Posted on by Donna

Seasonal Celebrations-A Dream of Spring

 

“All Nature seems at work.  Slugs leave their lair
The bees are stirring, birds are on the wing,
And Winter slumbering in the open air,
Wears on his smiling face a dream of spring.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

 

Let the celebrations begin….a new season is coming and what better time to start the party!!

 

It is time for our first Seasonal Celebrations or as I like to think of it…. how I observe, proclaim, glorify and dedicate myself to this new season.  What is it that evokes this season for me?  Can I even pick one thing, doubtful.  And since the season for me that will be starting is spring, that is the season I am celebrating.  If you are one of our neighbors to the South, autumn is upon you so join me by celebrating your new season.

There are so many firsts that proclaim spring is here in my garden.  The fond memories of springs gone by that sustain me during our long, cold winters.  So what are those memories, those dreams of spring now new adventures that tell me winter is unclenching its firm hold.

 

1.  I think my favorite sign of spring is that of the first pollinators pictured above.  When I hear that familiar buzz of the bees, it is like a fire has been lit inside me.  I follow them as they fly from bloom to bloom usually in early April.  Bees drunk with pollen, I feel that same drunken state brought on by fresh air, blooms and bees.

 

2.  First blooms by way of early bulbs.  This year the crocus are up a full 3 weeks early, but there are only a few.  It is when I see many of my cherished blooms brighting up the garden that I know spring is finally here.  Pictured here are daffs, Glory of the Snow, iris reticulata and hyacinths.

 

 

3.  First annuals planted.  I love to get some early containers planted up especially on the front porch growing in all that the spring sunlight.  Nothing says spring like pansies and violas.  I just love these flowers and they last well into June with the front porch now shaded as the weather heats up.  This year I am starting many varieties from seed.  They are on the cool basement floor covered with newspaper.  I hope to have many blooms in time for spring planting.

 

 

4.  The pond coming to life is another marker of the seasons turning.  The ice melts and the frogs suddenly awake and appear.  Tadpoles that had been hibernating below now swim about.  The green algae returns and the plants along the pond edge come to life.  Even the water lily braves the cold water and stretches itself from the dark water below to catch the warm spring sun.

 

 

5.  The first morning I wake to hear a robin singing is a special day.  I know that the birds are coming back to nest.  You can hear so many songs intermingled that you need no alarm clock.  Who would want to stay in bed knowing the spring day is beginning.  Now I will warn you that there is already a fight over the nesting boxes in my yard in mid February.  This far too early, but maybe not this year.  A pair of bluebirds had claimed their rightful box only to get caught napping, and a sparrow now resides there and is not budging.  There is another house for them, but I am unsure if they will take it.  And miracle of miracles, the red-winged blackbirds have returned.  They graced my garden on February 27th.  For me this bird is the true harbinger of spring and I now am in full get-ready-it-is-spring mode.  I was yelling and jumping around the house with glee….

 

 

There are many other  signs for me….the veg garden’s first planting of early vegetables, the first warm rain, the first warm breezes carrying the scent of spring blooms and of course my native wildflowers blooming.  And below is my mantra for spring.  I hope it serves me well as a wonderful mantra for my life.

 

maple buds growing

 

Mantra for Spring:

Open your mind to all that is possible this season.  It is amazing what experiences are awaiting you.

Soften your gaze. Relax and look through eyes of wonderment.  Oh the things that you will see!

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Come Join Us:

I hope you will join me for this very special meme.  It can be anything you want it to be.  And it seems so appropriate to collaborate with Beth and her Lessons Learned meme.  What lessons have you learned this past season of winter here in the North and summer in the South.  Then tell us about your wishes, desires and dreams for the new season.

The rules are simple.  Just create a post that talks about lessons learned and/or seasonal celebrations.  If you are joining in for both memes please leave a comment on both our blog posts.  Or if you are choosing to join only one meme, leave a comment on that blog post.  Make sure to include a link with your comment.

Beth and I will do a summary post of our respective memes on the solstice or equinox.  And we will keep those posts linked on a page on our blog.  Your post should be linked in the weekend before the solstice to give us enough time to include your post in our summary.  And if you link in a bit late, never fear we will include it on the special blog page.

The pictures here can be used in your post, or add the widgets to your blog.  My widget, Seasonal Celebrations, is pictured above.  You can grab the code at the bottom of my sidebar.  Hopefully the code should work.  It is a painting (done digitally) of my pond.  Beth’s widget, pictured here, is available on her blog.  So won’t you join in the celebration!!

 

 “Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence
Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance
Autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence
Winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance.”
–   Yoko Ono, Season of Glass

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Next up on the blog:    Gardens Eye Verse this coming Monday and I will be joining in to several memes around this time.  I will have the last 2 color posts in March in time for GBBD, yellow, and Wildflower Wednesday, green.  Of course I will highlight another favorite native plant in March as part of my Simply The Best series with Diana@ Elephant’s Eye.  And don’t forget to join Beth@PlantPostings for Lessons Learned and me for Seasonal Celebrations.

