New cherries blooming!

The cherry trees I planted last spring have survived the winter and are blooming! It's hard to get an immersive photo because the trees are small (sleep, creep, leap...maybe next year). The photo below shows one them in the backyard landscape. 

Below are the grape hyacinth. The tips of the leaves are brown, probably due to cold snaps.

These late daffodils look great. I suspect the earlier ones have fewer blooms because of the same cold snaps.

The service berries are looking good. 

The bench is for perspective. You might not want to sit on it because the robins perch and leave behind little gifts. 

And here is my nemesis...or one of his many relatives. Eat the grass, bunny, and leave my plants alone.

May Freeze

See the ice cube in the hummingbird cocktail? I estimate we had seven hours below freezing last night. In the background, the white sheet is my attempt to cover my cherry trees, whose buds are getting ready to blossom. They look okay so far. I'll keep you updated!

May Day!

Happy May Day! The hyacinth bulbs I planted in the fall are looking good (above). Everything feels a little slower this year after our warm spell followed by cool days and nights. That doesn't stop the prairie smoke and pasque flower (below). 

I have a few things planted in the cold frame below: pak choi, kohlrabi, lettuce, chard, and kale. I may add extra seeds if they don't flourish. Next year I'll try to remember to plant the garlic with the cold frame in mind. 

After a few years, tulips falter. I started with five bulbs, but I have one amazing flower left. 

Planting Peas

I planted pea pods today. It feels too early, but the soil temperature is 50 degrees F, measured with my new soil thermometer! I can't believe I've gardened this long without one. It's not a necessity, really, but it helps with my confidence. I also planted some kohlrabi and radishes, too. Could it snow? Could it freeze? Seeds are cheaper than plants, so I'll take the chance. I soaked the pea pod seeds overnight to help with germination. The burlap is to protect the seeds from digging. Someone is digging, bigger than a squirrel, and I'm not sure how it's getting in the fenced area. I'll observe, but it's happening at night, so I may never know.

April Weather

This was our walk today in a nearby park. Beautiful! I was ready to plant seeds when we had some warmth, but this is Minnesota, and we've got snow and temps around freezing. I started some seeds indoors, cool weather crops like lettuce. This will melt quickly. 

Saving Zinnia Seeds

Happy first day of spring! I'm waiting until April to start seeds indoors, even though the weather is fabulous today and tomorrow, in the sixties and maybe 70 F tomorrow. I know I wrote earlier that I gave up on saving the bright pink zinnia seeds, but the saga continues. I couldn't help myself. The flowers are delightful--bright, cheery, long-lasting blooms. 

This is the seed head I brought inside. Are the seeds mature enough? I won't know until I plant them. 

Spring is the time of hope. 

Houseplant update

The monstera I bought in May is loving its life (left). The begonia (middle) and the hibiscus are surviving. The hibiscus has aphids occasionally. I sprayed them off with water in the shower the first time, but a few come out of hiding every once in a while. Soon I will trim a few branches back so it can have some time to recover before it goes outside in May. 

This jar of basil in water has survived since I cut a few stems to use for cooking in the fall. The roots are looking good, so I took one healthier stem and put it in a separate pot, cutting back the flower. It's struggling, too, but I'm hoping the roots take and I can plant it outside in May. I'll still grow basil from seed, but maybe this will become an earlier basil harvest. Maybe. I find I have lots of hope in March, even as everything struggles as winter drags on (including my gardening self). The tiny little petunia seedlings I found in the fall are growing into plants, and the strawberry mint has an incredible root system, filling the tiny pot. I don't want to move it to a bigger pot until it's closer to the last frost. 

The basil is still flowering. I never suspected that the basil would survive this long indoors.

I cut some leaves from the begonia and put them in water. The leaves are showing some stress, so I'm not sure those cuttings will root. Then I took stem cuttings and placed them directly in soil. I'm more hopeful with this technique. Hope seems to be the theme of this post--hope that small, positive acts will make a difference.