BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)

Subject: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: gnu
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 12:40 PM

I see that it will be Spring at 08:33h, AST tomorrow. I am celebrating by not shovelling my driveway. I just roll the 4X4 up and down the driveway and flatten the crap out, hopng the sun will be better able to melt it.

I did notice this morning that my mother's crocuses (croci ? hmmm, apparently both are correct) and tulips are up about two inches, that is, those within two inches of the basement wall. The rest I can't see because they are covered with snow.

How's Spring where you are. I am in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 12:58 PM

In Harlow, Essex, it's been beautiful, and I've been pottering about in the garden. Here's a shot of the sunset last night, on the home from Cambridge where we'd been up admiring the blossom and the springflowers, and watching people messing about on the river.

And it's not even spring yet for a couple of days, technically.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: CarolC
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 02:05 PM

Cooler than I would have expected for this part of the world, but I can't really complain. It's been generally in the upper 50s to 60s F during the day and 30s to 40s F at night.

The daffodils have been blooming for a couple of weeks at least and dandilions are blooming already. The flowering pears and redbuds are at their peak. I've been hearing spring peepers for a few weeks now, and crickets as well. It's been a very wet winter and early spring. In fact the whole last year has been very wet for this area. Rain is a good thing, generally, but I am looking forward to some sunny days with temps in the 70s.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: CarolC
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 02:06 PM

Oh yeah, I forgot... southish and eastern Alabama, USA.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: gnu
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 02:25 PM

Peepers! The poor little peepers around here haven't even thought about waking. They're still stuck in the mud. The ice isn't off the beaver dams.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: CarolC
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 02:47 PM

We don't have very well defined seasons here. We have seasonal trends into which some attributes of other seasons can be interjected. Hence, peepers in the middle of winter are a distinct possibility, as are crickets. But they are not any indication of where the trend is headed. The live oaks are shedding their leaves now. I take that as a true indication that spring is, indeed, well underway.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 02:51 PM

I've just come in from using the gas trimmer to take down those big extra juicy early spring weeds. The ones that literally splash you when you lop them off. I've mowed the lawn once so far this year, two weeks ago, and should have mowed last week as well. Means I'll have to push harder to get through the tall grass this afternoon.

Most of the daffodils are finished but there are lots of other things starting out. Redbud is pinking up, the bloomin' quince is STILL blooming (typically they have a week or two and that's all, but this has had flowers in early January). My onions, out there since November, are now beginning to fatten up. I have to do a lot of digging and am planning to start more things from seed this year than in the past. It is partly an economy measure, but also because I think when things start from seed they actually have a healthier and happier root system in the soil in which they will grow all season.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 02:54 PM

Oops--I'm in Fort Worth, Texas. Hardiness zone 8-A

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 03:00 PM

Definitely Spring in Yorkshire. Blackthorn out.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: greg stephens
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 03:18 PM

Hot in Stoke-on-Trent. First butterflies and bumblebees observed in last couple of days. Daffodils very far advanced(pretty well finished,some patches!). Celandines out. Damson blossom out for more than a month now. Went out to have my coffee in the garden in my shirtsleeves. Primroses all over the bank(though they have actually been flowering since November). Hawthorn covered in green leaves. Magpies, squirrels and pigeons are doing their annual fighting for their individual spaces in the big ivy-covered tree.
    Yes, it's definitely spring!!

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 04:53 PM

Here in Connecticut, just a week ago we had ten inches of snow. The temperature is getting up into the 40's during the day and some of the snow has melted, but I still have a four foot high ridge along the sides of my driveway, and snow is forcast for tomorrow. Palm Sunday. Shovel Sunday.

A day before the ten inch snow, a flock of about 30 robins arrived and perched in the tree right behind our house. We have a row of barberry hedges and the red berries saved the birds for a couple of days until there was enough melting to expose some of the lawns.

The early bird gets cold feet.

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 04:57 PM

These names are wonderful, but we don't all know what each other's spring flowers look like. If any of you use the Google images feature, you might make a link to what you think are typical examples of the flowers you're talking about.

