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Birds Chirping!

It has been great waking up to the sounds of birds chirping this past week!

I love New England because just when you get tired of one season, the next one rolls around. I love the snow but I love crocuses and pansies too.

My Valentine's bouquets have faded away. I am now replacing them with Forsythia branches that I have cut and plunged into hot water. I have large vases full, looking like the shrub itself on my coffee table, as well as tiny bud vases with a few delicate stems in my kitchen window. Within days the cheery yellow blooms will push out. If a particular branch seems to be struggling, I may give a fresh cut, use more hot water, and even take an inch or two off the top of the branch to help force the bloom out. When I can, I add some tall, fuzzy Pussy Willow branches to these arrangements. After the yellow blooms are done, a gorgeous green leaf comes out just in time for St. Patrick's Day! Left in water long enough, roots will develop on both types of branches giving you some fun seedlings to plant in the spring.

My forced tulips are still pushing out blooms. The bulbs with spent blossoms, I have been putting aside in an old pot of dirt down in the basement so they can die back naturally. As soon as the soil outside allows it, I will bury these bulbs in the garden. It is believed that forced bulbs are unable to regenerate. I think, as long as the bulb has not turned to mush, and planting them in a rich organic soil, the bulb will slowly grow back into production.

While "playing" in the yard, I have found the packed snow very helpful in reaching top forsythia branches and even assisting me in getting my red Christmas lights down off the ornamental pear tree. I had used a ladder to get the lights up there and of course being red they had to stay put for Valentine's. I wonder if I should get my purple, gold, and green lights out for Mardi Gras!!

2/24/00