Spring before pictures and more neighbors.

I just realized that this is my 100th post.  How did that happen so fast?   I had wanted to do something like a give away for it, but it came a lot quicker than I expected.  Maybe I'll celebrate another post with one.  

Yesterday was  one of those days that made me realize how much I love to garden.  It was another nice day, I'm pretty sure it was over 70.  I think because we had such an unusually cold winter for our area, I almost forgot what it felt like to be warm from the sun.  I was able to get a lot done.  I call it "power gardening".  It's something I've learned to do with little kids.  Yesterday I was lucky though because my oldest daughter was home for spring break.  The girls played outside and helped me weed with the promise of a trip to the park.  It was a good day to stand and look at my yard from different angles to see what looks good and what I want to add or change.  Mostly I just looked at all the new growth and felt happy to see it.

I took a couple of spring before pictures of the front yard just to be  able to look back at later in the summer and see what a difference a few months makes.  Here are a couple of them.

This is a similar angle to the one at the top of my blog.  Looking at this picture reminds me it's time to sow the Bachelor Buttons (cenataurea) seeds.

Facing west.  The old crabapple stump needs to be removed.

While I was looking around I found this brunnera blooming.  It's one of the few plants still here from the previous owners.  

Looking up at the blue sky through the Japanese Maple 'Orido Nishiki'.  It's just starting to leaf out.

Around the back yard there was lots of bird activity again.  The Bewick's wrens I saw a couple of days ago are indeed building a nest in our yard.  They chose a little birdhouse my daughter built at Home Depot a few years ago.  They were quite busy gathering nesting supplies.

A pair of Black-capped chickadees were making a mess at the bird feeder.  They like to throw all the seed out in search of a sunflower seed.  I guess that's why we always have so many Junco's.  One bird's trash is another bird's meal.

This little one just sat in this old rhododendron while I took it's picture.   They seem to feel safe in our yard, and will just sit and wait for feeders or birdbaths to be filled.

Let's see if we can get one more day to play outside.  Maybe I'll get those Bachelor Buttons sown.