Tulips, Lilacs, Honeysuckle & Apple Blossoms

My yard is like a park....not a perfectly maintained park, although Bill keeps it looking pretty spiffy. It's got quirks that make it interesting, though, the weird triangle shape of our lot, for one thing.

I do not have a green thumb. I've been able to grow things, but not the way Bill or other expert gardners do; I don't like the feel of digging in the dirt, either. But I love the plants when they grow. Every tree and bush in our yard has been planted at my direction. I love shade and the trees have been planted skeewampus because I will decide an area needs shade. We have a big blue spruce in the front yard that was--no lie--two feet tall when we planted it in 1982.

Dayna and I dug up some starts from my aunt Cora's lilac bushes--her house in town had been sold to build a motel. They're about 8 feet high now. They don't always bloom, though, because the weather here is so unpredictable and usually there's a freeze in late April that kills the blooms. They sure provide a lot of shade, though.

We have a honeysuckle bush just outside our bedroom window that blooms gloriously in pink for a few weeks in late May; likewise the snowball bush in the front corner of the yard. We planted an apple tree the year James died---1991. It's still small; the apples have never been much to write home about, but the blossoms are so pretty and it's big enough for small children to climb the limbs.

My neighbor, Cathy, always has the prettiest tulips and daffodils in her yard. Mine never do well. I have a theory that this is because her yard faces north and mine faces south and tulips and daffodils like it a little cooler.

I have rose bushes: yellow, yellow-green (absolutely stunning), pink, purple, and my aura rose, a wild orange red color. They always do well.

Our yard attracts birds of all sorts; robins always build their nests in our trees, which our cat loves. This year, a really smart robin has built a nest right outside the kitchen window on top of the electrical box---the cat can't reach it. It's a nice sunny place for her eggs. And there are eggs--we looked. She's always there, watching over her babies. Bill puts up hummingbird feeders and the little buggers come in hoards, viciously fighting each other for the nectar.

We have a bird feeder in the garden and when Bill plants the seedllings, he always plants flowers, as well. This year, I'm going to persuade him to plant morning glories all around the perimiter to climb the wire fence blocking off the garden area. That will attract bees and provide lovely vines as well as flowers. I love morning glories. They grow so easily.

This is the prettiest spring we've had in a long time, although I fear the warm weather is a harbinger of a miserably hot summer. Sometimes I get up really early and I love the smell as I peek out; the birds are happy--you can tell because they're making quite a racket, and I think my heart is healing.