After a long, cold and snowy winter, the first spring flowers feel like a gift from Mother Nature. It’s as if she’s saying, “Congratulations! You survived another upper Midwest winter!” And even when those flowers pop up where they’re not supposed to, it’s exciting to see their colorful little buds sprouting up from the ground.
When we pulled up the flower beds that the previous owners had planted around This American House, we relocated many of the plants and flowers. We also pulled up a bunch of bulbs that I threw in a bag with the intention of replanting later. We spread grass seed in the former flower beds and called it a season.
It looks like we missed a few bulbs … and I have to say that I’m not mad at that. When I saw these little yellow and purple flowers standing tall(ish) among the not-quite-green grass, I actually uttered the words, “Well hey there little guys! What are you doing here?” Although I was surprised that we had missed a few bulbs, the sight of the colorful flowers in the grass was delightful nonetheless.
Before I left the house to return to the city on Sunday, I pulled the flowers, bulbs and all, from the ground and dropped them into a little vase. They may not survive, I thought, but at least I’ll be able to enjoy the flowers on the drive back to the city.
Much to my surprise, the flowers not only survived the drive, they’re still thriving three days later. I’m not a botanist so I have no idea what these flowers are*. All I know is that I’m gladly accepting this gift from Mother Nature. And now I know that I need to find that bag of bulbs and find a place to plant them so that I can enjoy a little spring treat again next year.
*Thanks to my Instagram followers, I’ve learned that these are crocuses. According to Old Farmer’s Almanac, “Small bulbs like crocus not only provide winter garden color, but they naturalize, meaning that they spread and come back year after year—with minimum care—for an ever-larger display. As a bonus, deer, squirrels, and rabbits rarely bother early little bulbs.” Now I really do need to find a place to replace the bulbs I pulled up last year!
Images: This American House
2 Comments
We have a tree in our front yard that was still full of green leaves in late November. I was so worried that darn tree couldn’t figure out it was fall in Iowa and time to do some color-changing! Now it’s the first one of all trees to bud and fill up with blossoms. Go figure!
Those flowers are lovely! I love how home decor looks with freshly picked wild flowers. Those bulbs are so beautiful! Great post!