Yes, A Girl's Thoughts Turn To Spring

It would be wonderful if all year could be spring. There's no other season like it. Fall is a beautiful time of year also with relief from the oppressive heat and mugginess of summer. A beautiful show of autumn leaves in shades of reds, gold, and colors in between. Followed by the cool crisp air that only comes with winter. A time to feed and watch the bird and enjoy falling snowflakes. But spring is the winner for me. It's a season of hope and renewed strength and energy. Maybe because plants and some animals hibernate and sleep during the winter but only for a while. Then in the blink of an eye, they start to emerge again. They know that spring is arriving before we do.

Back in the pansies this weekend at the nursery. This time at Holod's True Value Hardware and Nursery in Lafayette Hill Pennsylvania. It was my first time there and now a new favorite. Yes I still have pansies I sowed from seed but they're still small. In the fall I'll start this extra early in the summer. But I'll have pansies for my window seal when they start to bloom. Orange pansies seem to represent fall but I love orange and all the colors of pansies especially the blues. This year a color to go with the stucco. Normally I plant blues and purples.

Planted up the container on my stoop on Monday during a warm and spring like day. Removed a box wood, 2 coral bells, and a creeping Jenny which I'll put back. Threw out the old soil and watered. These pansies came from Primex Garden Center in Glenside. The tulips and a few hyacinths are ones I forced in containers on the sunporch this winter. I removed them from pots and inserted in this container. This way I didn't have to worry about squirrels eating or carrying the bulbs away.

Soon I'll have tulips and narcissus blooming up here. Plastic mesh helped save my bulbs from squirrels this year. Looking forward to them.

A lily from the produce market about a week ago.

 

Buds on my lilac purchased in the fall. Yes lilacs on the sun porch. I have 2 others. One looks dead but may not be. The other I just bought in a quart pot which has yellow blooms. Can't wait. Spring is such a beautiful time.

Alliums have emerged.

The sunporch 

Buds on the new lilac and a pumpkin still hard.

Two ferns from last fall survived the winter in their containers on the porch. Will pot this up this year. They'll live on the porch.

Catnip never died this winter and is putting on new growth. My kitty will be patiently waiting. 

Snapdragons. Why did I buy them, I have seedlings? I want to plant my planter now, impatient. And snapdragon seedlings can be difficult. I hope some make it.

Not a good plant mom sometimes. My amaryllis still on the porch all winter. They'll survive and bloom again late spring or summer. They were beautiful last year.

New orchid pot from Holod's and some nasturtium seeds for my small flower bed out front. When deep summer arrives and most of the perennials have bloomed, it's nice to have some extra color. I found they do better direct sown.

Waiting patiently for more hyacinths. The last few forced bulbs are blooming indoors. I need to start my amaryllis that arrived in the fall still in bags on the porch.

Creeping Jenny started growing on the porch after I pulled it. Will go back into the planter soon.