Spring has Sprung - 2016

My posts have been slowing down because I've been devoting significant amounts of time to getting 20 years worth of family pictures published in photo albums.  However, I have been noticing that flowers are blooming and creatures are getting ready to start families in my yard.  Here are a few pictures of the changes I've observed for Spring 2016.

The first blooms of the season are the daffodils.

 We had an amazing sunrise one morning.  This is the shot of the clouds from the backyard.

From the front yard - this is a shot to the east.

Tadpoles have already transformed into baby frogs.

We had so many frogs last year because of all the rain.  My husband found a lot of dead frogs that became mummified.


 Our burr oak had a lot of acorns last year.  Here is one that started to sprout.

Our wisteria tree is in full bloom this year.  The first time since we planted it about 7 years ago.

The purple martins have returned - we have 4 families so far.

My husband found a beautiful silk moth Antheraea polyphemus on the evening of March 22nd.   It's wing span was 5".

 

 All four of our hens are now laying.  They all have different colored eggs.

 At sunset they hunt for bugs. 

The garden at sunset.

The onions continue to grow and do well.  We are going to have to replace some tomatoes and peppers.  We had one morning with a temperature of 35 and a light frost.  I'm going to the store today.

First large rose blooming this spring!

The mutabulis antique rose is blooming.  We lost half of this rose last year because of all the heavy rain.

The grape hyacinths are blooming.

 The salvia and indian hawthorne are starting to bloom as well.

All the irises and daylillies are coming up now.  None are starting to bloom yet.  The red knock out rose on the left is blooming now.

This is a picture of the blooming chinese fringe flower (lorolpetalum) in the front yard.


Merlin enjoys his visits to the garden.  Catnip.

He even likes oregano.

And finally, a picture of Festus who enjoys being on the back porch in the springtime!