Mar 21 2013

Spring?

Published by at 2:46 pm under Garden,Weather

Yesterday was the first official day of spring, or the Vernal Equinox as the scientifically and paganly inclined would have it. Here in Hooterville, it looked a lot more like winter than spring, being rainy, windy, and cold-ish.

It’s been a strange winter. We were slammed with storms early in the season, racking up six power outages by the end of November and so much rain that I had to empty it out of the flooded containers in the garden. I got tired of picking up the purple honeysuckle by the side of the house and just let it lie there dejectedly, waiting for Spring.

January and February were the driest ever recorded in California, and then the first day of spring was heralded with a mini-storm. Maybe it’s all part of the joy of climate change.

The second day of spring looks a lot more like Spring than the first day, sunny and breezy.

The calla lily my neighbor Jim gave me last year is in bloom:

The orchid is just beginning to blossom, making me glad that I kept hauling it inside when the overnight temperatures dipped to the freezing point or lower, which happened a lot this winter. Sunny skies mean starry nights, and starry skies are always cold ones, without clouds for insulation.

Today the PG&E meter reader stopped to look at it and smell it (it doesn’t smell like anything, unfortunately).

I meant to dig up the tulip bulbs and plant new ones, but one way or another it didn’t happen. The tulips were undeterred by this neglect – and possibly enjoyed the cold temperatures – since they sprung up and bloomed anyway:

The persistence of tulips!

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2 responses so far

2 Responses to “Spring?”

  1. Guy Charbonneauon 21 Mar 2013 at 3:20 pm

    So nice to see that your beautiful flowers are doing so well. Tough winter indeed in this area, we had no less than 20 cm of snow on Wednesday, overall 250 cm and near record cold over this last winter season, really anxious for spring weather to get here.
    PS: I particularly like your lily, no, I like them all.

  2. Joyon 24 Mar 2013 at 5:34 am

    Gorgeous photos….I think you have a very green thumb! I’m sure tulips would not survive for me under such circumstances.
    thanks for the pics.
    jx