Many of the already planted seeds have put up their first green shoots. (Exciting!) I counted over 90 this morning. At this point, they seem to grow before your eyes! They're bigger by mid-day or evening than they were in the morning.
Now I'm just waiting for the weather to warm enough that they can be moved outside. They're making do on our breakfast room table, for the time being. There, they get the full benefit of the bay window and are beyond the reach of a curious Luna. Fortunately, we eat on the couch, in front of the TV ;o) so they're not in our way.
Here are the daylily seedlings on Thursday-- just a few barely poking up:
And here they were Sunday night:
On Friday, I planted a few more envelopes of seeds.
We're waiting for signs of growth of blanket flower, butterfly flower, salvia (blue bedder sage), purple coneflower, cupid's dart, achillea/yarrow, and snow-in-summer. I'm skeptical of a couple of them, but we'll see what happens! There are more to plant, but by the time I stopped, the table was almost full! Time to set up a couple of TV trays by the windows, maybe...
...The table, crowded with potted seeds:
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There aren't many things blooming, this time of the year. (Not in our yard, at least.)
A pink camellia:
These, I thought were called "summer snowflakes", but they always bloom in spring, and now I've read that there's such a thing as "spring snowflakes", too, so maybe that's what these are:
New growth from the "wild" iris (yellow flag)... These bloomed so prettily last year-- the first time I remember ours ever blooming. I hope they'll repeat the performance, but even if they don't, their leaves are nice-- especially in early summer.
The ivy is slowly conquering its trellis:
This is what it looked like in September, so it really has grown over the winter:
I'm considering putting a few containers of ivy along the lattice wall of our covered patio. I'd like to cover the lattice in something that flowers, but that spot doesn't get much sun, so options are limited... We did get some cardinal climber (cypress vine) to grow there, but I'm trying to avoid that plant. It's a little too invasive for my tastes-- for that particular place, at least.
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I still haven't done the mulching that needs to be done, and weeds are already beginning to take over some of the flower beds. (*sigh* I mean, really? It's only the beginning of March. Stupid weeds. Also stupid rabbits that are sneaking in and snipping off the leaves of my poor daylilies! Anyone hungry for rabbit stew?)
Today's been overcast, but warm. The catch is that it's also humid. Yuck. Tomorrow will be a repeat-- but by Thursday and Friday, we're expecting highs in the mid 40s. Crazy weather, but however crazy it is, I need to get out and work in the yard this week.
Oh, and the reptiles and insects are beginning to emerge. One of the nice, warm days we had recently, I spotted a wasp and a couple of those dratted carpenter bees out and about-- already scouting for wood to destroy. (We need to get our bee traps in working order!)
The green anoles are showing themselves again after a month or two of the disappearing act. We've seen garter snakes twice in the past month. While I was down on my hands and knees, pruning branches in a tight spot under some crape myrtles, I looked down, saw a snake wriggling right below me, and divided my energies between shrieking and scrambling backwards. ;o) Fortunately it was just a garter snake, but not a very pleasant way of finding one! Then this weekend, Donald found one right on our kitchen doorstep. It was an aggressive little thing, striking at Donald as he relocated it with a shovel.
While we're out getting started on springtime yard work, it's good to remember that we're not the only ones taking note of the warming weather. ;o)
