Hope

Our yard is still more wintery and ugly than not, but there are starting to be pockets of Spring. The crocuses are blooming in front of the house.



We have a bunch over on the side as well, where they managed to grow through about 6" of wood chips from the stump grinding in October. I was so discouraged after they were mangled last year that I didn't bother to plant more bulbs, but seeing them persevere this year I'm thinking I'll have to get more in the ground. They're such cheerful things. The hydrangeas are all budding with leaves – it's a treat to see the green nubs on those woody, dead-looking branches. Quite Secret Garden. The daffodils are starting to bud as well – I'm guessing there will be flowers by next weekend?

I was mystified when I saw flashes of yellow at the top of the rock wall yesterday. When I went up to investigate, I found my mini daffodils!



I'd been wondering why so few had come up in my planters – usually I have about a dozen and this year there are only six sprouts. I assumed that the squirrels must have dug up the bulbs (when in doubt, always blame the squirrels). I must have replanted some of them when I was transplanting irises? I really don't remember, but it was a lovely surprise. The mini rhododendron behind them has buds that look like they're about to burst, and when I looked out this morning, the forsythia under the pine trees had bloomed!

Between daylight savings and the natural progression, it's suddenly light past seven in the evenings. Now we just need the weather to break out of the forties and stop raining, and I can start cleaning things up in the yard after work. The big project for the next few weeks is going to be figuring out what to do with the lawn. The winter seems to have encouraged the clover, moss and weeds. We definitely need to reseed the grass. I'm all opposed to spraying the weeds, but haven't yet figured out a better solution than nuking all of the undesirables with chemicals, since the clover (if that is in fact what it is) has a huge network of underground runners and is impossible to pull out. Any ideas?