SPRING!

Let me start by saying...I LOVE SPRING! It really was a very mild winter. I can't complain. But there is nothing like seeing the little red baby leaves on the trees to lift your frozen spirits. Spring came early this year. In fact, there are even the beginnings of tiny peaches and cherries on the branches of our fruit trees where pink blossoms once thrived. We're going to get fruit this year! How exciting is that?!

Mom, you're going to kill me, but I didn't get any pictures of the blossoms this year. You'll just have to come out here and see for yourself next year. Trust me, it was spectacular. Ryan and I spent last weekend weeding and planting in the side yard. It is so much fun to pick out plants and flowers that I have always loved! Last year we made a feeble attempt in this planter, but learned the hard way that lawn clippings with grass seed does not make the best mulch. After much weeding, we were shocked to find that the bleeding hearts we planted and thought had died last year grew back this spring with a vengeance. They are huge and beautiful! We also planted columbines and red rhododendrons for spring color. Pink peonies, purple hydrangea bushes and a white hydrangea tree will blossom later this summer. Believe it or not, there are no deer here to eat our beautiful plants. Lucky us!

We also added a little color to the front planters. The yellow forsythia, pink azaleas, and purple mini rhodies are past their prime, but the white azaleas can give you an idea of what they looked like.

We finished our outside projects this afternoon when we planted our garden boxes. We built these earlier this spring but had to wait to plant till after the last frost. Being the eager beavers we are, Ry and I tried to start seeds in February. We learned this was a little too soon and not much survived the long wait till planting. This is the before shot with just some snap peas, sunflowers, corn, and peppers sprouting. Hopefully by the end of the summer we will have cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, honey dew, zucchini, yellow squash, beets, pumpkins, and strawberries as well. I even threw in some daisies and dahlias to pretty things up a bit. I'll keep you posted to see how things are growing.