Monday, March 31, 2008 - Update on Spring!

Update on Spring in the Bluegrass. It certainly is here now. The daytime temps over the next ten days will be in the 50-65 range, and nighttime temps won't get any lower than 35-40. Cold weather crops and early spring flowers should be doing just fine now. Herewith, a sampling from our back yard...

Daffodils - they grow wild here, and are almost past their prime. We have at least two types, one the traditional simple one, and the other that almost looks like a tulip when it buds.




Flowering Crab Apple -- I think; it looks like a Bradford Pear but the tree has a slightly taller and thinner shape and the blossoms are later.





Purple Lilac -- the buds are out about 1/2 inch, and will be blossomed well before the end of April. In Maine, we look for these around the end of May.





Holly -- maybe English Holly. These are the buds which, if fertilized, will become the bright red berries with which we are all familiar. We need to check with a nursery to see if we have mono- or di-oecious plants (one or two genders on the same plant), and if we have mono, we need to get a male plant -- at least we think this is a female...how to tell?

The Bradford Pear. They are everywhere down here, and the best specimens are absolutely stunning. Our two ain't too bad, considering that they're only about 7 years old.





The Bradford Pear from the side deck. This is the bigger of the two. You may notice the direction from which the wind blows. The branches on the right are pushed up and those on the left are stretched out. The wind blows from the west most of the time -- from right to left in the picture.


This little wildflower is all over. I think it's a type of anemone but I haven't gotten out the Kentucky Wildflowers book yet to identify it. Anyway, it's a welcome sign of spring, and is the first or second wildflower we've seen this Spring.



And finally I couldn't resist. The cattle are grazing on new green grass. They've been subsisting for several months now, but with the new grass, they actually LOOK happy!