Wood anemonies

Wood anemonies have started to pop out now too. Spring seems to be pretty late and slow this year, but the flowers are pushing out anyway. That's the way it goes here in the northern hemisphere. The plants are probably way better adjusted to the unrelenting cold than most of us people. 

First flowers of the spring

Over the past couple days snow has melted almost completely in our yard and now it smells like spring, looks like spring, even sounds like spring with the birds chirping way into the late evening. Bunnies are actively looking for mates, invading our yard too, driving our dogs crazy. Tulips are pushing through the barely melted ground and the first scilla sibericas are now blooming. The apple trees have pushed out the tiniest of buds.

Tulips, narcissi and muscaris

Have I mentioned how much I love our new yard? Every few days I find new surprises there, as new flowers pop up here and there. It is now full of wood anemonies, scillas and some hepaticas too. Narcissi are blooming (not all of them yet, though) as are the first tulips. Absolutely wonderful sea of flowers!

Officially spring

I may have mentioned it before, but spring is official for me when the birches start turning green. Today they have :) Not all of them, depeding on their subspecies and exposure to sun and whatnot, but they have. And they are heavy with catkins too. Judging by that, we'll be having a harsh pollen year.

The forest behind our house is finally green. I have been waiting and waiting. The leaves have been inching and peeking and teasing, but today the forest was green, when we walked through with the dog.

Squirrels are dithcing their winter coats and turning brown, like the one that was running up and down th birch tree on the neighbor's yard until it stopped for a long while to sit on a branch and munch on something.

Our yard is looking nice with grass starting to grow, some scilla sibericas here and there and the crocuses, even though they are largely starting to wilt already. Last year we had one lone tulip at the edge of the yard, now it looks like we'll have a bunch!

 

Scilla siberica

The scilla siberica - a rather new aquaintance for me at least - is taking over the spring meadows and forests, popularing the areas not already taken by wood anemonies that seem to flower at the same time. They do mix at places, though, with hepaticas too. Usually all these spring flowers are not in bloom at the same time.

 

Flowers and pussy willows

Pussy willows are starting to be beyond silky and cute, starting to turn into yellow pollen balls. Inevitable.

Flowers are popping up here and there, everywhere now. I noticed the first hepaticas in the forest and by the street a couple houses down, and there's some white flowers too, that resemble those other blue ones [edit. they are scilla sibericas].

 

The weather is still not too warm yet. Today it was +10C at best, but the wind was something quite horrid. It's been a game of rain and sun all day long, spring showers - even some ice balls at one point! - falling down every now and then. In the afternoon, the sky was covered in dark grey clouds, but by the evening and sunset, the sky was clear again.

 

Before and after the rain

Today, we had the first cery summery rain shower of the year. There didn't even seem to be clouds on top of us, but all of a sudden a windless rain shower hit our yard, in the middle of some grilling. It was over by the time we had eaten our dinner, and we went for a walk with the dog in the evening sun, that was making shining through some scattered clouds just above the treeline.

On my lunch break today, before the rains came, I went for a walk with the dog. The sky was overcast, the ground was soddy from previous rains and melted snow and ice, but we went walking around the footpaths. Many trees are pushing out their leaves now - rain and a bit warmer again does that - and these little blue flowers I don't recognize are popping up everywhere in the neighborhood [edit. they are scilla sibericas].