looking for spring

confederate rose

Still cold out, still overcast and the wind is still from the north but I was out looking for some signs of spring this weekend on our one warm(er) blue sky day Saturday.  I used the nice day to prune back all the dead foliage and branches from the things that froze to the ground during our arctic blast last month.  So many things are gone now...the hummingbird bush, the yellow bells, the ginger.  Both clumps of butterfly iris are gone and I don’t think they will be back.  Worst of all is my confederate rose which was easily 10’ tall.  Scraping a little nick in the trunks with my fingernail, I finally found some green about an inch above the ground.

I had intended to prune the roses back, conventional wisdom being February 14th.  It was already too late really.  They have come out robustly and I even saw a small bud or two forming.  With so many other things gone out of the landscape, I decided to let the roses be.

There were some small signs like the ground orchids emerging

and this small clump of daffodils sprung up from one week to the next.

The rogue peach tree had a few flowers open and was busting with ripening buds.

The mock orange has tiny little green leaves emerging on delicate thin stems.

The birds are getting all stirred up.  The male cardinals have been singing, the mockingbird is staking out territory, two little birds were having a mid-air battle, thumping chests and pecking.  Some new little birds have shown up, migrating from futher south, but I haven’t been able to identify them.  It’s lively out here in the mornings.