Here's a redbud flower and leaf. And here's grape hyacinth. My Texas star hibuscus (in the mallow family) is just starting to send up new stalks from the roots. It'll bloom when the summer gets real hot.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Tinker
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 05:49 PM

Here in New Jersey the snow has cleared in all but a few forlorn patches. I can see the leaves of my primrose, and the daffodils are about two inches high as are the squill throughout the garden walks. I can see several of Boberts Iris I took home from Getaway showing green against the mulch I packed around them last fall, but itll be May before they bloom here.

LIke Jerry the season's first robins showed a few weeks ago just in time for a snow fall. Hopefully things will begin drying out now.

Tinker

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: greg stephens
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 06:05 PM

Stilly River Sage: that's great showing us what you are talking about. I dont have a computer, I use cabletv internet, and cant do stuff like that. So maybe somebody else would show people what daffodils, primroses and celandines look like? Or even magpies? What we take for granted is often strange to others. I was amazed when I went to America, met Bobert, and found that his robins are nothing like my robins.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Nancy King
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 06:07 PM

Here in the Washington DC area, the daffodil foliage has been poking up through the snow for weeks now. The snow's finally gone, and the daffy leaves are about 8 inches high, but most everything else is still pretty bleak. My red maple is beginning to bloom, but none of the trees are showing any green yet. It's been pretty chilly here for this time of year. We're only now beginning to get into the 50s (fahrenheit) for daytime highs. I suppose it will be stiflingly hot all too soon, but I'm sure ready for a nice balmy day in the 70s!

Nancy

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 06:45 PM

Had a wonderful day today..... I've got 10 different blooms out in my garden, I walked 10 miles and saw what must have been 10s of thousands of crocus in a great purple swathe, blackthorn in blossom and violets by the score.... here, these Spring flowers are the pictures I took.

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Joybell
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 07:32 PM

Greg, we have very different robins here too. Also our magpies are quite different from American ones. There's a photo of one of our magpies on my head on my photo page.
It's Autumn here now but our seasons are more easily defined by the old local Aboriginal calendars. We don't fit into European seasons. We are almost into the time of the flocking of young magpies and the territorial singing of mature ones ready for their Winter nesting. It's a time of change and of expectation of rain. A time of frog-song. Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: bbc
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 08:56 PM

Yup, here in New York, things are still pretty brown & muddy. Tomorrow, on the 1st day of spring (my birthday), we are expecting a couple more inches of snow w/ some rain mixed in for fun. I'm ready for spring to act like spring!

bbc

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Pauline L
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 09:13 PM

I'm writing from a Maryland suburb of Washington DC, where I'm waiting for spring. I enjoyed other people's photos of spring flowers so much that I claimed a site on Flickr and uploaded a few of my spring flower photos from last year. I'll put more up later this year when the flowers are up.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 10:36 PM

Very nice, Pauline! You have a great closeup lens! Those are very clear and crisp and beautifully lit. Top: Violet, and tulip; bottom: andromeda and narcisus (or daffodil), right?

I mowed and trimmed today, then ran around the yard taking photos of the house, but the digital camera I am using is not meant for art shots of great flowers (I have a 35mm and good lenses for that). I'm building up my supply of photos after the theft of my computer last month. All of my digital stuff went out the door with it. I've seen others use that Flickr site--do you think it's pretty good? Easy to use?

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 19 Mar 05 - 10:57 PM

Hey, the skunk cabbage is up. If you're adventurous, pick it while the leaves are small and cook it like you would and dark green, leafy vegetable. It doesn't get that vile odor for which it's named until the leaves are large...

Happy eating...

Jerry

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 12:45 AM

You're supposed to boil skunk cabbage twice, and dump out the first batch of water or it'll make you sick. Or so went the local ethnobotanical lore in the Pacific Northwest regarding our earliest harbinger of spring.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 04:00 AM

Stilly - if a technophobe like me can use Flickr it must be good! It's clear, simple and very user friendly. It's a great free way to get your photos onto a publicly viewable forum.

