Finding Humor, Keeping Hope, A Covid Sort of Spring, A Purposeful Pandemic...

Wow, what a difference a month makes.  A world turned sideways for us humans, but nature has had to deal with us turning it sideways for some time now.  If we think of the world as one giant living organism, it makes sense that it is starting to see us humans as a threat, and is trying to get us to work as part of a united organism, not as a separate and more important entity.  Unfortunately, we humans have short memories, we haven't been too good at passing on the lessons we have learned about our affect on our world when we treat it like a dispensary and a toilet. 

onion area

chives!

Glory of the Snow

After a mild winter, especially compared to 2018/2019 our Spring is arriving in a calm tempered manner, our flooding fears are diminishing throughout the state, and Spring perennials are gradually showing themselves.  Fred and Ethel have returned, but are not frequenting the pond as much as usual.  I have already planted onion sets, and the garlic planted last Fall is already up a few inches.  I'm waiting for a warm up before planting the snow peas.  Even though they are a cool weather plant, they always do better sprouting with a bit of warmth.

Fred and Ethel

hens and chicks

Conk in yard!

 

 

Greenie

Free Water and Bumper Crops!

We are in the middle of continual rains and the jungle is emerging!  The snow peas are doing great, the beans, basil, onions, dostal squash, tomatoes and radishes- a new one this year- are growing great!
I did lose some perennials from a tough winter, but most have been replaced, and a good sprinkling of crimson clover to fill in spots.  I'm in the progress of finishing up the landscape behind the house with wild petunia, a few more salvia and mulch.  

I had 30 Monarch chrysalis' with half out and gone.  It always makes me smile to see them fly away.  I usually have them crawl onto my finger and hold them up to survey their surroundings.  I've noticed a couple of things; they usually do a little shiver of their wings and turn their heads to look around before taking off.
The bee population is looking better, but the majority of bees are still the tiny bees, not the mason or honey bee size, I'm hoping to get more visuals on bees once it dries out a bit.

butterfly video, cardinal singing in background, crazy person speaking to butterfly

ponds

wine cups(native), prairie phlox(native)coreopsis(native), rose sensation salvia, butterfly weed(native), gaillardia (native)

behind house weed removal, keep the milkweed, now mulch!

Greenie

The Spring of My Discontent, and Not Just Mine! 4-19

 Should I exalt on the positive instead of focusing on the negative?  Yes, of course, it is the more Minnesotan thing to do!

Sadly, our Rejoice crab tree didn't make it.

The Prairie Smoke was fabulous this Spring

All the wild tulips were phenomenal and the rabbits don't touch them!

Greenie

Too Old, too cold, but it is Sunny!

It has been a true Minnesota winter, and it doesn't want to give up!  It is April 7th and our entire front north facing yard is under a foot or more of snow, and half of our backyard is the same.  Our ducks Fred and Ethel showed up like clockwork the end of March to be faced with a frozen snow covered pond, I haven't seen them since.  I'm hopeful they will return.  All the usual critters of the yard seem fat and healthy, and the cardinals have started their spring songs. Next week is supposed to bring 50 degrees...

Greenie

Dig It!

Dig it! The theme for every Spring, and this one is no different, well, maybe a little less digging.  My body insists!
It has been an early Spring is some regards because March was mild, April a little chilly, and May is on a roll.  I got in the garden a little earlier to do a bit of cleanup, and get some beets and peas planted, then shared an abundance of lilies, phlox, monarda, lungwort, obedient plant and daisies with a friend.  Now I'm just filling in the spaces!  
Fred and Ethel showed up the end of March and return to the ponds frequently, and Larry rewards them with corn, but once the pumps are in the pond they may not return, but no hurry.  Right now the trees in the back are all in full bloom, even our sad little Red bud.  Another large branch appears to be dead, so every year the Red bud gets smaller.  We are just starting to see more bees on the tree blossoms, which is a good thing! 

