Garden Bloggers Bloom Day April 2010

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day was started by the blogger at May Dream Gardens blog. The 15th of every month, garden bloggers post a message about what is blooming where they live. If you regularly read my blog, you know what an unusually warm spring we have had in Western NY. Today I have a variety of daffodils, many different colored tulips, hyacinth, Grecian windflower and leopard's bane. It's a feast for the eyes!

Teasing Tips of Spring Flowers

We have been lucky enough for the past week to have temperatures in the 40s and 50s which has led to lots of snow melt and a general feeling of Spring Fever! That being said, I tip toed through the soon to be tulips yesterday to check out the progress of my spring flowering bulbs. I am happy to report that I see lots and lots of daffodil and tulip shoots and even a few tulip leaves starting to unfurl! For those of us who survive a Western NY winter each year, seeing those first green shoots emerge from the frozen and dead looking ground really does give us hope that we are in for another wonderful year of gardening! I had the opportunity to dig up the rest of my front yard last summer because a huge tree fell during the winter and smashed up part of my house. Even though the incident was tragic, costly and stressful, it allowed me to dig up grass that was never happy and to get rid of an old Silver Maple that just needed to go. In my newly dug garden, I planted 300 tulips and daffodils! So, keep your fingers crossed that these bulbs bloom and I'll post pictures when the color explosion happens...

How to Beat the February Blues

The long, grey days of February are starting to last a little too long. At this time of year my thoughts wander to spring. I start dreaming of seeing green once again and the excitement that green shoots of daffodils and tulips bring. This is the time of year when I read every gardening magazine that I can get my hands on and pour over the seed and plant catalogs that arrive in the mail. I guess I have garden envy and am ready for spring. Every fall, when I put my garden to bed, I think to myself "My garden looks good and I probably don't need any more plants" but then comes spring and the gardening itch takes over. I start thinking about what plants I can add where, what I can dig out and give away because it's overtaking a part of my garden and what can I add to the garden to attract even more birds and butterflies. Because I have a small garden in a small "city" I feel like I need to do everything I can to attract a variety of insects and birds that more likely are visiting my friends' gardens in the country. Over this next month I'll do a lot of dreaming and planning, just waiting to get my hands dirty!