Nature's Springtime Glory

I haven't been blogging much lately. I've been gardening. Spring comes so slowly to the Northwest, when we finally get a sunny day or two I race to the nursery to buy plants, eager to get my hands in the dirt.

I've planted tomatoes, zucchini, crookneck squash, as well as geraniums, pansies, bacopa, million bells, ceonothus, azaleas, violets, nasturtiums, and more.

But I'm not immune to the show that the wild plants are creating right around me. At the edges of our property, on ground not tended by humans, Nature puts on its own springtime show, and I've been watching.

The first to bloom in the spring is Indian Plum. This one grows at our fenceline, backed by huge native red cedar trees.

This one is Red Flowering Currant, growing next to our driveway. A native shrub, it's so pretty that nurseries also cultivate it, so you might find it for sale at your local plant outlet.

Just outside our vegetable garden is a huge Red Elderberry bush (below.) In the summer it will be filled with red berries that the birds love. Elderberry wine, anyone?

And finally, at our back fenceline, Wild Iris bloom profusely in the meadow.

After a long winter, I've not only been planting, but outside enjoying Nature's free show.

See why I haven't been blogging?