Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Spring Surprises

One of the lovely things about spring is the way the blooms sort of sneak up on you. I mean, a week before, there was nothing but brown sticks, or bare earth, then *boom* you have quince blossoms and daffodils.

The surprise is even great for us this year, since it is our first spring in our new house. We don't know what-all was planted for spring, and it has been fun discovering the miniature daffodils and the crocus. But best of all, I discovered yesterday that we have a LILAC BUSH! One of my great sorrows in Texas was that lilacs just don't grow there - it is too hot in the summer and not cold enough in the winter. But lilacs, at least certain varieties, do grow in Arkansas. I have been planning to plant one, maybe for next year, and now I don't have to. It turns out that a rather undistinguished looking bush on the side of our house is actually a lilac. It isn't blooming yet, but there are buds. I can't wait!

Spring moves fast too - this picture is from a couple of weeks ago, and by now, these trees have leaves and the flowers are gone. I am sure the grass is turning green as well. We went away for the weekend, and when we came back, a clematis that I had hacked down to the ground a month ago (well, it was all dead and brown, and I was putting a rose next to it) had resprouted and is already almost a foot tall. More surprises await, I am sure.

3 comments:

Candace said...

Lovely pictures. Thank you. Words well written too:)

mdvlist said...

Thanks for the glimpse of quince! I haven't seen those blossoms in ages. We had a huge quince bush in our front yard, and always had flowering branches from it for our Easter tree.

Hope said...

You're welcome! I just wish the quince was in our yard. I think I will have to take out a boring holly-like shrub and put in quince one of these days.

We had one in our yard, and the dog would rub himself all along the bottom of it when he was shedding...