Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Springtime on Cypress Knee Swamp

It's resurrection time! The trees are greening and the grass is growing. George Tabor & Formosa azalea buds are fat and ready to open. The dogwood tree is in bloom and the yellow jasmine is winding down. Spring is in full swing on Cypress Knee Swamp. We have had rain off and on for the past two weeks and the swamp is full of water at last. Mr. & Mrs. Mallard have been seen swimming around so I will be on the look out for babies in days to come. The hawks are busy nesting and the feeders are still brimming with finches. They can clean out a thistle feeder in a little over a day.
This is my favorite time of year. Every day as I walk in the yard something changes. I planted a viburnum several years ago and it has never bloomed. By last spring my patience was exhausted and I intended to cut it down and plant something else in it's place but never got around to it. I mentioned to David I needed to have it cut this spring, but to my surprise, it is loaded with blooms! Do you think plants can sense when they have pushed a gardener to the limit and start performing as God intended?

Saturday, March 11, 2006

It seems that we have skipped spring and gone directly to summer here on the Cypress Knee Swamp. The temperature has registered 85+ degrees all week and I feel the need to turn on ceiling fans and wear lighter clothing. The pelicans have gone south but the pesky blackbirds are still around. The wood ducks should be showing up soon to start their families providing we get enough rain to have water in the bayou behind the house.

Of course, the wrens are busily building nests in anything that is still for more than a minute or two including shoes, flower pots and empty baskets on the porch. The squirrels are digging anywhere they think they may have hidden nuts from the fall and wildflowers are covering my yard. Tiny white, lavender, purple, yellow and bright pink blooms spring up here and there while daylilies, daisies and sedum begin to poke their leaves up through the leaves and mulch in response to the warm temperature and sunshine.

The resurrection of seemingly dead plants lifts my heart and soul each spring. I can't wait to get out and dig in the dirt and I guess I inherited that from my parents. Mother has a beautiful yard and garden each year and Daddy was a cotton and soybean farmer who loved the land and growing things. For a girl who couldn't wait to "get off the farm" the smell of fresh turned earth is like perfume to me now! I think I'll go outside and spend some time working in those flower beds today because it is still March and you never know how long this beautiful weather will last.