View Full Version : Earliest Harbinger of Spring
rosarugosa
1-12-21, 6:13pm
Snowdrops make me so happy. I don't know why more people don't grow them; they are easy and not very expensive and they come up year after year. :)
3570
Last year, I had a few and like you, they made me so so happy. So I bought another 25 or was it 50? Can't wait to see them come up.
rosarugosa
1-12-21, 7:16pm
Last year, I had a few and like you, they made me so so happy. So I bought another 25 or was it 50? Can't wait to see them come up.
Nice! Oh and one other thing, critters don't seem to eat them. What's not to love? :)
And they are earlier than crocuses! Just when I need an assurance that spring will indeed be eventually coming.
My harbinger is longer days. If I don't stop anywhere on the way I now get home at dusk not dark.
iris lilies
1-13-21, 11:26pm
I don’t know why we dont snowdrops around here. Our early flowers are crocus.
dado potato
3-19-21, 6:44pm
Snow drops beneath the oak tree in my front yard 3/19/21.
About half the turf in this neck of the woods is bare of snow-cover now.
3700
Crocuses rather than snowdrops in my yard.
Mud in mine, but that's still a great harbinger of spring IMHO.
Bird migration is something I watch for. Migrating songbirds should start showing up soon. There is a broad rule of thumb that the first hummingbirds show up on tax day, although I think they are unaware of any official postponements. Some resident and early migrating raptors are courting or passing through. Near my house there has been traditional Red-tailed hawk nest for at least the last four years and I just noticed a pair circling in tandem with some likely courtship displays. There is a Golden Eagle nesting area in the foothills that I pass on my bike rides and I've been watching for them but haven't see them yet.
When I was a kid, robins used to be a sign of spring, but there are a few here year round now. Maybe it was always that way and I never noticed.
rosarugosa
3-20-21, 6:21am
Bird migration is something I watch for. Migrating songbirds should start showing up soon. There is a broad rule of thumb that the first hummingbirds show up on tax day, although I think they are unaware of any official postponements. Some resident and early migrating raptors are courting or passing through. Near my house there has been traditional Red-tailed hawk nest for at least the last four years and I just noticed a pair circling in tandem with some likely courtship displays. There is a Golden Eagle nesting area in the foothills that I pass on my bike rides and I've been watching for them but haven't see them yet.
When I was a kid, robins used to be a sign of spring, but there are a few here year round now. Maybe it was always that way and I never noticed.
I've heard that Robins are not migratory. They just tend to hang out in the woods rather than our backyards in the winter because food is more plentiful in the woods during the winter (berries rather than worms).
Yesterday was really nippy but looking at the long range forecast I am happy and today I put away my insulated jacket and will wear my regular winter jacket instead from here on out. It weighs less and makes me feel freer.
I've heard that Robins are not migratory. They just tend to hang out in the woods rather than our backyards in the winter because food is more plentiful in the woods during the winter (berries rather than worms).
I was thinking about that grade school song we most of us might have sung, when the red red robin comes bob bob bob'n along.... So I looked it up. The Cornell Lab is my usual reference for bird info. I think you're mostly right, although they do say that some robin migrate and some don't depending on food supply, etc.
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/is-it-unusual-to-see-american-robins-in-the-middle-of-winter/#:~:text=As%20long%20as%20there%20is,stay%20north% 20in%20cold%20climates.&text=But%20although%20some%20American%20Robins,the %20same%20place%20year%2Dround.
A couple of winters ago I was walking in the foothills and there was a huge bunch of robin eating juniper berries off the trees. I sat to watch for a while and as I was sitting there they took off in small bunches at a time. I counted in 20's and 50's and got up to 500. It was a sight for such a common bird and it was a little curious. They talk about those large groups in the Cornell article. So, I learned some things.
Speaking of birds there's a pair of hawks that have been hanging out in my back yard for the past couple of weeks, I'm hoping they're nesting in one of my trees but I haven't seen any sign of an actual nest yet. On the other hand I enjoyed watching a sparrow last week build a nest in an empty hanging planter on my front porch. It's just outside one of my windows and if I stand on tippy toe I can see the dome shaped nest she completed from inside. Unfortunately, I haven't seen her in the last few days and when I went out and peeked yesterday the nest is empty. I'm beginning to worry something happened to her.
