A busy FBOTW

Well, the week is busy, not the bouquet.
This was personally picked by O. the four-year old, found on a bush at his preschool. I'm not exactly sure what the bush is. The flowers remind me of a bridal wreath spirea, but the leaves (not shown) look too large to be spirea. O. takes the dried flowers that fall off the bouquet and pretends they're bees.

FBOTW

This week's flower bouquet: a few sapsuckers cut from the dogwood tree. I kind of like the sparseness of the twigs.

Flower Bouquet of the Week

I'm going to try a new feature here: flower bouquet of the week. Why? 1.) It gives me a weekly chance to try to improve my photography on a pliant and immobile subject 2.) I like to see if I can make a different bouquet out of what's growing in my yard each week--it's neat to see the progress each week plus fun to see if I can come up with something new.

Here's this week's bouquet: miniature daffodils, grape hyacinth, and a few stray violets.

The tree that lived

Good news: after two previous attempts, there appears to be a live tree in front of the house! It's a purple leaf sand cherry, and it's survived the winter.

Well, knock wood. Snow is in the weather forecast for next week, and there is precedence for a killing frost in early April.
I really like the smell of its flowers. At my childhood home, there was a similar tree outside of my bedroom window, and I remember being able to catch a whiff of the scent when waking up in the morning.
***
A couple of days ago O. was outside playing and I was inside fixing dinner. I checked in with him and discovered that he had ripped up a columbine plant. This has been a problem for several months, and we've talked about being gentle with plants many times, so a time-out was called for. Tears and protests ensued, of course. After he had calmed down, he told me he had ripped that plant because he was really said that he didn't have his own garden. Aha.

Yesterday we visited the garden section of our local discount store, and O. picked out petunias. On the way home, we talked about plant care, that you have to water them and frequently, and that you can't pick them all of the time or else they die. O. said he'd be very gentle and make them happy flowers. At home, we potted the plants together, and O. was so excited he was vibrating. He said his hands were excited.

O. the gardener

Lighting Dilemma: Solved

More than two years ago, I wondered what to do about the lighting in the front entryway. And now I know that it is easier to convince your better half that the lighting fixture is not "antiquey looking" than it is to actually make the change.

But last weekend, we finally did it. Hence, the new light fixture in the front entryway:


I'm happy with it. Between that and the different paint color on the door, we're going to call this good enough for now. I'd still like to change out the brick-pattern linoleum to something different (slate tiles maybe?). But somehow the linoleum doesn't bother me as much with the old light gone.

Springing forward

I'm a bit concerned.

I think it's way too early for the dappled willow to leaf out. It's early March, not even one-third of the month has past. Yes, the temperature has his 70 oF for the past couple of days, but history has taught us that won't last. If I could, I would advise this little willow would be a smidge more conservative in its photosynthetic choices.

Then again, I'm not a dappled willow. What do I know?

***
We do have some very serious signs of spring here: lots of crocuses and scilla in bloom, the daffodils have flower buds on them, the chives, the daylilies, the tarragon, and the lemon balm are showing signs of life. The forsythia bush (note: the singular use. J. won't admit to it, but I think he mowed over the other bush) and the flowering quince are budding out. And I saw a tulip tree with very young blooms yester day morning.

So I caved yesterday, and started seeds in pots for transfer. I sowed twice as much coleus this year, plus marigolds, basil, morning glory, sweet peas, an ornamental grass, and catnip. Yes, catnip. Who kills catnip? I do, apparently. It died last year in August due to lack of water and attention. E. the cat is still sad about it. She sits in the spot where the catnip bush once thrived and looks mournful. And I may have to start some rosemary too. The rosemary bush looks browner than I remember last late winter, and I'm told that rosemary doesn't always winter over here.

Interlude

After a long absence from blogging, I'm back to report that our first crocus of the year has bloomed. Take that, winter.

Things have been hectic lately, but we have some projects in line for spring and summer. While I don't expect "things" to be any less hectic in the coming months, I hope to, you know, try harder and all that.