Design

It's been remarkable to see spring explode this year.  Perhaps this is normal, and I don't remember it being quite so quick, or didn't observe it closely enough. Spring in the Piedmont My gardening companion and I were wishing that we could see what will be happening in the mountains next weekend, although plenty will be happening (plant-wise) here at home in the Piedmont. He's taking a group of college students in CU's Students for Environmental Action to visit a premier wildflower site on Sunday -Station Cove Botanical Area in USDA Forest Service land, adjacent to Oconee Station State Park.  It's a wonderland of botanical treasures, especially spring woodland wildflowers. Green haze of spring But I do think that the warm weather in February and early March has created an environment that has promoted the simultaneous flowering of oaks and hickories, flowering of redbuds and dogwoods, and it means now that SPRING is here.

These apricot-colored tulips are at their peak.  Bought as an impulse at the fall plant sale, I tucked them in an old pot near the potting bench.  But as they emerged, we took them out to the porch -- with the warm weather and time change, we'll have dinner out there this evening. It's a reminder that we're almost to official spring. Thank goodness.

With a week ahead of lovely spring-like days, it's hard not to be enthusiastic about gardening of all sorts. We certainly have cold days ahead, and frost, too, but what a gift to have a week of great weather, after a winter full of cold and snow (at least by our standards in the Southestern US). There are cool-season greens to sow (racing against the bolting stimulated by longer days) and native trees, shrubs, and perennials to think about (as well as the hardy and well-behaved non-natives). But there are also warm-season veggies to start in our warm greenhouses, or above a heating mat -- tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and tomatillos, not to mention a host of other plants that enjoy a head start on spring.

This time of year is one of looking forward.  For those of us in the Southern U.S., spring is practically around the corner, as February will bring a number of pleasant days (just like we've had recently, with highs pushing 50°F with sunshine, woo-hoo!) After the extremely cold weather in December and January, we're ready for a bit of our 'normal' Southern winter weather. Actually, spring renewal doesn't really begin until mid February, with the flowering of the native red maples, along with the Asian ornamentals ( Prunus & Magnolia selections, as well as many others). But with the days lengthening, I feel the sense of spring just around the corner.  That's a good feeling.

Much cooler than normal, we had another fabulous spring day here in the Carolinas. I was whining about our exceptionally cold and rainy winter weather through late February, but March and April have been quite nice.  We've had only a few hot spells, along with lower than normal temperatures.  Now, if rainfall amounts get back up to 'normal' - we're still three inches short for the year - that would be great!

Leaving for work this morning, the light was perfect -- soft and mellow. The young coral honeysuckle next to the gate is thriving, and in full flower. And through the gate (or really over the fence), the side garden looked lovely, too, cloaked in spring greens, with dogwood white.

Who can resist the temptation of taking life outdoors when the spring sun smiles over the horizon? The seasonal spring merriment is all around. Make it merrier with a fun-filled potluck party with your friends and family amidst the restful embrace of nature. Potluck parties are fun, but they usually lack for style in the scheme of planning other things around. Style your potluck brunch out in the backyard patio with easy decor ideas and tips.

Spring is in the air, and mushrooms aplenty at the grocer's shop! It's time for some yummy delicacies. But before you start whipping up your favorite dishes, take a look around you - don't you think your kitchen looks a bit bland, and needs a makeover badly? Think out of the box . Get your kitchen the springtime freshness with some easy tips and ideas.

Choosing the right springtime decor for doing up your terrace, patio or sunroom requires a combination of two things: functionality and style. If you are decorating your terrace, it should be done up like an extension of your stylized interiors. And if it's a front porch, lend it a look, which hints at how your home may like like from inside, for porch is the area which people see first when they walk up to your house. But, as we mentioned in the last article: Springtime Decoration Ideas For Your Prized Open Outdoor Space, the decor of the open space area should be kept minimal, comfortable, and inviting. Bedeck your favorite open space area for the approaching spring, with a few more tips and ideas for spring outdoor decoration .

There was a time when every home, big or small, used to have a small patch of open space enclosed within its boundary, either in the form of a porch, patio, or a terrace. But nowadays, with every single patch of land being used up for some cause or the other, such open spaces are becoming rare and a truly prized possession. So, if you boast any of the aforesaid open spaces, deck it up beautifully in order to give your home decor the perfect springtime accent. Here is some useful guidance on how can you spruce up your open-space area in the spring mood. Read more for Springtime Decoration Ideas For Your Prized Open Outdoor Space .

Spring is synonymous with rejuvenation. Spring is synonymous with celebration. With spring comes a series of special occasions when to say your loved ones that you care. Valentine's Day, a Bridal Shower, Mother's Day, Holi, Easter and many other springtime occasions all call for special decorations. Using a few essentials like a bright table runner, a beautiful crystal flower vase with a bunch of pitunias or zinnias, an enticing assortment of farm-fresh fruits in a fruit bowl, and a few decorative pieces, you can create a stunning spring arrangement for yourself. Read through a few tabletop decoration ideas, which you can try at home for a lovely luncheon table... read more .

The vanishing fog blanket from atop the lake, the sparkle on the brook, the swaying buds amidst the dewy grass carpet, and the squirrels running from one tree to another – all say that the spring is almost here. It's time to give your home a refreshing face lift. The walls need a fresh coat of color, your garden is longing for a small fountain that you promised it long time back, and then there's the attic window! Don't you think a window box brimming with springtime flowers and green grass will be just great for it? - There are so many things to do, and so little time! Don't freak. Just take one at a time. Start with simple things that hardly need a blueprint to follow. First, pull up your rugs and mats, and reveal your floor. If you think it has lost its shine over the time, get it bleached. Next, turn to your walls, then the linens, the room decors and .... read more .