The tundra swans whistling overhead are my favourite sign of spring coming before anything else. They stop and feed in the farm fields and rest in the Long Point Bay of Lake Erie before continuing to the Arctic. Next are the red-winged blackbirds with their cheerful sound.
Living about six blocks from the Mississippi River, we frequently see hawks and eagles (sometimes even bald eagles) flying around the neighborhood. A few days ago I watched as an eagle circled effortlessly for maybe 10 minutes, looking for food. It didn't find any in that time, so it moved on. But those birds are so much fun to watch!
frugal-one
3-20-21, 3:06pm
Just planned a few days getaway to go bird watching. Interestingly, the birds migrate here then in a few weeks go a few hours away and then a few weeks more another stop. We are planning our "trips" based on the last few years migration. We're staying in state and just going a few days each stop. Cheap entertainment.
Just planned a few days getaway to go bird watching. Interestingly, the birds migrate here then in a few weeks go a few hours away and then a few weeks more another stop. We are planning our "trips" based on the last few years migration. We're staying in state and just going a few days each stop. Cheap entertainment.
Sounds wonderful. Take pictures and post!
Definitely more bird activity and if I poke around the base of some of my perennials, I see green - yeah!! I have seen only a couple of robins in the whole time I have been here in CO. Strangely, DD said there were masses of them passing through in TX where she lives right before their big freeze last month.
Our day lilies are starting to poke their leaves through the remains of last year's crop (we got most of our snow this winter in October, so some garden beds are messed up). Looks like my landscaping work will be starting shortly (and a little early this year).
iris lilies
3-22-21, 6:23pm
We’ve talked about this concept on another thread but I can’t find it now.
This morning I attended a zoom garden club meeting where I was a presenter about an upcoming virtual flower show. One of the speakers who was there as a horticulture expert reminded everyone to keep the old brown sticks of their herbaceous plants sticking up. We should be picking off only the Flower heads so that the plant doesn’t go to seed. Keep all those brown sticks and brown leaves on throughout the winter and even through spring. Don’t cut them until June!
Then she said something about trimming them down if you have to, but if you trim them below a certain point then all your bees will be male and not female. So I’ll just put that bee thing right there for you all to ponder.
but here’s why I’m writing this post: one garden club lady asked incredulously “you mean I can’t cut the brown stuff down? You mean I have to leave that stuff up in my front yard where my flower garden is? Do you want me to keep all of that old dead plant material showing all the way through June? “
I laughed silently to myself because I don’t do this. I have a flower garden because it’s pretty. That means I yank out brown leaves and dead stalks. I wanted to privately email her to tell her she didn’t have to do any of that! she could clean up her flower garden to enjoy it because hey that’s why we have flower gardens. They are pretty.
Currently in bloom: daffodils, camelia, candytuft, hyacinths, and forsythia. The latter always means spring to me.
Some of the lakes I passed on my way home today did not have any ice on them for the first time this year.
but here’s why I’m writing this post: one garden club lady asked incredulously “you mean I can’t cut the brown stuff down? You mean I have to leave that stuff up in my front yard where my flower garden is? Do you want me to keep all of that old dead plant material showing all the way through June? “
I laughed silently to myself because I don’t do this. I have a flower garden because it’s pretty. That means I yank out brown leaves and dead stalks. I wanted to privately email her to tell her she didn’t have to do any of that! she could clean up her flower garden to enjoy it because hey that’s why we have flower gardens. They are pretty.
What the internet gardeners tell me about my xeriscape perennials is that you can cut back spring and early flowering perennials in the fall, but it is best to wait for springtime just when some green is showing to cut back late summer and fall bloomers. I like to leave a layer organic mulch material like the fall leaves around the plants to protect against cold freezes. But the garden is to enjoy and I've not noticed any big differences when I've not followed the advice. June is awfully late for anything I know about cleaning out all the brown, but I'm hardly an expert and don't have a show garden.
There's nothing blooming here. Just recently the ground became workable and I'm waiting for the snows to clear off to divide and relocate some of the larger plants.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2025 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.