Blooming!

Mid-March thru mid-April is one of my favorite times in McMinnville. While it's still the rainy season, we are surprised with days like today: a bit of sunshine and warmth, blue skies, and lots of bulbs and fruit trees in bloom.

The first thing I did this morning was peek out the window to see what the weather was like. After proclaiming it a "beauty day," I quickly finished some morning laundry, had breakfast, showered and was in the yard for the rest of the day. If you look at my Gardening To-Do List, you'll see I crossed a few things off! That felt great!

I am most excited to see how this strawberry tower/pot will do. I'm envisioning the strawberries filling out, spilling over, and cascading down. I really wish I had more room for strawberries. Last year I planted them in this sideyard vegetable bed. I was hoping they'd simply line the bed, and cascade down over the edge. My head must've been in dream-land, because I know that strawberries will spread into any available soil. This vegetable bed was about 25% full of strawberries this morning. If I'd let them go any longer I wouldn't have had room for the veggies. So, after I filled the tiered pot thingy, I pulled the rest of them out. That was really hard to do. I talked to some neighbors and friends, and thankfully our friend, Martha, was just about to buy some strawberry plants. They now have a new home!

This is the second year for the spring bulbs. Though the daffodils and tulips are starting to multiply, I still have flower envy when I see all the magnificent clumps of daffodils around. It makes me wonder if I should have planted them in small groups at first...or are these clumps I see just simply more established, multiplying for many years (as opposed to my one year)? Still, I'm happy to see two, when there once was one.

Our flowering plums are in full bloom. As I was sitting in the swing beneath them, I noticed some bees zooming around from blossom to blossom. Though the trees are ornamental, they do produce plums every few years or so. Last year was a pretty good year for them. I'm hoping this year will be as well.