We enjoyed an incredible streak of warm weather this past week-it was 76 degrees according to the Jeep meteorological system this afternoon. We get a little glimpse of spring like this every year, I think it's God's way of saying, "I know you people have been suffering in your itchy wool for the last five months. Here you go, have fun for a week, but you'll pay for it later with a mid April snowstorm that will have you shaking your collective fists at the sky."
If I was still living in Atlanta, I would have put tender annuals in the ground today, but here in Zone 4 that would be downright reckless. Truth be told, I'm not sure who I'd have to sleep with to even get my hands on a flat of impatiens around here. A quick walk around the yard today was encouraging though, I saw several perennial sprouts pushing through, and I didn't find any frost in the first six inches of soil that I sampled. There will be plenty to keep me busy in the yard in the next month. The melted snow has revealed a surfeit of dog turds, and I'll need to replace all the mulch in the beds around the house. The river rock beds need be reigned in, and I can see runners of grass threatening areas of the landscape where they have no business.
I lost one of my huge terra cotta planters to the cold this year, so I went to one of my favorite stores in the whole wide world, Gerten's, to purchase a replacement. Sadly, there were none to be found yet, but there were plenty of other gardening junkies shopping, getting their horticultural fix. As I walked through the doors, the entire place was engulfed in the intoxicating fragrance of hyacinth. They had pots with blooms everywhere in anticipation of the Easter holiday. While I didn't succumb to those, I was suffering from withdrawal, so I bought several plants to fill a terrarium I've had sitting empty for years. A little project like that should tide me over until the "real" spring arrives.
There were several very promising indications that spring is actually here to stay. Earlier in the week, I saw the massive street cleaners out clearing the roads of the leftover salt and grit that accumulate over the winter. Potholes seem to have opened up overnight. The twelve foot mountain of snow created by the plows that towered over our cul de sac is now a distant memory. My favorite harbinger of the season though is the arrival of the red winged blackbirds. I could hear their throaty call even before I spotted the first bird. I wouldn't be surprised if the larger waterfowl return a little early this year as well. There were literally flocks of bald eagles over the river just two weeks ago, very common when the ice begins to recede.
