A Spring Snow

Yeah... it really didn't snow.  However, these darn little seeds from trees sure do make a light dusting of "snow" this time of year.  And lucky for me, the way my house is oriented, they come swooping in, swirl around like a tornado and just keep piling up in my garden beds.

I have already gone out there twice and actually swept it off the sidewalk and even out of the dirt and filled an entire brown paper bag.  

It's impossible to pick out every single seed before it starts to grow tiny trees everywhere.  I experienced this last year and the only thing you can do is get out as much as you can, then wait until they start growing and are about 2 inches tall so you can get a good grip on them....and then start pulling them all out.  One...by...one.

It can be a little therapeutic.

I actually remembered to plant tulips last fall and I love them!  They are your basic pink and they are the first thing I notice when I look at my house.  Every time I look at them I remember the tulips at my house in Ohio and a particular picture of my Dad and I standing behind them on the day of  my First Communion.

We've also got our "Ebb Tide" old fashioned purple rose that is blooming like blooming is going out of style!  We might have...okay we did...forget to cut it back really short before it started sprouting a lot of new growth so now we have a really tall rose bush (for this time of year) with TONS of buds on it.  

                                      

It'll be fun to see it in full bloom, but I doubt it will be able to hold itself up.  We've already have to cut one "branch" off because it just sorta fell over.  These old fashioned roses are cool because they have lots and lots of layers!

Here is an up close of our Hellebores plant.  These plants are awesome!  They are basically evergreens and are the first plants to bloom in our garden,as early as February!  The color fades on the flowers a bit as the weeks pass, as this one used to have a deep reddish purple color, but they keep the flowers until early summer.  

The common name for this plant is called Lenten Rose because they bloom around the beginning of lent.  They are the ultimate shade plant, are perennials, can be divided, and are quite unique.  So if you're looking for some evergreen flower interest in your shade garden, I would recommended Hellebores.

And here is our impulse buy but-we've-wanted-them-for-a-long-time backyard chairs from Target.  They were on sale so we just HAD to get them.  They are very comfortable....

 ...and they stack!

We got lots of other stuff going on in our gardens, but that will be another post for another day!  What's going on in your neck of the woods?