Maureen Bush

Yes, Virginia, it really is spring

My first perennials are blooming, a couple of patches of jewel-bright hepatica. If I roll over on my exercise ball I can see them from my computer desk, bright even when it rains.

Maureen

Wee Crocus

We still have piles of snow (how is that possible?) but plants are bravely venturing up, first snowdrops, and now some tiny crocus. Small blue scilla are almost open, and daffodil buds are fattening. So this weekend I’ll pull out some garden furniture, and start cleaning out the flower beds. Perhaps the snow will be so embarrassed it will simply leave.

Maureen

Spring Flowers

We still have piles of snow, but as they melt, grass is looking green in patches (where it isn’t covered in snow mould), and plants are emerging. I’ve spotted garlic tips, daffodils fronds, red nubs of rhubarb, and my first flowers, wee snowdrops ready to bloom as soon as the snow is melted.

Maureen

Spring?

It’s March 2, and it’s been warm and melty for two weeks. I’ve spotted a few things growing in my garden – some garlic greens close to the house on the south side, and daffodil tips pushing their way through a layer of leaves on the east side. And if I look at the grass where the snow has just melted and tilt my head just right, I can convince myself I see green.

Now, I know that anyone who knows Calgary, or who’s up to their eyeballs in snow, might not believe me, so I’ve attached proof (see photo).

As a gardener living in a bizarre climate, I’ve decided that the very first signs of green mean it’s the beginning of spring (not that we won’t have more snow, of course). And so I now declare that spring has arrived in Calgary.

Maureen

Spring?

The two-week forecast is for temperatures just above freezing, and I’m thrilled. As the sun hits the frost layered on all the trees, it’ll fall off in showers of white, and then, perhaps, actually drip. It’ll be chirpy and splashy and incredibly messy, and I can’t wait!