So happy that the last day for frost in New Hampshire has arrived! There is some bad news in the garden but lots of sweet discoveries of rebirth. We won’t be lighting fires or dancing around a maypole with ribbons, a popular event of my childhood, but will be celebrating the fertility and merrymaking in the garden.
The hummingbirds returned yesterday. The bees are back. All over the Seacoast, we see the cold hardy, early blooming PJM rhododendron hybrids with their bright lavender-pink flowers attracting bumblebees galore. I keep a small one just for those early blooms for insects.
Tulips, daffodils, and grape hyacinths are providing the most booms in our garden at this early stage of spring but we also have the pansies struggling to set blooms. Good news is the New Hampshire drought is over on the Seacoast. Fingers crossed for good rainfall for the summer.
The cutest little bulb in the garden is the Fritillaria meleagris, the miniature checkerboard lily. I planted 15 bulbs but only 6 appeared both in white and in an adorable purple faint checkered pattern. Yes, I will plant more of these… and maybe have a fairy garden someday.
In the shade, the common bleeding heart (Dicentra) is unfurling its tiny cluster of heart-shaped flowers along stems and the Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Yubae’ is performing well in its second year.
My favorite color in the garden is green and we have plenty of that. Leaves are unfurling on viburnum, hydrangea, hosta, serviceberry, aucuba. It is the true color of spring…. a reward of rebirth and growth. Green provides me with a sense of relaxation and well-being and if I am surrounded by green whether in my landscape or beneath a canopy of trees in a forest, I have my sanctuary.
I think I need to move a couple of towns over because my Bleeding Hearts are about 7″ tall, and my Hosta are barely out of the ground. Everything is looking great in your neighborhood – beautiful in fact. 🙂
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I can’t explain why the plants are shooting up earlier than last year. Maybe it’s the new mulch we use from Seacoast Farms in Fremont NH. It’s a 50/50 blend of finely shredded mulch and organic compost. I layered it on about 2 inches thick last year and condo association added 2 more inches this spring. Good for plants, soil, and it’s very attractive!
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Ooh, now that sounds interesting. I’m going to go google it right now. 🙂
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Yes – i am super confused – You look so far ahead of me and we are in South Jersey – only an hour away from the coast. How is the New Hampshire climate so much warmer than ours is? Just saw my first hummingbird today & my feeders have been out since April 13.
Beautiful photos & Enjoy Your Spring.
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Do you think so? Your columbines are HUGE and your chives are already beginning to flower. We do get ocean breezes that help…just 10 minutes from the shore…but sometimes that keeps us cold. Offshore breezes have us in the upper 40’s today!
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Wow – in the 40’s – We’re 70 here today. You just seem to have so much going on – Maybe you’re just a better photographer than I am – lol
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Not!
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A real feast for the eyes. Spring is slower here but the early flowers are popping up.
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Every season offers gifts but there’s something about the vernal freshness of the land in spring. Love seeing your photos of birds returning to your habitat…
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Your plantings are gorgeous. Virginias blooms have come and gone, except our hosta clumps which have fully leafed out in our yard, measuring about a foot tall and two feet wide along our brick pathway to the back yard.
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There will be a number of flushes of blooms in your garden but it’s your layers of green I love best.
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