Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Signs of Spring

Finally! There are signs of Spring in the Jarvis Garden. Snowdrops, Galanthus, are beginning to push through the cold soil and forming buds. The temperatures have been so low in the northeast that no late winter clean ups have been done. Unfortunately there are leaves still covering the beds. Here on Long Island gardens can change daily. Things will pop up everywhere if we get one day over sixty degrees. These snowdrops are a bit late. They do come up sometimes through the snow in January, which is what they are known for."Cracks" in the soil make room for other early bulbs to emerge. These are snowdrops and some grape hyacinths, Muscari.After walking around to the back, there were some very early purple Crocus Siberi, flowers doing their best to bloom through last Fall's maple leaves.Here are the early Daffodils, Narcissus, next to the kitchen foundation. These will eventually turn out to be a ragged variety that were found on the property over thirty years ago. Just dig them up and keep replanting them to get extra clumps every year. The Mahonia, Oregon Grape Holly, somehow keeps going even in this cold weather. The shrub is putting out its flower buds which will be "grape-like" fruit later in the Spring. Robins and Cardinals are very attracted to this plant and will feast on it until all of the grapes are eaten.This is a tea cup that has the Galanthus, Snowdrop flower featured as its flower for the month of January. This set if from the Royal Albert "Flower of the Month series, 1979." It is bone china and made in England.

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