Spring Archives - Page 6 of 7 - The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

More Unhealthy Spring Excitement

Posted on April 10, 2014 by jmarkowski Posted in Spring .

This dude, meaning me, seriously needs a hobby. I have spent hours just staring at the crocuses in bloom, in awe that there are actual bees paying them a visit:

I’ve never felt more desperate for the spring gardening season to take hold and I apologize for my desperation.

But it gets better, and more desperate, as I type this sentence.

I had taken a few photos of the branches on my Salix (Willow) ‘Kaga Nishiki’, excited to see that it was leafing out. But now, upon closer inspection, I see that there are f’n catkins on there. Take a look:

That is a first for me and I am way pumped up! Bring it the hell on. I may set up temporary residence right next to this shrub just to watch these catkins fully emerge. Too much?

I am even intensely excited just to see the buds on my Crabapple tree:

Riveting ain’t it?

It may seem like nothing to y’all, but I have had enough getting my only landscape thrills from the peeling bark on the River Birch trees:

Ain’t gardening grand?

Spring Fever

Posted on April 2, 2014 by jmarkowski Posted in Spring .

A little “current day” and “what is to come” photo action for you today.

Saying goodbye to winter

Posted on March 17, 2014 by jmarkowski Posted in Spring .

While there is still some snow on the ground and it is still frigid outside, I have officially declared it to be spring in my neck of the woods. We were fortunate to have been spared by the storm that just hit the Mid-Atlantic last night so I am confident that things will only look up from here. The nasty winter is in the rearview and it is time to get down to business.

The photo below is a great representation of how my garden looks right now:

Ornamental grasses ready to be cut to the ground, perennial foliage that has been battered all winter and deciduous shrubs that are just now showing signs of leafing out. In other words, a lot of brown and not much else.

But we move on. There is garden assessment and work to be done.

Grab a child, put a hedge trimmer in their hands, scream at them incessantly through a megaphone and before you know it, the grasses have been cleaned up.

And nothing is more exciting than spotting those few blades of green grass emerging on the cool weather ornamental grasses.

There are signs of the daffodils returning.

And the geraniums are showing signs of life.

There are some reminders of the past, like this milkweed seed capsule.

Or this small ornamental grass that never took hold after being planted last fall. RIP whatever grass you are since I’ve already forgotten.

There is still a lot of work to be done and how awesome is that?

Spring ahead

Posted on March 10, 2014 by jmarkowski Posted in Spring .

I have had my fill of “winter interest” for a few months weeks now and finally, friggin finally, there were some honest to goodness signs of Spring today. Nothing that got my panties all up in a bunch, but enough to whet the whistle for the time being.

There was enough snow melt to expose the ‘Red Carpet’ Sedum for the first time in 2014:

I found the first sign of an Iris:

I leapt for joy to see that the Peony I planted late last Fall survived the Winter:

Some daffodil bulbs announced their arrival:

The Allium bulbs I planted in a container and stored in the garage are emerging:

I even grabbed my canoe so I could travel through the newly formed rivers in my lawn to pay a visit to a Viburnum that is ripe with buds (suck it deer, I hid it well this year):

Now don’t get me wrong, it is still the frozen tundra out there:

But thing are looking up for the first time in ages.

I even spotted a creature that is common around these parts as the temps rise:

Dude is getting bigger by the minute. And I like the hurler’s form.

And it wouldn’t be a relaxing weekend day at home without the girl “creating”. Today she organized an elaborate basketball shootout that rewarded the victor with either a homemade “Rainbow Loom” medal:

Or the mother of all trophies:

Here’s to Spring and longer days and thaws and March Madness and bulbs and the return of baseball!

Feeling spring

Posted on April 22, 2013 by jmarkowski Posted in Spring .

The flowers continue to emerge quickly, in spite of the cold temps:

But nothing says spring more than baseball/softball:

And by the way, swinging with your eyes closed is way underrated:

Spring will win out

Posted on March 26, 2013 by jmarkowski Posted in Spring .

Cold weather be damned:

And you stay the hell away:

Dreaming of Spring

Posted on February 10, 2012 by jmarkowski Posted in Spring .

Peony as of today:

And in another three months:

Spring – The musical post

Posted on April 18, 2011 by jmarkowski Posted in Comedy, Spring .

Listen, if Grey’s Anatomy or House can do a god awful musical episode, then why can’t I do a musical post? I may lose what little credibility I already had, but what the hell. We’ll give it a whirl and leave caution to the wind.

For today’s purposes, we’ll keep it short and try to gauge interest before we put together a full scale production and bust our already limited budget. Some of the lyrics have been altered but I’ve secured these rights from each of the artists. Diana Ross played hardball but eventually she came around.

Enjoy.

“On the 27th day of spring, my true love gave to me, a robin in a plum tree.”

“Ohhhhhh, we’re half way there, whoa hoa, living on a prayer.”

“Anticipation, anticipation is making me late.”

“I’m coming out, I want the world to know, Got to let it show.”

“You light up my life, you give me hope, to carry on.”

Transitioning to spring

Posted on April 11, 2011 by jmarkowski Posted in Spring .

Give me one second … ahhhh that’s better. Just had to scratch the poison ivy on my arm, and on my thigh, and on my waist. Yep, it’s heeeeeere … spring officially arrived this weekend at Chez ONG and not a moment too soon.

The temperature may not be ideal quite yet (although we are hitting the 80’s today) but you could feel spring in so many ways. Most noticeably, all of the deciduous trees are in bud or are leafing out:

Cherry tree blooms about to burst

More cherry tree blooms

Crabapple leafing out

Crabapple close up

Plum tree emerged overnight

More emerging foliage

Heaven – leafing out tree and blue skies

Some other not so obvious developments upon closer inspection:

Peonies have broken ground and will take no prisoners

Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’ new growth is always fantastic, assuming they are consistently sprayed with Liquid Fence

Ajuga ‘Chocolate Chip’ buds have formed and will soon form a purple mat of color

Viburnum leaf out is in full effect

Viburnums have such a vivid green foliage color this time of year

Geraniums new growth has fought through the dead brown foliage

I’ve probably bored you to tears with my Sedum ‘Red Carpet’ photos but I can’t get enough of them. They’ve doubled in size and are a fantastic color:

Sedum ‘Red Carpet’ – this is how they roll

Sedum ‘Red Carpet’ backed by yellow dwarf spireas

The birds have taken over the still flooded yard and they consist of mostly robins. Yesterday morning, however, while I was taking my morning pee, I saw this character and immediately starting snapping photos through the window. I’m by no means a bird aficionado (but I’m working on it) and after some research, determined that this was a Northern Flicker woodpecker who was pecking like mad all over the soil:

Northern Flicker woodpecker

I also spent some time cleaning up the beds and removing the old perennial foliage (hence the poison ivy):

Dead foliage off to the compost bins

And turned this:

Dead Catmint foliage

Into this:

New Catmint growth

And I couldn’t end a post without mention of rabbit or deer destruction so I leave you with some of the artwork left by one of the many rabbits living under my deck: