Soft Spring

Everything about spring is soft and subtle. The color arrives in our world so gently. Pastels abound.

The air is soft, the greens are gentle. Every day is like Easter.

It's such a welcome change after the harshness of winter.

Soft spring can linger on as long as it wants........

Skip Over Spring

The winter that never was has turned into the spring that never was. It may look like an early spring, but it feels like summer! Every day there are new delights in bloom. I've been comparing photos from last year, and some flowering trees are a full month early, like the Bradford pear.

I like how the gregii tulips come up right in the middle of my beloved Angelina sedum. Last year the blooms were immediately nibbled, but this year only the leaves were munched on.

With all this warmth, the crocus came and went quickly this year.

I'm not sure my primrose colors are coordinated, but I don't care. They are just another welcome sign for spring.

The hyacinth will probably be here tomorrow. Oh the scent!

My daffodils are popping up everywhere, but you know how my penny ball likes to sneak into all my photos.

Poor little striped squill got dirty in the storms on Sunday,

and so did  the Mrs. Moon pulmonaria. It doesn't matter, they are still pretty!

The species tulips are a favorite of mine. The dark pink have already started, and soon the light pink ones will join them.

I thought this might be a seedling from my Lenten Rose hellebore in the background, but the speckles tell me it's not. I guess I've lost the tag, so I don't know what it is.

 Simple little muscari are also blooming. I always forget that I planted these till they come up!

I generally plant pansies in early spring and fall to get a little blast of color in the cool weather. Many people do. But with the mild winter we had, it was an especially good choice. They all survived the winter, and have been giving me that early burst of bloom color.

Ah spring, you are so beautiful!

Garden Cleanup Day

There are gardeners who slip out into the garden even on chilly days in late winter. Not me! I'm pretty passionate about my garden, but I just can't take the cold. I need a warm day to make it work for me. Today was finally the day!

I'm not sure I've ever got this much cleanup done in early March. I went out to trim down the ornamental grasses, and just kept going. Now I am ready for the garden season to begin.

Oh the grasses did get trimmed down, the roses were pruned, the butterfly bushes were cut back, and all the dead foliage from last year has been cleared away. Everything is fresh, clean, and ready to go. And see how the garden rewarded me for my hard work?

Green things are coming up everywhere. Finding buds and blooms was like treasure hunting!

It felt wonderful to be back out in my garden once more on such a beautiful day. Now I am revived and renewed by the early arrival of spring. I've waited for this all winter!

A Heck of a Hellebore!

I know my blog has been quiet over the winter. But that's because my garden is quiet over the winter! In years past, I've spent the winter focused on my houseplants. This year, however, I neglected the poor things. I really shouldn't be allowed to have all these houseplants, they just get ignored. Now you'd never know that from seeing what my outdoor flowers look like. 

It won't be long till my garden wakes up from it's winter slumber, and my blog will get more attention again. I've already seen the Siberian iris come and go, and now we have the Lenten Rose hellebore is in bloom. Wouldn't you know, it really is Lent!

 Next up to bloom should be some of the daffodils, then the crocus. I don't know why my crocus like to take their sweet time to bloom, but I'll be ready for them and all the other spring bloomers. But hurry up! See the roses are warming up for the show.

Central Ohio Home and Garden Show

Finally made it to the Home and Garden show today! It's one of my favorite things to do here in Columbus. But let's put the emphasis where it belongs, shall we? To me, it's a garden show. I usually only go to see the garden displays and exhibits. Sometimes I don't even look at the home center, but this year I did.

 There are so many pretty displays, with plenty of spring blooming bulbs and flowering trees to fool us into thinking it's already spring.

But I did notice lots of rose bushes blooming this year, which was a real treat.

There are always lots of fountains and water features....

but this year there was an entire 12 foot waterfall! You'd have to have just the right kind of property to make that work, but it was fun to see it indoors.

I did enjoy the theme of Columbus' Bicentennial because then the displays were much less commercialized than past years. I especially liked this garden emphasizing art work, in honor of our art museum.

Like Lona at A Hocking Hills Garden, I echo her sentiment that the arrangement was excellent. Having the vendors all along the edges of the gardens made sense. However, several of the most popular vendors were not there this year, and I found that to be a huge disappointment. I'm curious what happened, because the booths I refer to were always crowded with people. Did the booth rental fees get too high? Were they not invited? If anyone knows the truth, I'd like to know too. And why does it have to be so dark in there? Really, it seems silly. The vendors have plenty of light, but the gardens are all in darkness. It makes it impossible to get any really good photos. Seriously folks, what is the reason for this? I think the gardens would actually look even more beautiful with lots of light on them, like a sunny spring day! Needless to say, most of my photos have been edited to show brighter than they actually were. Here is a mock up of our beloved Franklin Park Conservatory, and this is an unedited photo, with a flash.

Still, the Central Ohio Home and Garden show is a beautiful thing, and will give you lots of great ideas for your home. Go, you'll love it!