Spring Gardening

It's Spring in my garden again and everything is starting to grow and bloom!

The crab apple tree has lovely pink and white blossoms.

The honey crisp apple tree when it was getting ready to bloom.

Here's what appeared afterwards!  A future apple!

The blueberry bush has lovely green and pink honeysuckle-like flowers.

Pretty white and yellow strawberry flowers.

Even the brussel sprout plants left over from last year are blooming!  As a side note, I recently discovered that you can eat brussel sprout leaves, not just the brussel sprouts.  These leaves are actually quite tasty, so what a plus that you can basically eat that plant all year long!

Here's a Kale plant that is still growing from last year. 

This a a parsley plant that also survived Winter. 

Pretty purple chive blooms (you can eat those!). 

This is some strange leafy prickly plant that my mom calls "Gao Choi" in Chinese.  She picks the leaves off and makes a soup filled with it.  It doesn't taste half bad, but I have no idea what it's called in English. 

My sister's in-laws gave us two persimmon trees that they grew from seeds.  They are still small as bushes, but the leaves look pretty. 

The raspberry bushes are starting to fill out.  I can hardly wait for when they start to produce fruit. 

The oregano and thyme plants from last year are multiplying. 

Some kind of kale-like plant that grew last year from seeds.  I cannot be sure that it is Kale since it seems much shorter than the other kale plants we have, but it tastes good.  It might be the mustard plants we planted last year?  Anyways, it's not just a weed and we have been eating it all Spring. 

There's a whole plot of them growing among the English mint and Lemon Balm. 

The seed potatoes on the shelves outside got raided by the local rodents, but it looks like some seed potatoes got left behind in the plot since some healthy potato plants are growing out of the soil already.

Here are some pansies that look quite pretty.  I guess we must have had a very mild Winter since almost everything survived this year.  I'm excitedly waiting for other good stuff to pop out of the ground.  

So far I have planted different kinds of peas and beans, beets (first time!), and kale.  We put crushed egg shell around the sprouts to deter snails and slugs.

There are some store-bought tomato plants that need to be put in the ground too.

Happy Gardening!

Spring Butterflies

I looked outside today and saw some pretty butterflies fluttering about my heather bush.

I grabbed my camera and snuck outside for some photos.  (Oxana, I think you might like this post!)

 As one of the few flower bushes around this time of year, this flowering bush is very popular.  There was a giant bumblebee buzzing about as well as numerous other pollinating insects.

 The butterfly flitted about the bush.

 The underside of its wings were a non-descript brown.

 But the top of its wings were a reddish brown.

It looked quite nice against the pinkish purple flowers. 

 The edge of the wings were bordered with white, and there was a row of dark purple with pale bluish/purple spots.

As it sat on the bush, it would open and close its wings.  It reminded me of the butterflies on Sesame Street or The Muppets.  It was kind of surreal.

 

 It stayed for quite a while before finally fluttering away.  I hope it comes back soon.

I hope you are enjoying the nice weather.

Blue Skies And Cherry Blossoms

The gentle rays of Spring are introducing the most lovely of Spring visions - the cherry blossom.In white, they form fluffy canopies as you walk down the street.
And after a wretched wind storm? The pink petals line the roadways like delicate, bright pink confetti.
Swept into collections forming vivid pink shapes among the rocky pebbles.
Against the sky, they are dazzling to behold. It's no wonder the birds shout their songs so loud and energetic each morning.
The branches of cherry blossoms are gnarled and twisted. A stark contrast against the blue sky, bright sun, and pink blossoms.
I look up and a beacon smiles down on me. Yes, Spring is here! And, soon, it will be Summer! I can hardly wait!

Have a happy weekend!

Images Of Spring - A Floral Beginning

It has been rainy and I've seen a few cars go by with snow piled on, but there were a few good days in there where it really felt like Spring. And it didn't just FEEL like Spring... it LOOKED like Spring. I'll show you what I mean.See this? I took this picture on the way to work one day because I was so surprised to see cherry blossoms and blue skies. It looks so wonderful to me.In my backyard, Vinca began to bloom in shades of pretty blue and purple against vivid green leaves. Pouring down the hill, it was quite lovely to behold on a cool, sunny morning.Honey suckle clusters turning rosy and sweet are waiting for the return of the bumblebees.
And, spurred on by the blooming of Spring, I rushed to plant blooms of my own. These Marigold seeds will hopefully start to grow and yield multitudes of golden flowers for the Summer and Fall.

Have a happy weekend!