On Saturday the sun did indeed come to visit us for a short while. Yesterday was gray and gloomy, as is the drizzly start to today. I headed out with the camera to see what I could find in my yard. Here is what I came up with.

On closer inspection the tree buds look like exotic flowers. Dainty and delicate, each one looks a bit different.

The daffodils are making progress and I can even see flower buds coming now. They seem to be basking in the sunshine, don’t they?

The white flowering variety of the bushes I don’t know the name of. The flowers are papery, almost like tiny Chinese lanterns.

The skunk cabbage down in the boggy part of our woods is now coming up. The bears love this plant, and hopefully we will get a few bears this year.

The forsythia is going to pop this coming week I think. Right now all I could find was this brave little flower in the back yard. A bit further south the forsythia is already out, but up here in the “mountains” we are not quite there yet.

UPDATE 4/9: I found out the bushes are called pieris japonica, or Lily of the Valley bush. I guess it does kind of look like Lily of the Valley ...

The photos are great.  We were sitting in the daughter’s backyard in the sun yesterday.  I woke to snow this morning.  Our neighbor’s forsythia is blooming throughout! Just a reminder of what you are missing in Colorado.
P.S. re: a 10 yr old house ‘dated’?  Yikes! What a market it must be.

I’ve got daisies in full bloom already. The ones in the shade aren’t even close though… There’s a Highlands Festival coming up in about a month or so—organic foods and such. Maybe you want to take a look. It’ll be raining red buds pretty soon!    ~Luke

Your glimpses of spring are lovely. I think that the buds on the trees are actually flowers without petals. I know of a plant that looks very much like your Chinese lantern bush. The plant is Bearberry and is an evergreen. Maybe your plant is a relative.

Luke: daisies? blooming now? you sure? You’ll have to show me!

Becky: I plan to do a post on our house soon. Yes, dated means no granite in the kitchen, etc. It’s very frustrating.

Molly: Thank you! I need to find out what they are. I should ask my neighbor since she is a master gardner!

Hi Lynne,

Isn’t spring in New Jersey just wonderful? I live in the central part of the state, and a couple of weeks ago, my husband put up two bluebird houses. I am so happy - for the last two days, a pair of bluebirds have been checking out the new accommodations, and I think they plan to move in! The hummingbird feeders are up around the property, and as soon as those little darlings show up, I shall be ecstatic.

Enjoy! Wendy

lovely glowing sun in these pictures, i hope you get more of it

and the little tiny bud pics are great

(haha, and the word verification is also “great”)

Hi Wendy and welcome! Last year our hummingbirds arrived on May 9, I think. I will be glad to have them back too!

Letty, thanks I think we will be getting more sun. Today is supposed to be close to 70F.