I am linking in with Tootsie for Fertilizer Friday to flaunt my dream flowers.  Her badge is on my sidebar.

Please  join me for my weekly posts, every Tuesday, at Beautiful Wildlife Garden.  Currently I am highlighting my favorite wildflowers.

Please remember, to comment click on the title of the post and the page will reload with the comments section.

All content is copyrighted and the sole property of Donna Donabella @ Gardens Eye View.  Any reprints or use of content or photos is by permission only.

69 Replies to “Seasonal Celebrations-A Dream of Spring”

  1. It is so exciting to see and hear the first signs of spring! I love the idea of planting an early container to celebrate the seasonal beginnings! Thanks for creating this wonderful meme.

  2. As much as I thought Spring was coming all winter, it has pretty much stalled. There are no bulbs blooming (not even showing) yet and no annuals yet to buy. The farm nursery has not even awoken yet, with another month to wait. Still stuck in winter and finally getting the winter seasonal weather, it is a waiting game as the trees are still tight in bud. This time of year makes me yearn for Pennsylvania. I have such fond memories of Spring. Spring tends to skip us some years up here. I am joining the meme with trees from the park, still dressed for winter, or should I say, naked in winter loveliness. A celebration of trees. You have a beautiful post and dreaming is pretty much all the I can do until Summer rolls around I fear.
    http://gardenwalkgardentalk.com/2012/02/29/bark-in-the-park/

    1. I have those same fond memories from my childhood in Indiana. We are getting a heck of a storm. Second day worse than the first. So it seems March is coming in like a lion with heavy snows and ice. So glad you are participating and I love your post….trees are such a wonderful celebration so lost sometimes in the landscape when they leaf and the garden blooms through summer but in winter and into spring they are such a lovely reminder of the majesty of the landscape.

      1. Donna, I am a bit confused. Beth’s post appears on the 20th right? I was just over to her post. Are you doing a repost to tie in or joining her post as a Lesson’s Learned post? Menes are very hard to follow lately with my heavy work schedule and with so many new memes being listed. Like you, it is easier to have one post linked to many memes and I thought Beth would be working with you on this.

        1. We have 2 separate memes that are tied by the seasons. We each do our own post on the first and repost on the equinox..I will be reposting the celebrations folks link in with on the equinox as will Beth do her own. Your post certainly can be part of her Lessons Learned meme for winter as well so if you link in with her it will work for both…I know that heavy schedule which is why I try to do posts that link in to many memes…contact me if you need further info..you have the contact info…

    1. Thx Tina…can’t wait to see it soon…we are getting a Lion March right now with snow and ice…it may be a few weeks before we see another sign of spring at this rate…

    1. Beth I hope your March starts better than ours…big storm they were not good at predicting…supposed to be rain with some snow and a bit of ice….lots od snow and ice…well perhaps it will end like a lamb….looking forward to the collaboration Beth!!!

  5. Spring is definitely here! What a fun meme! Loved seeing all the signs that say “Spring!” for you. I’ll be joining you soon – some of the signs I look for are not open just yet!

    1. Oh Holley I wish I had more definite signs like no snow and lots of crocus but some are just a beginning and the dream is still a dream…cannot wait to see your spring celebrations.

    1. Jen that means a great deal to me…we just got more snow and ice so it will be a while here too before we see spring.

  7. Oh my god! You remind me that one of 2012 tasks was to create a veg garden… You are ready with the first transplanting and I haven’t started to prepare the ground yet…

    1. So glad I could remind you Alberto. I have been planting flower sees of late and just moved some basil and cilantro to bigger pots. Veggies though won’t go out for at least a month and those started indoors will be started in April for planting in May…I wish you much luck. For me it takes a lot of planning since I am not a natural with a veg bed.

  8. Will play around with these two memes for next week’s post. I have autumn leaves, the first bulbs coming thru, and hard lessons in the learning. (Garden lessons)

  9. Hi Donna,

    I hope spring arrives soon to your garden!

    A few seeds have been sown here and I need to get going properly with them – Cosmos, Delphiniums, Sweet Peas and Forget-me-not so far… Still so many seeds to go!

    1. Thx Liz. Seems the weather forecast has 60 degrees mid week in store for us so maybe this was a last blast for us…I will be planting cosmos and sweet peas too…

  10. Donna, you’ve celebrated spring so beautifully here! I love when particular birds return or break into their spring songs, too. When I was little I used to call red-winged blackbirds “jonquil birds” because bird and flower always appeared together. Hooray for the happy bee in your first photo, and for those beautiful crocuses!

    1. I had never heard the red-winged as jonquil birds…I love it…of course the first red-wing I saw here in the garden arrived well in advance of the first daffs in my garden although I just found some buds coming up on the daffs…last year if was the first week in April before they bloomed…I have a feeling they will be up sooner…The crocuses pictured here are still not up…I am still dreaming of more flowers although the first corcuses I showed on Monday are still blooming fully now with the mini heat wave we are having.

  11. Donna, i am so envious that your next season is really worth celebrating! We are also starting with our next, officially, but actually we feel that our dry season really started in January because it hasn’t rained well since then. The problem now is it gets so hot outside and it is very difficult for humans to do anything. We feel now the opposite of your feelings, the opposite of celebration! Grrrr!

