Crocus and Bee

(bee and crocus)

I am so happy! We have crocuses blooming and the first bee of the season....Time to get the bee house out/made. I decided to take a tour of the yard now that all the snow is gone and found this surprise. The first crocus bloom was actually on April 9th, which seems fairly average here. But the pictures with the bee are so much better!


(bee and crocus)

Finally we have a few days in the 60s F. Many shoots can be spotted like this hyacinth.

(hyacinth)

Chives are starting to shoot up as well.

(chives)

We added rhubarb to our garden last year...here is a shoot just starting to rise above the leaves.

(rhubarb sprouting)

Our only flowers right now are the crocuses. This is a new addition last fall. I like the effect of the purple striping.

(purple painted crocus)

Here are more purple with some pure white as well...

(purple and white crocus)

Here's the first group that started to bloom - on the west side of the house. I think next year the new additions (above) on the south side might take over the honor.

(light yellow crocus)

I have been reading up on that resources we might have right in our yard. I already knew a few things like dandelions are available, but here is the first prize for a "wild edible" this year: day-lily shoots.

(garden bed with common day-lily shoots)

[Please note aka disclaimer, eating things - especially wild plants is at your own risk. Be sure to correctly identify the plants. Also, individuals can have reactions to plants others can safely eat, so go easy at first.]

I have read in many sources that day-lilies are edible. After checking the blooms from last year (4th of July) it looks like ours are the common day-lily Hemerocallis fulva. I guess a typical urban yard fits the profile of a waste ground or disturbed land. According to my Peterson Field Guild there are many stages at which this plant can be used:

Early Spring: Small, tender shoots in salads
Early Spring: Small shoots cooked like asparagus
Early Spring: Young tubers in salad or cooked like corn
Summer: Buds as green beans or fritters
Summer: Flowers as fritters and seasoning
Fall: Older tubers can be cooked like corn


(harvested day-lily shoot and tuber part)

I have to say, the raw tubers and shoots were not bad at all and quite mild. I prefer the salad option to the cooked. I can't wait to try out the flowers...for now the next edible may be dandelion greens...

Green Grass and Indoor Pea

We've recovered from our last Spring snow. I guess this was our second snowiest April in weather history. Well, the grass is really greening up now and it won't be long before the first mow.


Our seedlings faired the snow and 20F nights just fine, so they lived up to their cool season reputations.


I have started to notice a lot more birds in our yard this Spring. This sparrow was building a nest (they live in our clothes line tubes). Robins are visiting the yard and drinking at the bird bath. I have been waiting for them to visit since we moved in a couple of years ago. And I spotted a finch of some sort picking at some dried vines- I thought it was nesting or something. It turns out he was eating bugs, let me know what they are if you can.


We planted some violas and pansy in what will be an herb bed.


Some of the tulips have formed buds, maybe they will bloom by the 15th. Other tulips are recovering from having their leaves crushed by snow.


These hyacinths made it through the snow with their flowers intact. There is also growing rudbeckia, daisy, and grape hyacinth.

And then there are the other kids...See all the things emerging from the winter sleep now. A coneflower or aster, purple aster, hosta, something volunteering by a half barrel, and a few treasures in the "south" bed.



My last photo of the day, I got a surprise this week. Pea pods indoors. I tried an experiment in February and planted a couple of sugar snap peas in a container inside. They are now flowering and producing pods! They are not profuse and I'm not sure what the quality will be, but they did grow.

What am I? (plants & bugs)

I decided to make this a separate post. Now that all our snow is gone I have gotten out around the yard an came across some things I can't identify yet. Please, if you know what is in any of these pictures leave a comment and let me know.

What are these bugs? (click to see these larger)


When I did my spring clean-up a few weeks ago I noticed some powdery residue at the base of some vines that grow by our fence. I thought it was ashes. Today I noticed that there are now bugs there. They are small (maybe 1.5-2 mm) and white and they crawl around. I think they have been there other years, but I don't know what they are and I am concerned they will damage my emerging garden. A small bird actually discovered them first and has been picking at them.

What's this fuzzy plant?


I found this little plant coming up in a bed I will use for herbs. It's only an inch or two big right now, but I think it might be a weed. It looks kinda cute right now though.

What are these (flower) plants?


There are a number of these coming back from last year, but I have no idea what they will look like. This kind of mystery is okay because I know it will be something I like. The others above I'm not so sure about.

Thanks to anyone with comments!

No Comment

Okay, actually I have comments! We got 8.5" and the temperature is to be in the mid to low 20s (F) tonight. Good news is that it shouldn't last long and thaw out next week. The bad news, I have to wait to see how my seedlings outside have fared. Here's some progressions from (04-23-2008, 04-25-2008, 04-26-2008) that is Wednesday, Friday evening, and today - Saturday.

Chives looking good on Wednesday.


The snow started Friday night.


Today. The chives are there, see?


I was just getting ready to post my proud pictures of peas sprouting and that Spring is looking good.

Here's the seedlings, good things they're small.


There were coming in nicely on Wednesday.


Aww, so cute poking above the snow Friday.


Umm, they're under there somewhere (Saturday).


One more progression to prove I did have things growing...

Here's the sugar snaps, kohlrabi, and radishes.


Closer look, sugar snaps are here.


Kohlrabi is there.


Today (Saturday) they're under there.


So, I hear that peas, lettuce, spinach, and such are cold hardy. I'm glad because it will be cold a few days. I think that the snow may help to insulate things and the plants probably knew what they were doing. They didn't grow a lot yet, so I think that's also to their advantage. I think they were waiting for some sunny, warm days before really taking off.

Oh yeah and the tulips :-)


PS: Snow images seem to take up much less disk space. So much uniform white!

Bugs and Blooms April 15

Hi. I decided that I should post some of the things "blooming" in my garden this month. It is funny because I didn't have a blog last year, but I did take photos on the 15th. For other blooms and blogs from April you should go to May Dreams Gardens: Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - April 2008. As I was getting my photos I spotted the little guy above.

The first is my favorite of the moment, a purple colored crocus. I think the yellow pollen is a nice contrast, especially in the full-sized version.



Next, more crocus -- hey it is North Dakota in April. Two different yellow varieties and a white. I noticed the first bloom of the back yard is also forming (the rest are in the front). I think that the crocus are behind some this year. Last year there were more blooming on this day.




Here are some tulips still growing up. They look ahead of last year. I like the color of the red one.



Hyacinth buds are just coming up.



Also some Allium in the back.



A representative of the rest of the garden is this fern from last season. Give the garden a week or two and it should waken more.