BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Birding Spring's coming

I fill the finch feeder with a mixture of thistle and sunflower seed hearts. Not only the goldfinches, but the chickadees, downy and redbellied woodpeckers, nuthatches and pine siskins all find something they like in that mixture, and the juncos clean up anything that falls to the ground. There is still a pair of siskins coming every day to the feeder, which is unusual. They ahould have left for Canada by now, maybe they will stay here to breed if they like what I serve so much!

The daffodils, forsythia, red bud trees, Bradford pears. Spring has sprung here.

Hello All, Virginia sure has more blooming than here in SW Michigan. Of course we had a dusting of snow the other day, but the daffs were still screaming yellow and the scilla are singing the blues. Where I have my bed placed I can look out the window first thing in the morning without getting up. Yesterday I opened my eyes to see a phoebe on a sumac branch. I have never seen a phoebe before, but I knew what it was because I have thumbed through my Peterson's guide about a thousand times over the years. My day started most excellently!

It's great when you can add a bird to your sighting list.

Hi Prairie Girl! Were your daffodils and scilla buried under snow this morning? Mine were and I must live fairly close to you (1 mile south of the MI/IN state line) The poor things were lying down under the cover of white.
More snow is predicted for tonight and then it is supposed to warm up again. Then the daffys will rise again, and I will plant that beautiful flat of pink pansies I bought today.
BTW, the forsythia is blooming here, but only the bottom 15 inches of every bush. That happens every so often; sometime in the winter it got so cold that all the forsythia flower buds froze except for the ones that were under the snow cover.

Our forsythia are just about done. The petals on my weeping cherry are lining the sidewalk. The tree is just beautiful.

It's a bit too chilly right now to plant anything outside but next week I will begin to gather some plants to put in my planters on the deck.

Claybird: Don't give up on your forsythia, the bottoms of mine are blooming also, but about 6 weeks ago I cut some stems off the top and brought them in. They bloomed just fine so the buds must have been alive. Maybe they will come out but just a little later, or when it really warms up. I am just over the state line but still in WNDU,WSBT territory. Everything is Notre Dame. Yes more snow tonight, but last night's covering melted pretty quickly here. But, GEEZ, it was cold today. I had to be outside this afternoon (helping friends move) and I had my heavy scarf and gloves on. Now my lips are chapped and cheeks are chafed. I'll have to grease up before I go to sleep. I love the look of daffs and scilla together. Saturday I dug up some of my Tete e`Tete and light blue scilla and put them in a pot together and gave them away to a friend - not a garden person. She was all, "Oh you are wonderful how did you ever get them to bloom at the same time?" I told her I planned it all last fall and that the timing was critical and bla bla bla. Hehehehehe. I love pansies. Do the pink ones have a specific name on the tag? Angie: I love it when the petals on the cherry start to fall, or a breeze starts them wafting through the air. It is like sweet smelling snow. Here in SW Michigan we don't dare put anything out until mid May unless we are ready to cover it over night or at a moments notice. You are lucky to have a long growing season. Have a great Tuesday everyone!

The pink pansy label just says "Pansy, pink shades", not very helpful! They are large blossoms, unblotched, and every shade from dark mauve to palest pink. I got them at Shelton's, south of Niles on the road to downtown South Bend...on sale for $7.99 a flat.
(Sorry to be so local, but if Prairie Girl gets WNDU and WSBT she can't be very far away.)

We're expecting a freeze tonight. I had to bring in some plants off the deck. I remember it snowing once here on April 6 - daughter's birthday - that's how I remember.

Claybird, I sure do know Sheltons Farm Market! I've been shopping there for years. I will check out their stock of pansies. My club has just moved its office to a block south of Sheltons in the Sonrise Storage and Office Units. I will probably be shopping there more from now on since I will be close by frequently. Thanks for the info on the pansies.