Sunday, April 6, 2008

Springy Saturday

Always when I think I'm going to take the weekend off and not post anything, I find some good stuff going on that I want to share. Yesterday afternoon (while on "poop patrol") I happened to notice this brave little white crocus. What a beautiful surprise! It's on the east side of my house and I'm amazed at what can happen after just a couple warm sunny days. (We had a high of 64 degrees today!)

When I was Photoshopping this photo, I did notice that the bunnies had already found and munched off some of the tender new leaves (pink arrow). I'm glad they didn't eat the flower though.

Other signs of life in this flower bed: daylilies are coming up!

Speaking of bunnies, here is what those hungry little critters did to the Nanking Cherry shrubs in my backyard.

These shrubs were very close to the trails that the bunnies took back and forth from the evergreen shelters they lived under and I guess the proximity to their homes made it easier than going all the way out into the yard to snack on corn. I'm not sure if these shrubs are going to make it or not. Too bad, because last year was the first time they actually produced fruit and the birds absolutely LOVED those fruits.

I've got some broccoli sprouts!

So far, these are the only sprouts in my attempt to start garden plants indoors, but I'm hoping the other plants won't be too far behind now.

14 comments:

Jayne said...

Glad to see signs of spring in your neck of the woods Ruthie! Oh, those bunnies!

Mel said...

:D Spring is getting there!!
Good luck with the broccoli and other sprouts!!

Anonymous said...

Those naughty bunnies no wonder they look so good, they've been eating high on the bushes all winter. Next year you'll have to put some wire up around things, then they have to eat the corn and clean-up under the feeders.
Your peat pots are showing some growth, HURRAY-HURRAY.
Mom

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Isn't it fun to find something abloom in the garden. Those rotten rabbits eating your bushes like that. I hope they survive. It look drastic. The rotten rabbits have eaten the new dwarf mondo grass that I planted last year. I hope it comes out of it. Lots are popping up in our garden too. I am enjoying every little brave soul that comes up. I hope you are too.

Ruth said...

I bet you will see something new and exciting every day for a while. I would be thrilled to see a crocus.

entoto said...

Crocuses, broccoli sprouts, Nanking cheeries. Thanks for the break from the snow! Happy, happy spring!

Meggie said...

Looks like you are seeing the effects of spring, Ruthie. Aren't those cute little bunnies devilish?

Mary C said...

Wow! I didn't know that rabbits could be so destructive. I sure hope your Nanking cherry shrubs and crocus survive. And it's so good to see a little progress on your gardening efforts. Yup! I'd say spring has arrived for you, Ruthie.

Mary said...

64 Degrees! That's damned near a tropical heat save, Ruthie! Looking at your photos, I can see we are well ahead of ya, but soon we'll all catch up with each other. Those rabbits are persistent with the same plants, season after season. I'd like to grow them their own garden somewhere far away from my house.

me ann my camera said...

Doesn't the finding of an first, early bloom just make your day? It does mine. I haven't found any blooms yet but I have found a couple of sprouts pushing up; I think some are Crocus and the others are maybe Tiger Lilies. We don't have to worry about the bunnies but it is the deer with their nibbles that decided me against trying to grow Tulips anymore.

RuthieJ said...

Hi Jayne,
Spring didn't last long! It was snowing when we drove to work this morning (#&*@!!)

Hi Mel,
My other sprouts are kind of slow and I'm impatient. I hope they will start making an appearance this week.

Hi Mom,
I have another patch of these shrubs in a different place in the yard and the bunnies never touched them, so I can't figure that out.

Hi Lisa,
I checked this afternoon and the crocuses are all eaten to the ground! Got out my secret weapon (mothballs) and sprinkled them throughout this garden. Hopefully that will save the lilies and other new things sprouting.

Hi Ruth,
Is your snow even all gone yet or are you getting that storm that walloped northern MN over the weekend? I think you will be even happier to see spring than I am!

Thanks Trixie. It's just a preview of spring, but at this point, I'll take anything we can get!

Hi Meggie,
I guess it's time to think about investing in a more bunny-proof fence to put around this garden.

Hi Mary C,
For all the years we've lived here, this is the first year the bunnies have done so much damage. I didn't think they'd mess with those big shrubs either, but they must be mighty tasty! I'm hoping that the shrubs may grow back from the bottom and then next winter I'll have to remember to fence each one.

Hi Mare,
64 degrees and you'd think it was the middle of summer--lots of people wearing short and t-shirts! Mr. Johnson even went for a motorcycle ride!

Hi M&MC,
My deer aren't quite as bold as yours (coming right up to the house in daytime), and they're much better behaved than the bunnies--sticking mainly to the corn I put out and nipping off mostly low-hanging branches on the apple trees (which needed to be trimmed anyway). Maybe once spring does arrive and we have more vegetation growing on the ground, these hungry critter will give my flower and plants a break.

Susan Gets Native said...

Grrr...day lilies...the bane of my existence.
The people who lived here before us were crazy about planting day lilies freakin' everywhere. And they were all freakin' yellow. After 8 years I am still finding them and pulling them out.

Marsha said...

Those "rascally rabbits" are a pest here too...tulips are gourmet salad fixings as soon as they are coming up.

Larry said...

Nice to see signs of Spring.-I've got to get going on my garden prep pretty soon too.