Tag Archives: daffodils

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.

4 Comments

Posted in country living

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

Early signs of spring

Posted on January 22, 2023 | 5 comments

I always eagerly anticipate the first signs of spring. This year, I was surprised to see a dandelion in bloom on January 4^th. That is amazing to me. Now I’ve eagerly started looking for signs.

So far, I’ve also spotted several bushes in bud. Rhododendron, azalea, magnolia. Sometimes I’ll catch a mixed up forsythia in bloom already but then, they often bloom in autumn, too. However, they are easy to force if you just cut some branches and bring them inside. (Put them in water, of course.)

I have a lot of naturalized daffodils in the yard. They are already coming up in several places. Sometimes they’re too early. One year I painted a group of daffodils blooming in the snow so it’s not inconceivable that I might see some soon.

One day last week, I saw three robins in a row in the front field. Sometimes I’ve seen large flocks of them in early spring. Only the males.

And I caught this rabbit in my headlights as I was coming up the drive a few days ago. The little devil was looking for something yummy in the garden but there’s nothing there yet except garlic. A motion-detector solar-powered light is good to chase away night critters.

With the winds, I saw several of last season’s nests which have been blown down. My kids used to bring them to me and I still love the engineering.

These little sketches were done with some very old Osmiroid ink in sepia. (It’s a collector’s item now.) I haven’t worked with ink for awhile so it was fun to get back to an old friend. I used a #4 quill which is also hard to come by these days. There are a number of fine quality pens and inks made in Japan of which I would like to try more. Stay tuned.

5 Comments

Posted in country living, Uncategorized

Tagged daffodils, early signs of spring, kit miracle, nest, rabbits, rhododendron, robins, spring

Spring in bloom

Posted on May 1, 2022 | 5 comments

Several varieties of daffodils bloom throughout the spring. So easy to grow.

I wasn’t sure if spring would ever arrive this year. We’ve had weather ranging from sleet and snow and ice, to upper 70s and 80s two days later. Very unpredictable.

But I love the spring greens this time of year. It only lasts a few weeks before the heavy greens roll in, but that bright yellow-green just perks me up. Didn’t we used to have a crayon called “spring green?”

The bluebell blossoms start out as pink, then turn sky blue when they open. They pair well with naturalized narcissus.

From one small patch, these blue bells have naturalized all over the yard. I have given starts away and even planted some along a wooded path last year. When they’re finished blooming, they totally die back and won’t be seen until next spring.

I have been driving around just gathering photos for future reference. One day, I even had my husband drive the little country roads while I took pictures. Have to capture the scenery while it’s here.

As with many old farmsteads, our yard is full of violets. I love the varieties of colors, from deep purple and blue, to pale lavender, even to white and creamy yellow. Some people think these are weeds but I love them.

However, the beauty just in my own yard has been refreshing also. A cacophony of whites and yellows, blues and purples. The really exciting thing about the spring flowers is that they’re so fugitive. They don’t last for long and I know that I won’t see them for another year. And in most cases, they are pretty much maintenance-free.

Now the real work begins. Planting the garden, preparing flower beds, trimming the lane, picking up winter debris. It’s always something here on the farm. But I love it.

The lilacs have been particularly spectacular this season. The scent is almost overwhelming but welcome for their few weeks of blooming.

Here are more naturalized flowers by the old well.

Wisteria on the arbor. This is the first year that our wisteria has bloomed. Such a beautiful flower but a little invasive. I have to trim it back from nearby trees and bushes.

5 Comments

Posted in country living, garden, landscape, old house

Tagged bluebells, country living, daffodils, gardening, indiana, violets, wisteria

Waiting for spring

Posted on January 17, 2021 | 2 comments

We had a little over an inch of snow last night. The sight that greeted us this morning was so pretty. Every branch and plant was covered. Actually, it seems as if we haven’t had a heavy snow of several inches for a few years. Even though winter has been relatively mild – so far, I am already sick of the season. News exhaustion, tired of restrictions, worried about COVID. Missing my family.

The past few weeks since the holiday crush, I have been concentrating on finishing up my Breaking Bread series of paintings. These are middling to large, 24 x 30 paintings expressing my thoughts and observations of people eating together, or not as the case may be. A few are humorous but most are thought-provoking. Scenes we see every day or used to at least. But they are also mentally or emotionally draining.

I decided to take a little respite this week and paint something lighter. Think spring. Back to some small watercolors with pen and ink, even colored pencil added. Some florals and landscapes. Promises of things to come in a few months.

Landscape with spring daffodils. Watercolor, pen and ink, colored pencil on Arches paper. 10.5 x 13.5 Kit Miracle These naturalized daffodils are a delight to look at every spring. I didn’t plant them but always send thanks to the person who did.

The first one that I tackled was Spring Daffodils. This is a landscape of the naturalized daffodils in my yard. Sometimes they come up as early as mid-February but usually they’re not out in full force until March and April. It’s just such a peaceful scene with spring colors.

Purple Irises. Watercolor, pen and ink, colored pencil on Arches paper. 10.5 x 13.5 Kit Miracle

Another scene is of some of the purple irises out by the woodshed. I know that I planted these shortly after we moved here many years ago but can’t remember the name. It doesn’t really matter. I have many varieties of irises from light purple to deep purple, peach and white, and some more that I’ve forgotten. It’s always a pleasant surprise to see them explode in color in some out of the way place.

I’ll take another week “off” to paint some of these spring scenes. They have lightened my mood and inspired me during these dismal times. Then I’ll get back to the more serious series. I have four more paintings to complete before the big show in May and June.

I hope you have some activity to inspire you during these difficult times, too. Take care of yourselves.

2 Comments

Posted in country living, garden, landscape, watercolor

Tagged daffodils, flowers, irises, spring, watercolor

Yearning for Spring

Posted on March 10, 2019 | 2 comments

Yearning for Spring, framed, 16 x 20, acrylic on canvas, Kit Miracle, contemporary impressionist

I am just so ready for spring. Living here in southern Indiana, the winters are usually rather mild, at least compared to my years in Michigan. We will often get a little snow but not much to worry about. I think winter here is really like a long fall.

However, this year Mother Nature seems to have taken a fit. Warm one week just enough to tease the early bulbs out of the ground. Then the next week, temperatures diving for the bottom of the thermometer. Last week we saw lows of 10 degrees which meant our wood furnace (The Beast) was doing its best to keep up. Yesterday we saw a high of 62 with some 70s predicted for next week. Last evening the peepers could be heard in chorus in the bottoms. Did I mention that I am really ready for spring?

I felt an irresistible urge to paint some spring flowers. With few early flowers out yet except a couple of bedraggled crocuses and some hardy daffodils, I turned to my photos of some spring bouquets. And to step outside my usual style. Same old, same old, gets boring in my opinion.

Yearning for Spring, acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20, contemporary impressionist, Kit Miracle

The first bouquet consists of forsythia, double fancy daffodils and some branches of flowering quince. I like the subtle colors here and aimed at coordinating the background to the flowers but to subjugate it to the foreground.

Dancing Tulips, acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20, contemporary impressionist, Kit Miracle

The second flower painting took me in a different direction. I aimed for bold colors and lively strokes. This painting certainly accomplished that. It almost looks as if the tulips are dancing. To see the step by step for this painting, click here or go the Artworks tab and click on Dancing Tulips.

With the warming temps coming this week, my real tulips might be blooming. They’re already up several inches and it will just need old Sol to entice them out. I’m ready!

Of course, both paintings are for sale at my Etsy shop.

Thanks for stopping by.