Spring -Maybe - At Last?

 Primroses - my favorites are the old fashioned hardy kind Primula veris, and a hybrid.

Forsythia - started with one here in the Thumb - a cutting from a cutting from - - - one I had as a child about 65 years ago. Now there are several here, more than half a dozen, less than ten - for now - also from cuttings. Easy to do with forsythia. They may be a cliche but nonetheless, welcomed every spring.

And Hellebores

Helleborus foetidus

Dozens and dozens of daffodils - multiplying in clumps everywhere. 

Red-Headed Woodpecker Family Nest

Samur

 Samur recently -

April in MIchigan

 The weather in Michigan's Thumb changes precipitously from one day to the next: 80 degrees F one day and below freezing the next. Kind of sadly, we're used to it. Scattered groups of daffodils have started their annual progression from earlier flowering varieties to the later flowering ones.

"My" frog, well one of them anyway, was sunning itself  on the rock the other day after a long winter of hibernating at the shallow bottom of my wee pond. 

Many migrating birds have returned and have begun looking for mates and nesting sites. I've seen turkey vultures, tree swallows, several species of migrating sparrows. Male American goldfinches are completing their coloring changes and are looking for partners. The territories of three pairs of breeding cardinals are overlapping at my bird feeders. 

My extremely slow growing "white forsythia" Abeliophyllum distichum with its  intense fragrance is flowering and I hope that this year it will be a better year for growing. Even back in slightly warmer Royal Oak it was a picky eater. This plant is a clone of the one I had there that eventually grew to a nice size and had hundreds of flowers each spring, slightly earlier than its distant cousin the yellow forsythias.

Working on the deck has finished and there's now a nice section of seal wall, aka breakwater, finished. 

Even though I've been down, It's still nice time of year. 

Spring 2023

 The Icelandic Sheepdogs are enjoying the warmer weather, yard, and flowers. 

Icelandic Sheepdog Tryggur

Icelandic Sheepdogs ABBA and Sir Watson

Icelandic Sheepdogs ABBA and Sir Watson

Icelandic Sheepdog Sir Watson

Icelandic Sheepdog Sir Watson

Icelandic Sheepdog Sir Watson

Icelandic Sheepdog Sir Watson

Skeleton of a Leaf

The Hellebores are open now. They are hardy plants but take several years to get established. Worth the wait though! The first shot is of a rare but self-seeding Hellebore. Although the flowers are "just" yellow-green, it is very hardy here and self-seeds easily. The leaves are deeply dissected and attractive too. There must be more than a dozen seedlings coming up around the yard and they are dog-indestructable. Plants have to be tough and able to survive my dogs if they are to endure here.

This Daphne is a very easy one to grow. I've broadcasted the fruits when they're ripe and they self-start. The young plants stay "hidden" for about three or four years before they start announcing their arrival by flowering; it's worth the wait. There are about a dozen of them scattered around. They do smell nice but because they're close to the ground and I'm old, I don't sniff them out!

Siberian Squill

Pulmonaria

Cornus mas

Spring Flowering Colchicum