Signs of Spring

Note: Rumors of the death of this blog have been highly exaggerated.

I've been walking around the garden for a about a week, rejoicing daily in new signs of green!

The first green foliage to pop up for me each year isn't from spring bulbs, but from tiger lilies, up close to my foundation.

Maybe my hellebore will bloom this year.

Hyacinths like it wet over winter and dry in summer--they're perfect under my roof overhang.

Bearded irises are emerging.

My first clump of daffodils, near the foundation and under a chair, boasts my tallest bulb folaige so far.

I wonder how long these tulips (at least I think they're tulips, but I don't remember planting them) will last, given the real sign of spring in my garden...

{bum bum bum}... the groundhog has awoken from hibernation! For some of my previous encounters with groundhogs, see this and this.

I got this very small azalea from a friend a few years ago and look at its nice bud--the first flowers it's had! So looking forward to it blooming.

Speaking of buds, I love viburnums. This one will bloom in pink. And I would tell you its cultivar name if I knew where its tag was.

The ice has melted on the little vernal pond behind my house, where American toads sing and breed later in the year. (Like all vernal ponds, this dries up by early summer.)

I love love-in-a-mist foliage.These didn't actually pop up recently; they've been evergreen since last fall, surviving under snow and ice. In fact, if you ever need to know for a quiz show, love-in-a-mist is the only annual I know of that can come up in fall, overwinter in Michigan, and bloom in spring.

But note they spread! You can barely see the prickly pear cactus in the middle of all the love-in-a-mist seedlings.

Squirrels digging in the "lawn" is also a sure sign of spring around here.

Notably missing are witch hazel (which was blooming this time last year), snowdrops (which come up first for everyone else and almost last for me), and crocuses (no foliage up yet, but it seems to grow overnight).

And, finally, a sure sign of spring is that the snow has melted from my winter-sowing containers! (Snow on the ground has melted now, too.) I have one last flat to sow today; we're definitely at the end of the winter-sowing season here in zone 5b/6a.

Edited to add: After a day of temps in the mid 60s and sunshine, look what I found: crocus buds and leaves, which came up together! Shamrock shakes and kisses all around!