question. Since your flowerbeds always look wonderful you might be able to advise me. My Lily bed looks so empty and forlorn at this point and I was wondering if I could plant some low-growing perennial ( like Rock Cress)and let the Lilies grow through them. Obviously the Rock Cress would be finished long before the Lilies come into their own.

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    1. Sure, you could plant rock cress for spring color, or creeping phlox, or use the annual sweet alyssum, which would bloom longer, reseed and come back on its own. I have lilies mixed in with other things, like in the rose bed, where I have spreading hardy geranium cover, and ground covers like sweet woodruff, native oxalis, wild violet, all things that can be thugs and we pull our more stuff than we plant now.

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    2. Thanks Linda. I appreciate you taking the time to give me some good ideas.

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  12. Your gardens are looking so pretty. After a long winter wait, it is amazing how quickly everything changes.

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  13. You have a beautiful Spring happening! That Forsythia is stunning! :)

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  14. It's startling how quickly gardens change this time of year. I was away for only a couple of days but was also startled by all the change that had happened in my absence.

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