Pasque

white throated sparrow

Fred and Ethel

We had to rescue a little white throated sparrow from bird netting, after an overnight stay at shoebox hotel he flew off the next morning!
Greenie

Around and Around and Around I Go!

That's what I've been doing the last week and a half, going around and around the garden to all the lovely strawberry plants, picking strawberries every morning!  A very bountiful Spring of fruit, even with competition from the squirrels, 4 regulars, and chippies, at least 3 in the yard now!  So I've made jam, and of course we have them for breakfast, and in salads, and best of all delicious margaritas!
It doesn't look like the cherry tree will be as bountiful this Summer, and our Snow sweet apple tree lost the one remaining apple, but I think the tree limbs need to get a bit bigger to support the large apples it produces.  Not sure what is happening with the cherry tree, could be that the late frost we had took out a lot of the fruit.  I still have one bag from last year in the freezer, it will be even more appreciated now!
The peas are doing ok, a steady handful every day, nothing spectacular but good in wraps!  I noticed the bean seeds collected from last year appear to be doing better than the newly purchased seeds. The hyacinth beans, and pole beans took off quickly and are halfway up the fence already!  The cucumbers are slow, but steady.
It seems to be a strange year, some plants are way ahead of schedule by 2-3 weeks, others are more on schedule.  It is a mystery to me, but interesting to observe with our ever changing climate.  One thing that doesn't change is the speed of summer, slow down please!!
The bees are really back in full force, lovely to see, but we've only had one Monarch butterfly sighting in the yard!  Yikes!  I know there was a good population in Mexico, maybe they've found a Milkweed paradise somewhere else, still hoping to see more and maybe collect some eggs again this summer!
I finally got my mailbox area spruced up, minus a wheel barrel full of rocks, not surprised really that was the case, but I'm done with rocks!  Oh, no, I'm not.  I still have a few more rock circles to take out, or maybe... just dump the mulch on top.  We had some serious Ash tree roots to deal with in planting around the mailbox.  I was able to get one large Huechera (coral bell) plant in, and several small huechera, from the garden, along with some daisies.  Better than it was!
Unfortunately, my arm tingling is getting worse, I'm just blaming it on the rocks, and the digging, toting of water, wheel barrels, pulling of weeds, picking of strawberries, pruning...but it all looks fabulous and the bees, butterflies, and birds are here! So are the pics...

yummy!

native blue eyed grass, likes moisture

Trying to figure out if this is a bee or a wasp

Another kitty makes his home here!  A visit to the San Diego zoo a couple of weeks ago, fun trip!

Keeping Up!

So, as in typical Minnesota style, May had a cool turn until this week.  So appreciative of the sun!  The plants are on their steady march, as are the weeds.  I've discovered if I can get at the weeds early in the season, April/May, it just makes it less daunting throughout the season.  I've limited myself to the weeds in the beds, not the lawn, unless it is a spectacular intrusion of thistle or some other large intruder!  Our dandelion lawn is for the birds and the bees.  Speaking of birds and bees... the birds have been plentiful and varied, the hummers are back!  The bees, not so much.  I'm hoping the cooler weather has just slowed them down a bit, and not an unnamed chemical company's desire to destroy the natural world.
Fred and Ethel keep returning to our pond but I don't think they are going to set up housekeeping in the yard, good thing because I'll probably put the pond pumps in today, don't think they'd appreciate the ambiance.
Our quaking aspen is getting its revenge for removing it by sending up leaf shoots off some super big root extensions, yikes!  Had to use the shovel and dig out over 12 feet of roots!  We are also removing the rest of the small rock stepping circles that I thought was such a clever idea at the time.  They did work out ok for the most part, but some had collected a lot of soil and provided a haven for dandelions and crab grass, so we are replacing them with paver rocks, just a few more to go! 

great start!

Off to the native plant sale tomorrow, see if I can squeeze in a few more appetizers for the bees and butterflies!
Greenie

columbine

columbine

woodland phlox-chattahoochee

bachelor button

siberian wallflower

wild geranium

crimson clover

flax

violets

peas!

crimson clover and violets

spurge