Life In Robin's Nest: An April Full of Tulips

Funny how my March blog post still smacked of winter, and here at the end of April, it feels like summer already. It's been a month full of tulips, for the most part. There were tulips at home, and tulips on the road. And I still have the Tulip Time Festival in Holland Michigan to attend next week!

At home, the tulips arrived in waves. Even though I carefully plan color schemes each year, sometimes it ends up being kind of a mixed bag. For the most part, I choose tulips in that year's chosen color, plus yellow. This year, I focused on white. But I never know from one year to the other if the prior year's colors will still show up. So here I am with this pretty white and yellow color scheme, then a random orange one pops up in the middle, or a pink one. I often swear that I will remove the oddballs to a different location, but instead I just wait until the old colors give out. I guess I'm an equal opportunity tulip lover!

As summery as it has been this week, I still have the last batch of tulips in bloom. Just as they finish up here in central Ohio, I'll head north to Michigan, and see a few more. Soon my favorite flowers will be finished for the year. Can't say I'll be sad though, as I have so many other flowers ready to take their place. Not to mention, it's time to plant my annuals, so I'll have plenty of other flowers to love.

Besides my own tulips, I visited several tulip displays in the area, including Franklin Park Conservatory, Inniswood Metro Gardens, and Timbuk Farms. I also went to Dawe's Arboretum to see their flowering trees, but they don't do tulips, due to all the deer.

Franklin Park Conservatory

Inniswood

Timbuk Farms

Dawe's Arboretum

I do have a few other blooms besides tulips, I swear. My redbud and crabapple trees also put on their spring show.

I have a decorative birdhouse on a pole, but it was taken over by the more undesirable larger birds, so I put on a metal plate that would exclude them. The next year, those pesky house sparrows tried endlessly to get in the new smaller opening, but eventually gave up. Since then, it has taken a few years for smaller birds to find it, and feel safe there. But this year, we seem to have Carolina chickadees in residence. Mama gets awfully mad at me whenever I garden nearby. I haven't heard the peeps of baby birds yet, so she must still be at the egg stage. It's fairly near our patio, so I'm sure I'll see and hear the youngsters when they arrive. And I do love her cheerful calls, before she spots me and starts squawking.

As for my home pursuits, I have almost nothing to show you except for changing my tray to a green theme. You see, once gardening season arrives, I don't have much use for indoors. I do have a crochet project waiting for me, but it's a Christmas gift, so I can't show it here, and I'm certainly in no rush to finish it.

Once again, it's time to wrap things up with a look to the skies. Sunsets can be seen from the front porch now, which is my favorite way to take it in. Now that we're starting to see summer storms, perhaps I'll see more volatile cloud formations. A stormy day can provide gorgeous sunsets!