Today is officially the first day of spring and it's dull and cool... Yesterday was bright and clear... go figure!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: gnu
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 05:59 AM

Bright and sunny with a high of 2C. I hope that snow in the driveway melts today, before ew get more tonight. Great pics 'Cats. I especially liked that great purple swathe, Liz.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Cats
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 06:15 AM

Most definitley Spring. I'm in Cornwall, Uk and our daffodils have beenout for weks, the tulips are out, snowdrops and croci are nearly over. Cowslips have been out for weeks and I'm just hoping there ar going to be enough for may day! There is budburst on most of the trees and I have baby newts in the pond. Yesterday I planted out the delphiniums, hollyhocks and lupins in the herbaceous border and my seeds are showing in the seed trays.   We always are weeks ahead of the rest of the UK. My first returning newt was january 2nd and I had frogspawn at the end of January. Have a look at the Uk phenology website. They have interactive maps of how things are progressing across the Uk. I'm now going to make myself some well earned coffee and go and bask in the sun in the garden. All the windows in the house are open to let the fresh air in and the front door is wide open and the top of the stable door.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: freda underhill
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 06:58 AM

it is getting cooler here - i see so many beautiful birds in Canberra, for example a crimson rosella on my morning walk the other day. Canberra is a beautiful city, full of parks, lakes and surrounded by mountains. the birdlife is wonderful.. more beautiful birds

and the place where I'm staying (yarralumla) is full of birdlife, and the occasional kangaroo..

some of the leaves are just starting to go yellow and red as the days get colder..

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Sooz
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 07:20 AM

Its cold, grey and drizzling here in Lincolnshire - and the weather forecast promised us a great weekend. Fooled again!
Still we do have daffodils, crocuses, polyanthus, celandines, violets and many other flowers I'm not sure of the names of (and no snow) so we have much to be thankful for!

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Layah
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 09:30 AM

There's been a bunch of pretty purple, white, and yellow flowers for a while. There's a park I walk through every day to get to class and it's lovely and full of flowers. I'm in Edinburgh, and the weather in the past few days has warmed up enough that it feels like winter in California, while for months it has been colder than I've ever been before. Yesterday I didn't wear my coat for the first time since the beginning of September when I arrived here and bought it. Temperatures are getting highs in the 50s. As long as the weather doesn't change it's mind and get cold again it's great.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: GUEST,Tinker
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 11:36 AM

I drove by a few swaths of purple crocus today, but they were tightly closed in the rainy,gray, 40F weather. The wonderful photo help remind me that spring is truely coming sometime after the gray and the mud.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: GUEST,*Laura*
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 11:45 AM

Beautiful and sunny and lovely and warm and springy down here in lovely sunny Somerset!

xLx

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: gnu
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 12:23 PM

Well, spring shopping has sprung. Moncton, having a population of about 150,000 in the tri-community area (Moncton, Dieppe and Riverview) and in the immediate rural areas, is a shopping centre for a catchment of about 600,000 within a 90 minute drive. I just drove to the beer store and there's about 600,001 people in town shopping for Easter Weekend.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Pauline L
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 01:49 PM

SRS, thanks for the compliment. I don't use a separate close up lens. My camera (Nikon 5400) just has a setting to use for close ups. I've put labels on my flower photos on Flickr. They are pansy and tulip (top) and andromeda and daffodil (bottom). I'm so sorry that you lost your digital photos when your computer was stolen. I always back mine up on CD to be safe. Flickr is easy to use and its uploads are fast, in contrast to Nikon's site. I'm on the tail end of a migraine and I could still use it, so it must be easy.

Cats, spring in Cornwall sounds wonderful. Imagine keeping the doors open to let fresh air in! That thought is like a breath of fresh air to me. What is the URL for the UK phenology site you mentioned?

It's a gray and cloudy day here in the suburbs of Washington DC. I looked out the window and saw a cardinal perched on one of the upper branches of a red maple tree. The maple has buds, but no blooms yet. The blooms are so pretty and cause so much trouble for those of us with allergies. Here is a photo of a red maple I took last spring.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: GUEST,*Laura*
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 02:16 PM

And spring can only mean one thing..... Mayday! aaaaaaaannnnnd.................. Padstow!!!!!! horaaay!

xLx

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Cats
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 04:06 PM

Pauline L try this site http://www.phenology.org.uk and Guest Laura, I'll be on the corner opposite the Golden Lion at 1/4 to midnight for the night singing and then at 11am for the Old Oss. See you there.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 04:23 PM

Here's some spring flowers you don't see very often... can't see them now really, the focus was dodgy....

