March GBBD: Almost Spring!

On this March Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, the few houseplants I have are enjoying the extra hours of daylight.

The Thanksgiving/Christmas cactus is re-blooming.  Apparently, it's an Irish cactus, 

because I notice from past years that it usually blooms again around St. Patrick's Day.

The Kalanchoe, though leggy, is also putting out a few tiny yellow blooms, the first of the year.

But why are we looking at plants indoors when it's such a beautiful day outside? The weather has warmed up considerably this past week, even reaching into the 60's, including today's bright sunny day.

When the piles of snow on the Lily Bed finally melted, I found these first harbingers of spring, the tiny Snowdrops.  I keep hoping they will muliply, but as of today there are just three blooms total.  I suppose all the digging I do in this area every fall to plant other bulbs hasn't helped, and I may have accidentally displaced a few.  Still, they are a welcome sight.

Nothing else is blooming yet, not even a crocus, but there are signs of life if you look closely enough.  I know it won't be long before the daffodils are blooming.

But first I need to uncover everything from the thick layer of matted leaves that blanketed the garden beds all winter.  It was such a beautiful day today that I spent a little time raking up the garden and cutting a few things back so that the emerging bulbs could finally see the sun.  One of the best investments I made last year was buying this little shrub rake.  It's perfect for raking around delicate spring bloomers--no more tulips beheaded by the garden rake!

It's so much fun to see what hidden treasures lie underneath all these leaves--

hellebore buds so happy to see the light of day!

I don't want to tempt fate by saying that spring is here yet--the temperatures are supposed to fall later this week again, and the weatherman even said that four-letter S--- word on TV.  But I'm hoping he's wrong.   Spring--it can't be long now!


To see what is blooming all over on this fine day in March, be sure to visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens and see how excited other gardeners are about the arrival of spring.

Bloom Day and a Blogging Break

January is always challenging for the monthly Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. It's too cold for any blooms outdoors, and my garden is a mushy, frozen mess at the moment without even the benefit of some fluffy white snow for an appealing winter scene.  Indoors, the Christmas poinsettia is still looking good, but the only other indoor bloom is this kalanchoe.

I bought this plant before Christmas at a plant sale held by horticulture students at our local community college.  I'm not sure if they grew the plant themselves in their greenhouse or imported it from a wholesaler, but it was quite a bargain for its size.  There is only one problem . . .

Notice the tag in the pot?  Obviously, this is not pink!  But I'm not going to complain--at this time of year any blooms are welcome, no matter their color.  Also indoors, the Christmas cactus is dropping the last of its blooms, and the leaves of two amaryllis are growing several inches a day, but alas without a bloom on either.

Somewhere I'm sure there must be something blooming--if you're in need of a garden fix like me, I'm sure you'll find something colorful among the other Bloom Day posts found at May Dreams Gardens.


This will be my last post for awhile, and I wanted to let everyone know so that you don't think I suddenly fell off the face of the blogosphere.  Last fall I agreed to take over for an English teacher while she was on maternity leave this winter.  I had to think over this proposal for awhile--did I really want to get back into the everyday work routine? Although I substitute teach at my old high school occasionally, that's a little different, and sometimes I feel like little more than a glorified babysitter.  Instead of leaving empty-handed right after the 3:00 bell, this position would mean I would be staying in the classroom for as long as it takes to get things organized for the next day and taking home a bag filled with papers to grade and lessons to prepare during the evening.

But the timing was right--I can't do much in the garden in late winter anyway. And she really wanted ME, not someone new, which, of course, fed my ego; the thought of actually teaching and getting to interact meaningfully with students again was also appealing.  The added paychecks (more plants?? more trips??) didn't hurt either.

And so I agreed to go back to work for eight weeks.  But babies don't always follow schedules, and sure enough, little baby Gabe decided to make an early appearance.  Instead of having three more weeks to prepare for my teaching stint and get the last of the Christmas decorations put away (!), I started teaching this past Friday.    I know many of you work full-time and keep up with blogging, but I have been out of the loop so long that it's going to take me awhile to adjust.  I have a feeling that by the time I have all my work done at the end of each evening, I'm going to be ready to collapse into bed, rather than relaxing by reading some blogs. 

I hope to be able to pop in and visit now and then, and I'm going to try to post a short Bloom Day post in February and March.  But I will definitely be back to blogging in April, when I hope I can share scenes like this:

and this....

See you in the Spring!