Early Spring!

They always remind me of little fried eggs....

What a happy time of year! Spring is literally springing forth: the weather was lovely this past week -- warm, sunny and in the 60s, and not even too windy for a few days. I imprudently worked outside two days in a row and my joints ached -- but I was still tempted to do more, it was that nice outside.

And the first flowers are blooming! Crocus, winter aconite and tiny irises are in flower, and the grass is slowly greening up. These little early flowers always make me so happy -- I'm making a mental note that I will plant more of them this fall, and I have a new planned area I think I will devote to them and other minor bulbs.

Here are a few flowers from outside and inside:

More crocus. I love their Easter Egg colors.

These tiny irises are blooming and tulips are pushing up out of the ground among them.

Winter aconite are also in flower. They're pretty small, and require an
extreme close-up.

I couldn't resist buying a six-pack of these cute pansies that are already for sale at Lowe's (most stores around here will likely not have any flowers for sale for several weeks yet). I potted them up and left them inside, not because they wouldn't be OK outside, but because I know I will see and enjoy them more inside at this time of year. I'll plant them outside in window boxes before long.

I was able to force these forsythia branches to bloom early by cutting them and bringing them inside this year. I tried it last spring, but without any luck and I thought I had done something wrong, but it turned out that the shrub itself only had about three flowers on it last year for some reason,. Now that I have been successful, I feel better about the whole forcing branches idea. (The daffodils are from the supermarket, which always has a special on them every spring, and which I greatly look forward to as one of signs of the desperately waited-for end of winter. Happy days!)

Spring is definitely arriving early this year. I think this is the earliest we've had this many flowers blooming for a number of years. The weather has turned rainy for the next few days, but that will make the grass green up, and then it will really seem like spring!

I hope your spring is arriving as well, and that warm, sunny days are heading your way. Thanks for reading! -Beth