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: jacqui.c
Date: 20 Mar 05 - 08:19 PM

We've still got a good crop of snow and very little else.

However, the weather is getting warmer and no doubt there is life beginning to sprout under the white covering.

It will be nice to see green once the snow has gone.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Flash Company
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 05:33 AM

Mid Cheshire UK---The frogs in my garden pond are waking me every morning, and I have lots of spawn, and No, I can't post you some!
Birds are very busy building which is the perfect excuse for not cutting down anything at the moment.
Just thinking in investing in a new Summerhouse so I can sit and watch the grass grow.

FC

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Auggie
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 08:19 AM

Spring in the Upper Midwest. Beautiful rolling hills, covered with snow. Brown lifeless trees, covered with snow. Fuel oil bills up the wazoo. Windshields iced over every morning. Sidewalks slippery.
What a charming place to live. Not. At least not in March nor April.
The people are wonderful but the weather just plain sucks. Where is global warming when you need it?

SRS I'll send you photos of my spring flowers as soon as they are up. Check back with me sometime around, oh, I don't know, June maybe.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 08:24 AM

for the 56th year in a row (that I know of) my sister's b'day was heralded with snow.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 10:55 AM

Auggie, I bet you don't have the cooling bills I will in July--it's always a trade-off.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: CarolC
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 02:32 PM

We have leaves. I'm definitely seeing new leaves on some of the trees. That's a nice sight.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: GUEST,Mrr
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 04:09 PM

Charlottesville, VA, is lovely as always, so I expect another major storm (a whole half-inch of snow! Close all the schools!) before we get out of the real winter...

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Pauline L
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 04:16 PM

Cats, thanks so much for the link to the
UK phenology site. It's great! I didn't even know what phenology is. For those as ignorant as I, I can tell you that phenology is the study of the times of recurring natural phenomena especially in relation to climate. Such data have been collected in the UK for a few hundres years and in parts of Asia for much longer. This website gives dates of firsts (first blackberry blossom, etc.) in different parts of the UK over a period of years. Everyone is invited to observe and contribute. I'd love to. I keep similar notes for myself. However, I live in the Northeast USA. Does anybody know of any similar organizations closer to my home?

The weather here (suburb of Washington DC) is getting sunnier and warmer, so spring must show some signs soon.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Cats
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 05:16 PM

Pauline, if you go onto the phenology site and look at the newts map, I'm the second siting. I'm also the 4th siting of mating seven spot ladybirds!!! Oh what we do. I've also got baby newts in my pond, saw them yesterday.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Peace
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 05:30 PM

SNOW. SNOW. SNOW.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: gnu
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 05:32 PM

Whiteneck!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Azizi
Date: 21 Mar 05 - 05:36 PM

It definitely doesn't feel like spring in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We even some snow flakes fall, though there's no snow on the ground anymore.

I have seen see some blue birds and red birds and there are some early flowers trying to poke out of the ground.

But it's COOOLD!!

well maybe not as cold as where Brucie is..but you couldn't tell by the weather in Pittsburgh that spring has sprung.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: freda underhill
Date: 22 Mar 05 - 06:52 AM

its cold and wet here in sydney tonight, spring is just a beautiful thought

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Essex Girl
Date: 22 Mar 05 - 09:00 AM

The glorious weather on saturday brought our goldfish to the surface of the pond. They've been reproducing again and we have dozens of baby fish from 1/2 inch in length upwards. If anyone needs to restock a pond we'll be glad to supply some. There were also large clumps of frogspawn and a couple of very large frogs. Daffodils, crocus and hyacinth are all blooming and the geraniums haven't stopped throughout the winter. Got the mower out but didn't get very far as I had to help get the caravan ready for Miskin.

Subject: RE: BS: Spring !!! (Supposedly.)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 22 Mar 05 - 10:37 AM

We spotted a couple of great egrets in the creek this morning--the kids jokingly called them "Texas flamingos." I went looking for a very elegant photo to represent the birds this morning, but found this one at the same time. I couldn't resist! They're such graceful birds that I suppose the photo is the bird equivalent of catching a person when they're chewing or blinking--is a micro-moment captured on film.

SRS