Spring green

It's been remarkable to see spring explode this year.  Perhaps this is normal, and I don't remember it being quite so quick, or didn't observe it closely enough.

Spring in the Piedmont

My gardening companion and I were wishing that we could see what will be happening in the mountains next weekend, although plenty will be happening (plant-wise) here at home in the Piedmont.

He's taking a group of college students in CU's Students for Environmental Action to visit a premier wildflower site on Sunday -Station Cove Botanical Area in USDA Forest Service land, adjacent to Oconee Station State Park.  It's a wonderland of botanical treasures, especially spring woodland wildflowers.

Green haze of spring

But I do think that the warm weather in February and early March has created an environment that has promoted the simultaneous flowering of oaks and hickories, flowering of redbuds and dogwoods, and it means now that SPRING is here.

Tulips

These apricot-colored tulips are at their peak.  Bought as an impulse at the fall plant sale, I tucked them in an old pot near the potting bench.  But as they emerged, we took them out to the porch -- with the warm weather and time change, we'll have dinner out there this evening.

It's a reminder that we're almost to official spring.

Thank goodness.

Spring-like weather

With a week ahead of lovely spring-like days, it's hard not to be enthusiastic about gardening of all sorts.

We certainly have cold days ahead, and frost, too, but what a gift to have a week of great weather, after a winter full of cold and snow (at least by our standards in the Southestern US).

There are cool-season greens to sow (racing against the bolting stimulated by longer days) and native trees, shrubs, and perennials to think about (as well as the hardy and well-behaved non-natives).

But there are also warm-season veggies to start in our warm greenhouses, or above a heating mat -- tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and tomatillos, not to mention a host of other plants that enjoy a head start on spring.

Looking forward to spring

This time of year is one of looking forward. 

For those of us in the Southern U.S., spring is practically around the corner, as February will bring a number of pleasant days (just like we've had recently, with highs pushing 50°F with sunshine, woo-hoo!)

After the extremely cold weather in December and January, we're ready for a bit of our 'normal' Southern winter weather.

Actually, spring renewal doesn't really begin until mid February, with the flowering of the native red maples, along with the Asian ornamentals (Prunus & Magnolia selections, as well as many others).

But with the days lengthening, I feel the sense of spring just around the corner.  That's a good feeling.

A lovely spring day

Much cooler than normal, we had another fabulous spring day here in the Carolinas. I was whining about our exceptionally cold and rainy winter weather through late February, but March and April have been quite nice. 

We've had only a few hot spells, along with lower than normal temperatures.  Now, if rainfall amounts get back up to 'normal' - we're still three inches short for the year - that would be great!

A morning view through the gate

Leaving for work this morning, the light was perfect -- soft and mellow.

The young coral honeysuckle next to the gate is thriving, and in full flower.

And through the gate (or really over the fence), the side garden looked lovely, too, cloaked in spring greens, with dogwood white.

Easter and spring

Easter, even for us secular folks, means that spring has arrived. Here in the Southeastern U.S., it was a lovely day: warm, sunny, and glorious with spring flowers (wild, ornamental, herbaceous, and otherwise).

My gardening companion filled up the new raised beds with the rich 'created' topsoil this morning, so we're ready to plant next weekend (and build two more new beds!)

Back home in the Piedmont, I tidied the satellite garden, and turned over all of the soil blocks in the main vegetable garden. It's beautiful soil there, but it will either be fallow or filled with marigolds this summer, as an control for the root-knot nematodes that have been a problem in recent seasons (for susceptible cole, pepper, and tomato varieties).

The garlic is looking great in the satellite garden, and the onions are coming along. And the asparagus plants (grown from seed last year) have popped up new foliage, wispy to be sure! The robust asparagus crowns that I planted last week may be better contenders for permanent space, but we'll see.

I've got 3 artichoke plants to put somewhere -- probably in a spot that shallots didn't come up. I can't imagine woodchucks liking artichokes.... do you think?

Spring in the mountains

It's still early yet, in the Southern Appalachian mountains. But evidence of spring is everywhere, from the flowering daffodils to our native empheral wildflowers to the red maple fruits.

It was a long winter here in the mountains, too, and local (Asheville, NC) columnists have remarked on it.

Curiously, areas normally blasted by hard winters (the midwest) haven't been so bad this year. My friend Corrie says that it hasn't been so harsh this winter in Madison, WS -- I'm glad for them!

The northeastern states, however, had plenty of snow and late winter storms, not to mention the colder temperatures for the southeastern U.S.

Spring

In some years, spring creeps in slowly and gradually, marked by an orderly progression of early flowering bulbs, Asian Prunus and Magnolia, followed by our native woodland wildflowers accompanied by native wind-pollinated maples, alders, and birches. More Asian species flower (quince, forsythia, winter jasmine...) and then our native forest trees release their pollen (achoo!) -- the oaks and hickories, in particular. Cedars and pines, although heavy pollen producers, aren't actually as allergenic as some of the other wind-pollinated species, I think because their pollen is larger, just like the pollen of insect and animal-pollinated flowers.

This year, however, spring is blasting in. Every day brings new evidence of buds swelling, shoots emerging, and flowers opening. The long cold winter has delayed progress of many herbaceous perennials, but they're emerging now.

And the overwintered greens -- kale, mustard, arugula, and spinach- after all the cold, they're primed to bolt, flower and produce seed pronto. Not in this year will they stay vegetative over a long cool spring. And the peas I sowed (optimistically some time ago) are finally emerging, too, to experience ??? hot weather, cool weather, rainy weather, or dry weather.

Gardening is fun because it's so unpredictable, I guess!

Emerging spring shoots

Lots of plants are expanding shoots, and showing plumped-up buds. Spring is definitely on its way.

This creeping jenny plant, in a very shallow terracotta dish, looked like a goner after going through our harsh (for us) winter. But here are new shoots emerging. Fabulous.

Soggy soil

After several days of wonderful spring-like weather, we're back to soggy soil and runoff. I'm quite sure that the groundwater supply is WELL recharged by now. Squishing across the lawn, getting muddy shoes in the trampled areas, and hearing a first 'spring' thunderstorm this afternoon are good signs, I suppose, for an amply wet spring.

I haven't even checked the long-term forecasts from the climate folks, as I would worriedly do during our recent drought years. The lakes are full pool, meaning our city water supply is ample, and the soil and subsoil is totally saturated.

It's time for more sun and warmth, and spring growth, even if it means concentrated pollen release from wind-pollinated trees and shrubs (achoo!)