Warmer weather calls for a change in your home's decor. Update your home by bringing in sheer fabrics, pretty florals, and garden elements. Small things like rugs and mats , fresh blooms and cleaning up the area makes a lot of change, that easy to bring about and soothing to look at. Former About.com Guide, Coral Nafie, suggests the Top 10 ways to make over your decor for Spring !

It was a lovely day spent gardening. Today is Easter for Christians, and even though we're not religious, as a secular holiday, it has symbolism as a time of rebirth. Spring is here. A newly mown 'lawn', borders and meadow edited of winter annuals, a flourishing vegetable patch, and all's right in the garden. And now, about to have our dinner with greens and lettuces freshly harvested, looking out my study window, our first ruby-throated hummingbird of the season visited a few of the Carolina Jessamine flowers on the trellis out the window. Hooray!

March brings spring to those of us in the Southeastern U.S. The hints come in winter, with the lovely flowering imports from Asia, Turkey, Greece, and elsewhere. Crocus, snowdrops, daffodils, and spring snowflakes are among the bulbs; ornamental apricots flower in January and camellias flower from fall through winter, depending on the species and cultivar. In good years, Magnolia stellata (Star magnolia) and Magnolia x soulangiana (Saucer magnolia) avoid the late freezes and put on a show. This year is one of those. I d on't have a single picture that I've taken of Saucer magnolia (it's pretty enough, but otherwise not all that interesting from a wildlife gardening point of view, and 4 out of 5 years, the flowers get zapped by frost). So here's a photo downloaded years ago from Clipart.com, now Jupiter Images, I think. But real spring means our ephemeral spring wildflowers: Trilliums , bloodroot, mayapple, Tiarella, Shortia (Oconee Bell), Wild Ginger, and a hos...

Hepatica americana We saw the first Hepatica in flower this morning. It was expected; it's one of the first of our native woodland wildflowers to flower. We'd actually made a detour on our walk to see if flowers were open in a spot we knew and we weren't disappointed. I checked for a post about seeing Hepatica last year ( it was on February 29 ) -- I couldn't remember if I'd made one, but of course, I had. This is an image that my gardening companion took last year. Hepatica flowers open in late morning and close at night. I love retelling the story about the entire lab group in Germany (where I studied after graduate school) making the trek to see the first Hepatica nobilis flowering in the snow. A beloved symbol of spring in Northern Europe, I'm also reminded of the graceful Hepatica logo for an International Botanical Congress in Berlin years ago.

With water and warmth, leaves are expanding rapidly and flowers are opening. All of the potato sprouts are up, the coral honeysuckle at the kitchen door is loaded with flowers (still waiting for hummingbirds), and honeybees, bumblebees, and carpenter bees are avidly visiting the redbuds in full bloom. The columbines ( Aquilegia canadense ) that have self-seeded around the house are just coming into flower. I saw a monarch this afternoon -- I was surprised to see one. They're coming north, but I didn't see any last spring, even though we're on the eastern 'flyway'.

Earlier this week, I heard spring peepers and American toads singing in the marshy areas adjacent to a lake nearby. This evening (very warm), the peepers were singing away in the retention pond next to the grocery where I frequently shop. Spring is coming on the calendar and is already here in the biological world around us. The female carpenter bees are looking for sites to drill their larval holes, the chorus of garden birds now includes towhees, cardinals, brown thrashers, wrens, chickadees, and robins, AND the woodchuck(s), I think, have just emerged to have a very nice fresh salad meal on my young spinach plants. Hhrmph. The squirrels have been digging everywhere, but Mocha (our now low-key, pampered Golden who shares our garden with us, as well as the wildlife) also is stepping on freshly dug beds, as well, much to my dismay). At least, he's not eating my normal spring crop of Tuscan and redbor kale, primarily because the woodchuck(s) ate them in the fall. These are tryi...

I woke up this morning to a mockingbird's song. He was singing his song cycle - echoing the songs of the other backyard birds. Mockingbirds are tremendous songsters; their repertoire repeats (I think) Carolina wrens, robins, thrashers, cardinals, titmice, doves, etc. The frost was lovely on the winter annuals and border edges; we're in for a spell of winter after some lovely warm afternoon days that promised spring to come. But for us, here in South Carolina, spring really IS just around the corner. Already, I'm sure, the hepatica are in flower at Station Cove, and along Lake Issaqueena. The sassafras and blueberry flower buds are swelling, as are the dogwood's, and the foliage of the spring bulbs is already up. The Iphieon has been in flower for some time.

Leaving the house yesterday, I saw a downy woodpecker on the suet feeder, not an unusual sight for winter, but I'm starting to see and hear birds that remind me that spring is on the way. The cheery call of a Carolina wren greeted me this morning, and later, I surprised a female bluebird near the big oak tree in front. She's the first bluebird I've seen in our garden, although we have many breeding pairs in the botanical garden's meadows. I think we'll try moving the bluebird house on the old Pawlonia to a more attractive spot! Poking around in the leaf litter in the perennial beds, shoots of spring bulbs are well up, and fresh rosette growth is starting to appear. Hooray!