This buds for you!

While wandering around the yard scoping things out this afternoon, I noticed a trend in what I was seeing... The plantlife is really starting to feel spring is truly here, and they're starting to strut their stuff. Let's see if I can remember what buds belong to what plants (I NEVER did good at this in my Local Flora classes!).

Asian pear - once of the varieties, still in a pot, needing to have a bed formed and planted soon!


One of the other asian pear varities - this it the larger one.


Miss Kim lilac in the foreground, with a secret surprise in the background... I was really beginning to worry that the lilac hadn't made it through winter, as she wasn't showing any bud formation while many other shrubs were further ahead. I'm still worried about the butterfly bush, but I know they seem to take awhile to start and then suddenly POOF, right from the base of last year's dead growth comes a new one!


A close up on Miss Kim's buds...she's not shy.


And here was the surprise behind Miss Kim...one of the hyacinths. I LOVE hyacinths, and they smell great, but it takes almost no time at all for them to give me a raging headache if I cut them and bring them in. So this past fall I planted them NEAR areas I'd be likely to spend a lot of time (like the lilac), such as the deck beside the deck, just outside the living room windows, etc. Let's hope we'll get just a pleasant, yet subtle, fragrance!


Ok, this is one of the three varieties of blueberries, purchased online last summer from Waters Blueberry Farm (these folks were very helpful, quick to respond to email, and sent along great instructions for planting the blueberries). These also had me really worried - the stems look really banged up - not as pretty and consistent in texture as many of the other shrubs. But I don't know much about blueberries - I have to assume if they're budding now, they made it ok through winter!


And here's one of the other blueberry varieties.


Strawberries (bought at a GREATLY marked down price at the end of the season last year)...


...and garlic. MMM - now there's a taste pairing you can't pass up! My hopes here are that the garlic will deter the deer from snacking. Granted, that's based on my big fear (and lots of warnings from others) that the deer are going to ravage my yard. I've got lots of hoof prints as proof they're passing through, but NO SIGNS of them eating anything yet! Knock on wood!


Ummm...yeah, I don't recall for certain what this is. Oh wait - based on the squarish stem I THINK it's burning bush...there's one near the strawberry patch.


Serviceberry - depending on what resource you're looking at, it's sometimes referred to as a shrub, sometimes a tree. Either way, it's supposed to provide year round beauty, fruits, etc in the yard, which is what inspired me to track down and try planting this treeshrubplantthing I'd never heard of before. So far it looks...fuzzy! LOL (Those might actually be the fuzz blowing off the last of last years cattails - they're still floating around!)


Daylillies I believe - from Mary's yard. (Unfortunately, there's NO SIGNS of the hostas I planted from Mary's yard coming up on the north side yet... I'm really hoping they're just later to come up, and maybe it's also because that's a shady, cooler side of the house).


Peas! FINALLY! I put these things in the ground like 2 weeks ago! Maybe longer! Now I plan to put more in (my excuse is that I'll keep planting more every couple weeks to extend the harvest, but it's also because I don't have all the garden space ready yet). For the next round of peas, I plant to try a trick I read about where you can soak them in water with dissolved Vitamin C tablets for a day, and it's supposed to greatly improve growth and production. (Hm, looks like there's a little grass needing weeded out!)


And I'm really amazed at how much of the spinach came back after winter! I've got more spinach that I just seeded around this patch (including one variety with a red vein down the middle), and am eager for them to get to a point where I can start picking.


This one's for Finny, who's getting into growing lettuce. This Nevada is one of like 20 varieties I've got going right now.


I love this picture - someone's being really coy here... Can't you just hear it whispering "don't look at me..."


Mums from last fall? SO glad I planted these all around the house after the fall display - they'll look great. I just have to remember to whack 'em back mid-summer to get them to bush out and not be too leggy.


Another tulip...


Ummm... had to think about this one, and then had to look it up because I couldn't remember the spelling. Weigela "Wine and Roses" - was beautiful when I got it at the local nursery last year...


Yay - lupine that I haven't managed to kill yet!


Now I have two varieties of daffodils up the front walkway...and the grape hyacinths are just starting to show themselves.



Since I fertilized the lawn yesterday (and have all this guilt associated with it), I won't let the cats come out until we've had a good rain. It's not good for them to get it on their feet and then lick it up. So, based on the forecast, I've been telling them maybe next week... Tucker was giving me an earful...


...and some VERY dirty looks out the living room window! Sorry Tuck, it's for your own good!