Tag: spring in New England

Posted on

It’s Not Fair!

Four inches of fresh snow? What sorcery is this? Yes, it is New England. If you don’t like the weather, stick around, and it’ll change. But Tomorrow is Palm Sunday, and I was going to put sugar snap pea seeds into the garden. I was going to put the shovels away today.

Am I having some ultra-realistic dream? those damn flakes feel real. This is taking realism in dreams to darned far.

Okay, OK. I just know you folks living in Northern Ontario, Alaska, and places like that are sniggering at me, but damn it! It’s supposed to be spring!

It’s not fair!

Posted on

Spring Routine

So who needs a gym membership this time of year? I have had wood to stack, garden beds to build and prepare, a shed that needs repair, and yard cleanup to do. Maple syrup season has closed, and the buds on the maples are just breaking.

Now, I start my daily rounds checking for the springtime ephemeral flowers that should be coming up in the next week or two. Talking to the Conservation Agent in Town last week, I learned that they are not just pretty but can tell you a lot about the soil regime in the woods where they are found and are a bounty for the early emerging insects.

I am fortunate that I do not have to rely on a series of exercises for general fitness. I’ve always needed a sense of purpose to exercise, and having my work and observation routine is just what the physical therapist and doctor ordered. Providing, of course, that I don’t overdo and yank anything out of place. No Pain, No Gain? Well, I’ll behave and make sure that I stop once in a while to appreciate the flowers.

Posted on

Subtle

New England is picturesque in three of the four seasons. But please note you’ll not find upbeat commercials for springtime in our region unless dour is your thing. Instead, the commercials would entreat you to come and search our woodlands for individual flowers and the rare bush breaking into bloom.
Still, every morning this time of year, I stumble around my wooded garden watching the Canadian ginger slowly unpack its leaves, see the anemones pop above the leaf mulch, and see the green and bronze trout lily leaves emerge, followed by the yellow flower.

There is very little brashly direct about springtime in New England. Instead, it’s slow, subtle, and subdued.

Posted on

Rain

The rains of March and early April are here. The seeds are getting started, and I am more than a bit frustrated with the new “peat moss-free” seeding mix I am trying. Nevertheless, the maple sap is boiling, and the almost spring is upon us.

Now I recall, at the edge of winter, that there will be days that I am itching to get garden beds in order, but there will be too much water on the garden to move without creating a mud patch.

The cat will demand to be carried into the carving shop and begin an inspection tour. She’ll move about the projects in a furtive and firtle fashion- looking busy but doing little. Finally, after knocking a few things over, she’ll get into the nip and lay in her shop bed and purr.

The details attended to; I’ll set my tools out and start carving while listening to the marine weather forecast rattling and hissing away on the tiny shop radio.

It beats the hell out of February!

Posted on

Woodland Flowers

Despite the 36 degree windy weather this is what’s in bloom today in my woodland garden:

from left to right in the top row are: Sanguinaria ( bloodroot), Trout Lily, Liver lobed Helatica.

The bottom photo is a pulmonary – lungwort.

Enjoy springtime in New England. The Pulmonary blooms for several weeks and has those distinctive spotted leaves. The Trout lilly is an ephemeral it’s stray bronze and green leaves are gone by the middle of May and totally disappears. The Hepatica pulls the same stunt. If you mis the ephemerals you’ll just have to start watching around the end of March. Their bloom time is variable each year. Near the Hepatica the Trilliums have sprouted, but there won’y be flowers for a few weeks.