Two Months Later....

... I finally am getting around to writing another post. It will be a mish-mash of what has been going on since I last posted.

In late February I spent six days at my youngest daughter's apartment, helping her with cooking, cleaning, laundry, and child care while she recovered from having her gallbladder removed. She had a slow recovery, but was finally able to look after herself and her pre-schooler.

In mid-March a strong wind blew through our area for several hours, taking down many trees. We lost at least 7 on our property, and nearly everyone in the area lost a few. Roads were blocked until someone came along with a chainsaw to clear a path. By the time I needed to drive out of our neighborhood, this was the only remaining downed tree across the road, and I could get around it.

Little bits of debris from trees littered the roads for days.

We barely got a good start on raking up the mess in our yard before it snowed the next day. The one good thing about snow in March is that it doesn't last very long.

Toward the end of March I made my annual spring trip to Montana to visit my sister. It was cloudy and drizzly on my drive there, so I didn't stop to take very many pictures. I do like this shot I took somewhere along the Lower Flathead River, between Paradise and Dixon. The light dusting of snow on the hills makes them look like a pencil drawing.

In the next photo, you can see the snowline on the Mission Mountains. And the horses always make a photo more picturesque.

Home once more, I was pleased to see the Siberian Squill blooming, on March 25th. At my house, they are the first flowers to bloom. I only have this one little cluster left; the rest have vanished. I probably dug them up by accident while weeding.

Other flowers were up out of the ground, but not blooming yet, including the short iris...

...the fall blooming crocuses and the hyacinths...

...the daffodils and tulips...

...and the garlic.

Just two weeks later, the hyacinths and the daffodils were in bloom!

The reason for the reddish-orange flags in the photos is because I planned to move all of those early-blooming bulb flowers to a better place last fall. But I ran out of ambition and never thought up a better place, so they and the flags are still there. Maybe it will happen this fall.

In Spokane, where my youngest daughter lives, spring arrives a week or two earlier. The trees with the white or pink flowers were in full bloom this past weekend when I took my granddaughter to a playground. I'm not sure what kind of tree this is, but I thought it was so pretty.

So far I have not done a great deal of gardening. I don't have a permanent greenhouse, and am not sure I have the energy to set up the temporary one on the deck, so I haven't started any seeds. I have pulled back the old pine needle mulch from the raspberry and blueberry bushes, worked in some fertilizer, and put the mulch back in place, along with a fresh layer. I hired a teen to help with some of that, as well as getting the large pieces of landscape cloth in place before the weeds have a chance to get tall. I currently intend to plant mostly squashes there, and maybe one hill of slicing cucumbers. I believe I'll use the stock tank raised bed for carrots, and possibly plant one row of green beans. I love having flowers in the garden, but water has gone up in price so I am reluctant to plant anything I am not going to eat. But I will plant my traditional row of gladiolus for sure.

Last year I experimented with planting New Zealand White Clover in the unused portion of the garden. It did well in the areas where it got watered, but where it didn't get water, it didn't thrive. So this year I intend to plant more of that, and make sure I water it at least once a week. That will be a crop I can't eat, of course, but it will keep the dust down, and hopefully crowd out some of the weeds. I would love to plant the entire garden with vegetables, but have to be realistic about how much my body will hold up to, and how much water we can afford to use.

That's what I've been up to during the past two months. If you managed to read this far, please post a comment mentioning your favorite spring flower.

*All photos taken on my Android phone.*