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Fickle Spring

Posted on March 5, 2023 | 4 comments

I don’t know how the weather is where you are but this past week here in Southern Indiana, it’s been all over the place. A week ago the temperature was up to 82 per the weather app on my phone. In February! Yesterday, Saturday, it was a chilly 30 degrees with frost on the car windows. Friday we had four inches of rain resulting in the creek bursting out of its banks and over the driveway, storms, winds up to 60 mph, and a tornado warning sending us to the basement for a bit.

The creek flooding out of its banks and over the drive.

The reason we moved here 35 years ago (after ten years in Michigan) was that the winters here were relatively mild (jacket weather) and the summers were endurable. But the past couple of years have been hotter or wetter or just plain off schedule. I’ve counted the tree rings in old trees and could see the drought of the 30s (thinner rings). Maybe it’s climate change; maybe this is a normal cycle.

The tallest cedar. Son and grandson for scale.

Spring still seems to arrive on her own schedule. Last week we went for a walk in the woods to find the tallest cedar. We did. I also spotted this tiny orange fungi. And some odd-looking bumps on a sycamore tree. I have no idea what that is.

The purple crocuses seem to be the most hardy.

The crocuses are still pushing up, often in odd places where I know I didn’t plant them. Can they travel? The tulips are still emerging but seem to be on the wane, most likely due to deer and rabbits. Several types of daffodils are blooming despite what Mother Nature is throwing at them. The frost doesn’t seem to affect them at all. Even the pulmonaria is pushing up. The buds are swelling on bushes and trees. We seem to be about three weeks ahead of normal…and I’m not ready for spring yet.

Hardy daffodils. Also in a few types of lilies coming up. Limbs down from recent storm.

I was outside early yesterday morning to take photos of the golden frosty sunrise. In my robe and boots again. Thankfully we have no near neighbors as I’m sure I was an eyeful.

But I always look forward to spring’s promise no matter how fickle she is. Just no more tornado warnings, please.

Wisteria vine. Fallen wild cherry in back waiting to be turned into campfire wood. Always some benefit in the storm.

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Posted in country living

Tagged country living, crocuses, daffodils, gardening, golden sunrise, indiana, kit miracle, storms, tulips

Spring cleanup

Posted on February 27, 2019 | Comments Off

These cheery yellow crocuses are the first to bloom this year. They get extra warmth and shelter near this rock wall.

After what seems like weeks of rain, wind and generally yucky weather (yes, that is an actual meteorological description in the Midwest), we finally had a beautiful sunny and relatively warm day with temps in the 50s. I couldn’t wait to get outside for a bit. This is the time of year to clean up all the winter debris. I know I raked those flower beds so where did all these leaves come from?

This is just a small portion of the area still covered by the chestnut seed hulls. I raked four wheelbarrow loads today and have as much again to rake tomorrow. They didn’t decompose much over the winter.

A big mess in the yard was our last chestnut which we cut down a week ago. We had already cut down two companions previously. The Chinese chestnut is a beautifully shaped tree with an umbrella-shaped top, large leaves, beautiful grayish bark and, of course, lots of chestnuts. These trees were very prolific. This would not normally be a problem as we have plenty of room – ninety acres, remember – and we have loads of other nut-bearing trees. Oaks, walnuts, hickory, plus fruit trees.

Chestnut seed hulls remind me of spiny sea urchins. They are very painful to handle or step on. I only use leather gloves to work with them.

However, chestnuts have a seed hull which is very prickly, like a spiny sea urchin. You can only handle them with leather gloves and they are very painful to step on. They are also very prolific. When we cut down the first two chestnuts, we thought that we wouldn’t get any more seed pods without the pollinators. That was a mistaken idea. As you can see by the debris on the ground, there was still plenty to clean up.

I spent a couple of hours raking and gathered four wheelbarrow loads of hulls. There is still as much again to do tomorrow. What I couldn’t rake will eventually decompose but it will probably be a few years before anyone can go barefoot in that part of the yard.

Chestnut woodpile. All of this wood came from one tree.

Chestnut wood is beautiful with a grayish-green color and kind of stripey. It is also very dense and heavy.

It was a beautiful day. The first crocuses were finally brave enough to pop out. I even spotted a few spring beauties in bloom. In about a month, they will carpet the lawn so it looks like snow.

One of my favorite wildflowers and early harbinger of spring. Spring beauties have a delicate pink stripe which can’t be seen in this photo. I’ll try for another shot later.

I sure was ready for lunch and a rest. And our dog Mikey was ready, too. Keeping me company and following me around was hard work.