After a long Wisconsin winter, it’s good to see those first green shoots pushing up through the dead leaves. These are from April 24th, 2018 — the start of spring in the garden, as far as I’m concerned. If you look close you can see the mint waking up against the warm side of the…
Two weeks into April and the garden was already putting on a show. After the first green on March 20th, things really accelerated — by April 4th there was new growth everywhere you looked. The ajuga was spreading its little round leaves along the step edges, the catmint was building up into bushy clumps, and…
After the long brown stretch of a Wisconsin winter, the first flowers to push up out of the cold ground are the crocuses — and on April 4th, 2017, mine were finally open and showing off. These striped purple-and-white blooms with the glowing orange centers are a welcome sight. They come up while everything around…
March 20th, 2017 — the first official day of spring, and the garden was already showing signs of life. I took a walk around the yard to see what was poking through and found all the usual early arrivals getting started. After months of brown and gray, even tiny green shoots feel like a big…
Another trip out to High Cliff State Park, this time on May 22nd, and the spring wildflowers were putting on a show. High Cliff sits on the northeast shore of Lake Winnebago, and the wooded trails along the bluff are one of our favorite places to wander this time of year. The trilliums were blooming…
A beautiful sunny day out sailing on Lake Winnebago on May 19th, 2016. This was John Rather’s J/22. John is a longtime member of the Neenah-Nodaway Yacht Club, the crew we did a lot of our sailing trips with, and on this day we had blue skies, puffy white clouds, and a steady breeze. About…
Spring color around Neenah on May 19th. The tulips were great this year — especially these flame-streaked varieties with their bold red markings across bright yellow petals. They almost look hand-painted. There’s a whole range of them blooming in the beds, from the densely layered double tulips to the more open single blooms showing off…
An evening up at High Cliff State Park on May 18th, 2016. You drive up the road to the upper part of the park, where the trails run right along the top of the bluffs, high above Lake Winnebago. The whole place was in full spring mode, with fresh green leaves just coming out and…
A look around the yard on May 15th, 2016. Everything was filling in fast — the hostas were pushing out their first big leaves, the ostrich ferns were coming up, and the shade garden was greening up. This is one of my favorite times of year in the garden. Every few days there’s something new…
Our Dog of the Day for 4/10/2012 is Roxy, a 2-year-old Shih Tzu enjoying a beautiful spring day outside. “Here’s Roxy!!!” Here is Roxy!!! Three exclamation points, and looking at her sitting on that blue chair outdoors with her tan and white coat and her green heart tag, they are completely warranted. Roxy at two…
A little visitor to our rock garden, caught on 5/15/2011. This mourning dove settled onto one of the big stones and stayed long enough for me to grab a photo. We get a lot of wildlife through the yard in spring, and the doves are regulars here.
Here’s our dormant willow tree just 3 days after planting — and the leaves are already on their way. You can see the little buds breaking along the branches. Always surprises me how fast a bare, dormant stick of a tree wakes up and leafs out.