Snow in April

I just can't believe it.  The weather report has been rain and snow off and on all the month of March and now April too.  We had two beautiful days Monday and Tuesday.  I got lots of errands run.  But today it is pouring rain again.  Not only that, but tomorrow they are predicting snow.  My tulips and other perennials are up and will be covered with snow again.  One thing about it though is that the sun is closer to the earth.  It doesn't take long to melt the snow now.  That is a great advantage over the rest of the winter.  We are still waiting for Spring to get here :0).  We have been in drought for several years now so this will be a big help so I guess we really should be happy about the rain and not complain.  Get out the raincoat.

Spring is in the Air

What a beautiful sunny Spring day today. The terrible winds of the last few days have slowed down some and should be better today. I notice the tulips have really grown since the rain. I need to get out in the flower bed and get rid of the old stuff from last year. All the perennials are coming up fast now but we are still in March and they are ahead of schedule. Need to clean out the old growth from last year but needs to warm up a bit more before I do that and wind slow way down.

Flowers in Bloom

Our flowers are really coming up now. Today it is raining and everything is really green and growing. The yellow peony tulips started blooming a couple of days ago and then the red ones also started blooming. There are two shades of red along with 4 colors of hyacinths really add to the beauty. I planted some bachelor buttons but think only one bunch is coming up but they spread and are sure a pretty light blue. It is so nice to see the flowers again.

Spring Weather

It was just a beautiful Spring day today. The tulips are really coming up fast now with some warmer weather. We got the rain gauge put out so you know it is Spring. Have to fill up the finch feeders and get the hummingbird feeder set out. The orioles are around and we should see some soon. I saw a Bluejay yesterday and it was the first one I had seen here since we moved here nearly 9 years ago. Beautiful birds but ornery. Lots of little wrens picking around in the grass. My husband got the wire off around the lilac bush. It saves its life as the rabbits would chew off all the bark every winter.

Tulips, Hyacinths, Violets

We have a nice bed of yellow peony tulips up again this year. They are special because they are full like a peony and they have more than one stem so they have as man as 4 flowers per plant. They, like the hyacinths come up first every year and lend some color to the flower garden early. There are some wild violets that planted themselves and they are multiplying too and they are just beautiful.

Pella Tulip Festival

The 72nd Tulip Time Festival will be held today, tomorrow and Saturday in Pella, Iowa. This little town of 10,000 welcomes more than 10,000 visitors to its three day celebration. If you have never been there, it is worth the trip. thousands of beautiful tulips are in bloom everywhere. They have a Parade down the main street and bleechers to sit on to watch the Parade. The women wash the street in dutch dress and wooden shoes and it is really neat to see the Queen and her court. One of the best things of all is the wonderful dutch food, pastries, candies and more. The town is very quaint in architecture too. There is much to do. They say they plant more than 100,000 new tulip bulbs every year and import them from the Netherlands. There are activities for every age group. Go and enjoy it. I want to go again too.