    1. I would still love to learn more about your new season and include it in the list if you feel like posting about it Andrea.

    1. Oh Carolyn it is a stunner…iris reticulata Katharine Hodgkin…so glad you enjoyed my dream…the garden is starting to give itself over although it is just a fraction of an inch toward spring

  13. Donna, I love that sense you bring of the excitement of Spring just on the horizon, and all the hopes that come with that. Here in Delhi it has been officially Spring since the end of January and everything is in bloom. But of course the Indian winters are not cold enough to make Spring seem so magical, and we know in a week or two that we will be off headlong into the madness of the scorching Indian summer.

    1. If you feel like posting about Indian summer I would love to include it in the list of seasons changing…so glad you enjoyed my season to come…

  14. Hi Donna,
    Thanks for helping us all look forward to that wonderful spring ahead! I am happy to join in your Seasonal Celebrations at rainyleaf.com.
    Elaine

  16. Donna – I was just thinking of bluebirds. There’s several nest boxes at the local park and I always associate them with spring. Just a couple of weeks now, can’t wait.

    1. I know Heather it is so exciting…the bluebirds and their thrush brothers the robins bring us such joy this time of year!

  17. Just last week I was excited to hear and see the first robins of the season. That makes me think spring is really on its way. Since we’ve had a mild winter, I can’t even point to melting snow as a sign of spring, but if I manage to capture a photo of the robins, I’d love to participate in your meme.

    1. Oh I hope you are able to participate…the robins finally showed again today and were singing in the garden finally…it definitely felt like spring…

    1. We can dream together…the snow is pretty much gone, the ice is half gone in the pond and the entire garden is so wet….but I’ll take it…thx for participating!!

  19. I not really a devotee of spring. Where I live, we simply don’t have enough winter. I’m always hoping the weather will get cold and that we will have snow – but we hardly ever do. So, although I would like to come across some tadpoles, when I see daffodils, I simply think ‘Oh, was that it?’ – and am sad.

    1. Oh Lucy that is too bad….we have far too much winter most years so we do so love the change…of course my maples are in bud and may soon flower…so early this year. Actually most years winter hangs on so long we hardly see a really nice spring.. perhaps this year we might.

    1. The pond is giving way and there is lots of algae in it this March already…the ice is half gone and I am so happy to see it go…the frogs will soon be hoping back from their slumber below…I am so excited to have you participate and what a wonderful way by following the trees…

  21. I love Spring, it’s so rejunvenating. To notice all the beloved and cared for plants have made it through another winter is very satifying. I have everything ready to start to sow seeds for 2012, but now we have snow forecasted again, I can only hope that the weatherman (as usual) as got it wrong!

    1. Ronnie I hope the snow doesn’t come for you. We are getting cold and snow again so I am starting flowers under grow lights and on heat mats so I can get some going…here’s to a wonderful spring soon!!

  22. Unfortunately, not too many signs of spring in Santa Fe yet. I’m enchanted by the photo of your pond. I’ve enjoyed seeing photos of it through the seasons. I saw some of those very same irises at a local nursery last weekend.

    1. We are getting more cold and snow so my dreams are still dreams…glad you enjoy seeing the pond…those irises are a wonderful sight I hope to see soon…maybe you can still join the celebration as spring approaches 🙂

  23. Spring is definitely upon us here. There are too many signs to mention, but I was thrilled when a flock of robins, at least a hundred or more, recently landed in my garden. They stripped holly bushes of berries; they gorged themselves on worms they pulled from the lawn. It was a sight to behold!

    1. That sounds lovely Deb…to see all those robins. Ours robins are slowly showing themselves and I can’t wait to see them feeding on fat worms.

  24. The pollinators really do make something inside jump with surprise and anticipation but I think it’s finding ladybirds on the move that catches my proper excitement.

    Thank you for your comment on my blog yesterday. It seems to have disappeared but I wanted you to know I read it before it vanished!. (Indeed, when I first went to my dashboard this morning – the blog itself had disappeared! That was a gulp of a moment! It’s come back again now. Maybe your comment will come home soon too!)

    I hope your tender seedlings are doing well. I’m glad there are some things which need us. Indeed, if the world were to rely on my gardening methods for food – we’d all be dead in a year!

    1. Esther I would love to see the ladybirds more in my garden. How odd my comment disappeared…glad you enjoyed it…so far the seedlings are doing well…I can’t wait to pot them up in a month I hope…

  25. Donna, I can’t express how much I loved this post. Will try to join in on the meme. Depends on how much I get done today. 🙂 Your photos and words depict exactly how I feel each spring, drunk with the thought of new beginnings.~~Dee

    1. Oh Dee that would be wonderful. Remember you have a while since I won’t be finalizing the post until 3/17 or 3/18. Glad you enjoyed the post!!

    1. Michelle I agree that the daffs and birds certainly bring spring to our senses and all the new growth adds to the celebration of new life in spring…I am so excited you are joining in…thx!!

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