Spring's Early Arrival

I keep waiting for the other cold-shoe to drop and technically it still could since it's only the middle of February. For now, however, things in the garden are just peachy. Yesterday, I had the good fortune of capturing photos of this little visitor--a painted lady butterfly! How sweet she was, sharing nectar with the bees on my blooming viburnum. 

Winter-blooming Viburnum bodnantense 'Dawn' 

T-Shirt weather!

My covered-patio thermometer is even happier.

More evidence of spring, baby tadpoles in my outer pond! 

Lots of algae for them to eat. 

Fortunately my patio pond is much clearer. 

Daphne odora 'Aureomarginata' in bloom. 

White crocus or as I like to say "croakies" 

Purple croakies

Brunnera macrophylla is beginning to bloom

A few tiny Oxalis crassipes blossoms to add to the mix

Check out the enthusiastic Impatiens omeiana babies

And I'm happy to see that my Impatiens omeiana 'Silver Pink'
survived what was admittedly a mild winter. 

Impatiens balfouri and I. glandulifera seedlings abound which means the soil is warming. 

And Kenilwoth Ivy (Cymbalaria muralis) is popping up all over. Some people hate it but I love this stuff. 

Even Tetrapanax is happy with the weather.

I'm surprised how big my Allium schubertii are getting

How about a few befores and afters?

Looks like a mess, doesn't it? 

Most of those tiny leaves are Geranium x cantabrigiense 'Karmina.'
According to my records, I planted it in 2002 so its spread is understandable, but a bit of tidying is called for.

Another angle

 Afters 

I replanted all the Geranium bits and cut back the ferns. 

Yes, it's the little things! 

 Finally, just a few random photos of the garden waking up. Still so much to do!

Here is a shot of this whole bed, including the aforementioned, tadpole-filled outer pond. 

Another angle

A tall Kale holding on with raspberry canes in the background

Finally, to all of you are still under the grip of old man winter, I hope these photos

are helping. Spring really is just around the corner. 

Guess What I Saw

TODAY'S WEATHER turned out to be semi-cloudy and mild which made my lunch-hour errand-running all the more pleasurable. On the way back to work, along my normal route, a violet-colored object caught my eye. As I drove past, I was delighted by a hundred little crocuses blooming in an otherwise nondescript   lawn. I wanted to stop to get a photo but the clock rushed me on to more important tasks. 

Crocus (taken a few years ago) 

 
You know what this means, don't you? Yep. Spring. Not officially, of course, but the plants are waking up. The days are getting longer and slightly warmer. Hooray!

Crocus (also from a previous year) 

Back in my own garden, I'm watching a clump of early daffodils, predicting they'll be in bloom next week. Then I'll be even more convinced that spring is coming! 

Corylopsis (also from a previous year)

The Corylopsis, pictured above isn't blooming either, yet. But when it does, I'll really be convinced that spring is coming! 

How 'bout you? Any signs of spring in your neck of the woods?

As a little addendum, I just got THIS in my inbox this morning. If you're starved for flowers and have about five minutes, give a look-see! 

As always, 

I Want Summer!

ONE OF MY coworkers just came back from a week in Hawaii. She swam with sea turtles, ate tropical fruit at every meal, watched one gorgeous sunset after another. Then she came back to Oregon rain and fog. Poor thing. 

So in celebration of sunshine and warm temperatures and soft breezes, I'll just post a bunch of photos from sunnier days. Days when the sun was shining and the flowers were blooming and the bees were buzzing... 

And now, back to reality. But spring's coming. 

As always, 

Fine Gardening Has A Pinterest Page!

SHORT POST TODAY. If you're not familiar with Pinterest, I'm here to evangelize. I've been "pinning" to my boards for a few months now and I'm totally hooked. This morning with the daily Fine Gardening e-letter, came the announcement that Fine Gardening has a page. Talk about a gluttonous load of eye candy! If you're looking for inspiration, here's a great place to get some. 

Click on the link below to see what I'm talking about. It's easy to sign up. If you need an invitation, leave me a comment with your email and I'll send you a formal invite. 

Fine Gardening! 

Here is a sampling of the eye candy on this site! Ooh, la, la!

One more link:  if you're interested in photos of bookstore cats, click here. Totally cute!

As always, 

Thanks for visiting.