It’s official
Saw my first crocus of the year on my walk yesterday. That, and not the calendar, is the much-welcome beginning of spring for me.
The New Neo
A blog about political change, among other things
Saw my first crocus of the year on my walk yesterday. That, and not the calendar, is the much-welcome beginning of spring for me.
Hi Neo
You should be in Oregon in the springtime. My corocuses (croci?) are almost done and the daffodils are blooming perfectly. There are even wild daffodils on the hills that border the highways. Check out the photo on this page of my blog if you like http://nostalgic-nana.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-03-20T23%3A24%3A00-07%3A00&max-results=7
For this, of course, we pay the price of rain, rain, and more rain, although this spring has been unseasonably dry.
Very nice. When I lived in St. Louis for several years, I discovered that in the City of the Arch, Spring announces its arrival with thousands of yellow daffodils. Are really lovely around Forest Park, the site of the 1904 World’s Fair. A truly golden way to welcome the advent of the season of rebirth.
I have to agree with you Neo. It is such a pleasant site. And the crocuses are such harbingers of Spring.
It was about mid Feb. that I got my first glimpse of the early bird crocuses and I was equally delighted. We are having a somewhat early spring here in the Knoxville TN area and I have been cutting bountiful bouquets of daffodils for the past 3 weeks. Now the woods are filled with the ethereal flower lined branches of the redbuds and the dogwoods look surprisinging close to popping. Oooh, and the creeping phlox is in it’s full glory and has turned large swaths of ground into a multi colored carpet of pink, blue, white and magenta. Did I mention…I love spring?!!
We still have a fair amount of snow in our yard. However, some of our garden next to the house is exposed and the green shoots of the crocuses are coming up.
Still, this weekend it it cold and raw here in Rochester, New Hampshire. Because there is still some snow around, we get ground fog at night if the temps are above freezing.
Winter’s back is broken, but I won’t call it over yet. We have had snowstorms in April. Besides, look at the blizzards in Kansas and Colorado.
It hits at different times in different places but I usually go by my cherry tree. When it blooms it’s spring.
Ahhhhhh, bluebonnets!
There’s a yard at the end of my street sporting thousands of ’em. Me likey! 😀
Thanks for your post, and for the comments from you folks above. Over the years I have forgotten to stop and look at flowers, much less smell them. There is a beautiful park here in town. Today is a good day for taking a walk.
So, spring is coming late for you? Mine were coming up just before the snow storm hit the other week. One set of my daffodils have been in bloom for over a week.
The peach trees had already bloomed here, though some still had blooms- and last night we had a frost. Not sure what it will do to them. We had to cover the tomatoes with pots last night, and may have to later on in the week.
A bloom through snow.
The splendor of blue only God makes.
He shows me once again.
This morning, flowers cracked open
the earth’s brown shell. Spring
leaves spilled everywhere
though winter’s stern hand
could come down again at any moment
to break the delicate yolk
of a new bloom.
The crocus don’t see this as they chatter
beneath a cheerful petal of spring sky.
They ignore the air’s brisk arm
as they peer at their fresh stems, step
on the leftover fragments
of old leaves.
When the night wind twists them to pieces,
they will die like this: laughing,
tossing their brilliant heads
in the bitter air.
above was “First Crocus”
by Christine Klocek-Lim
For winter’s rains and ruins are over,
And all the season of snows and sins;
The days dividing lover and lover,
The light that loses, the night that wins;
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,
And in green underwood and cover
Blossom by blossom the spring begins.
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Here in Central California spring takes on a somewhat different psychological frame. First of all, we are coming off a relatively mild winter. Average temps in the high 30’s-low 40’s and snow only on the high mountain peaks surrounding our town. While we are tired of the cold and gloom we share with you the ecstacy of new life. Now spring is suddenly bursting forth with the yellows of fiddleneck, the whites of popcorn, and the purple of lupines. The snowpack is melting in the high country and the rivers are roaring loudly.
However, we know that right on the heels of our “short” spring we will soon be into 100 + temps.
Also at this time nature takes over and all the growth of spring wildflowers and grasses will too soon turn to brown, dried weeds which will become a major fire hazard. Spring here means reclaiming our overgrown homes from nature, which means a lot of grunt work.
Interesting how different regions relate to spring.
I did not know until a couple of weeks ago that there are actually crocuses in South Texas. Yet, there they were, sporting on a neighbor’s lawn as I took my son for a walk. A very welcome sight! Not that winter here is anything like where we have lived. Still, a good thing.
We planted crocuses wherever we lived until we came here. I have decreed that we shall plant crocuses and blackberries wherever we move to next. So let it be written, so let it be done.
Forget the flowers, people!
By now we all know that Althouse is marrying one of her commenters at her blog.
http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/18545?in=00:03&out=07:30
So the question becomes, which one of her commenters will neo decide to marry?
I’m betting it’s Artfldgr!
Other frontrunners are huxley, Fredhjr, Occam’s Beard, perfected democrat.
Come on, neo, your virtual suitors await!
Why kamper, you know it’s gotta be you!
I should be so lucky! And we’re both in New England. But sadly I’m already taken. Actually, I also married one of my commenters, only I did it 15 years before I started a blog.
kamper,
I’m happily married, so take me out of your list. Thank you.
I wish I had some pictures of the sakura blossoms I say, the Chrysanthemums. Very beautiful and they pop up just as spring begins. All of a sudden the very ground is covered by the pink petals.
Best i got.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_blossom
The Chrysanthemums, red ones here, bloom right after the cherry blossoms fly away and die. It’s like a snowstorm, everything is covered in the pink.
As is inevitable for such beauty, however, it soon fades away. Until next year, Neo.