Spring is sooner recognized by plants than by men.

[apple_pathways]

It's coming it's coming IT'S COMING! SPRING! ♥ (And I am RIDICULOUSLY excited about it!)

The last few days have been filled with sunshine, blue skies, and 40+ degree weather. (Those of you who live in warmer climates--OH, HUSH! This is Michigan! When it hits 50, we're bustin' out the shorts and flip flops!) (Also: it's dropping back down into the 30s tomorrow, with 4 inches of snow by 7pm. BUT NO MATTER! The sun has had its effect: spring is coming again, and I couldn't be happier!)

I took the cat outside to explore this afternoon. She'd more or less forgotten what it was like to leave the house, and spent the first ten minutes walking around the patio in a circle and meowing at me, she was just so damn excited. Hell, I was excited, too! I spent the better part of an hour poking around the flower beds, checking for signs of life. I was eager to see which plants in my perennial herb garden survived the winter cold. It appears as if the lemongrass has died all the way back to the ground, but I don't know if it'll make its way back for another couple months. Ditto on the lemon verbena. The lavenders seem to have done well, and there's green beneath the snow on the oregano, sage, and the thyme. ♥

I also noticed several spring bulbs starting to come up after this week's thaw. I know better than to get excited over these first few shoots of green that poke their heads above the ground: this is Michigan, after all, and we have at least six weeks of surprise!frosts left until the spring flowers can safely emerge from their winter slumber. But still, that flash of green, that little reminder that the earth is coming back to life, is just so rejuvenating!

I planted the paperwhite bulbs one of my students gave me for Christmas, and spent the afternoon shopping for vegetable seeds. We get to pick out this summer's plot at the community garden on March 15. Things are happening!

Behind the cut, find gratuitous pictures of spring loveliness, and a photo mosaic of some of the fruit and vegetable varieties I'll be growing this summer:

First, these are paperwhites:


The plant varieties I bought seeds for today:


The plant varieties are, from L to R starting at the top:

1. Spigariello liscia greens. (Also spelled "spigarello".) An Italian 'leaf broccoli'.
   
2. Green nutmeg melon.
   
3. Émérite pole beans - a French filet-type bean.
   
4. Trionfo violetto pole beans.
   
5. Soloist cabbage - a Chinese (Napa) cabbage variety.
   
6. Carnival squash - a semi-bush 'acorn' squash variety.
   
7. Moon and Stars watermelon - an heirloom variety suggested to me by the lovely ladies at cucurbitaceae.
   
8. True chanterais melon - a French melon variety.
   
9. Small sugar pumpkin - supposedly THE pie pumpkin.

These are all new varieties I'm trying out, but I've heard good things about most of them. They're all (for the most part) heirloom varieties with a tried and true reputation for flavor and growing performance.


OMG I AM EXCITE! ♥

Comments

[switchbladesis.livejournal.com]

Heh, it got just warm enough here that there was exactly one (1) visible patch of grass on my lawn. . . and for the giant piles of snow to shed a foot or two, only to have all that water re-freeze as ice.

It was really nice on Thursday, though-I walked around on my lunch hour and enjoyed not feeling like my tearing off my face from the cold.

[sabriel75.livejournal.com]

I AM EXCITED FOR YOU! ♥

[plumeriandeity.livejournal.com]

Yay fellow Midwesterner getting excited about 40-degree weather! It's been a lovely, beautiful, sunny weekend and even the thought of more snow can't stop my happiness that spring is nearly here. Hurrah!

I can't wait to see leaves sprout on the branches again.

[alias-amy.livejournal.com]

LOVE these photos! Your whole entry but the photos in general are just the shot of adrenaline and spring optimism I need. You should turn that collage into a postcard, it's so gorgeous.

Yay! What an awesomely happy post!

[bwblack.livejournal.com]

I have a love hate relationship with Feb blooming. I love the february spring days, they are such a welcome relief after a could winter, but I always worry that one last frost is going to come.

Less likely in Texas where I live now but in NC/SC where I grew up the week in february that convinced the plants to start doing their thing and a late feb freeze killed peach season and nothing depressed me more than watching the plants start to bloom too early.

A late feb freezing isn't as much of a problem here, though, and I need to get my tomatoes outside and quick.

[lemniciate.livejournal.com]

Aww, I'm so jealous of your sunshine right now, all we've had is rain for ages. Those plants look amazing though *___*

[jobey-in-error.livejournal.com]

Your excite-ness is INFECTIOUS... I think it's the lovely pictures!

Spring doesn't mean anything to me this year because I'm in coastal Southern California. Yes, everyone else has complained about a handful of sub-60-degree days, but it's been sunny all the way through. I barely noticed. It's been nice, but I guess I don't get the fun of spring! At least, NOT UNTIL I SEE ALL THOSE AWESOME PICS.

What's "heirloom" varieties mean? (I get that they're good, but... yeah. That's all I got from context.)

It's awesome that you grow all that stuff. :D

[jacknjill270.livejournal.com]

OMG ME TOO! I live in northern IL and we've just started having some nice days too. Us crazy Midwesterners, our first day in the 40s and I saw people out in t-shirts. But if it got down to 70s in July we'd all be complaining about how cold it was. *shakes head*

Those paperwhites are so pretty! I am so, so ready for spring.

[tierfal.livejournal.com]

Wow. I, uh, wow. XD'''' SURPRISE!FROSTS? WINTER DESTRUCTION? ENDLESS SNOW? .___.

Apparently Northern Californians actually tend to survive pretty well in other climates, but I've never tried for any length of time, so. Yes. It all sounds kind of intimidating, lol. XD

omg, paperwhites are SO pretty! And I'm pretty sure you're going to have the badassest garden known to man once things start coming up.

I AM EXCITE, TOO! KEEP US POSTED, Y/Y/Y? :D