Tulip! We Have Tulip Buds!

We are about to bloom!

They aren't very tall, but they are definetly getting ready to bloom! This one is kind of shy. There are several others at this stage.

This one is a little braver, and it's got some obvious color showing. It could be red or possibly it could be one of the stripy ones. We won't know for a few more days.

This is the entire bed, it needs a little more weeding. I did some weeding in it on Sunday but some of the tulips were just barely breaking the dirt and I was afraid I would step on one. But I should be able to get out there again this weekend and see about yanking a few weeds. There are also several daffodils visible, they haven't quite gotten to the point of budding yet. I wish they'd hurry up!


One lonely snowdrop! I planted snowdrops about 3 years ago. They never came up. But apparently the bulbs were still in the soil and were dormant, because this suddenly appeared and it is not in the original spot! It was a nice surprise, and I think it might have a few friends that haven't shown their pretty faces yet but it does look like there are a couple others.

These are the daffodils that come up every year, they are by what used to be a tree. It's a tree that we lost in the Dec. 2007 ice storm, Bill cut it down to a small stump but it keeps sprouting. We keep cutting it back, but we left it over the fall and winter. I'll get out there soon, or Otter will, and hit the sprouts. There are daffodils on the other side, which are visible through all the sprouts.

This is the bluebonnet! It's still pretty small, but it is about twice the size it was about a week ago. So far, it's the only one. But I'm not complaining, one is better than none. That is Otter's hand, her nail polish has been on for a while and I think it's time for her to replace it!

Otter watered the bluebonnet this morning, but she didn't have time to water the tulip bed until just now. And then as soon as she finished watering and we went out to take the pictures, it started raining. It's just a sprinkle, but we are hoping that we get a good, soaking rain because we really need it. It's cool enough that I'm not worried about twisty weather. It should be in the 40's the next few days, after 2 or 3 days in the 70's it's really going to feel cold. I hope we do get some rain, my rain barrel is down to less than half. I think it's about 1/4 full, I've been using it exclusively to water all the plants both inside the house and outside.

Speaking of trees, which I did a few paragraphs back, we're pretty sure that all three trees we planted last spring made it through the winter. The elm in the front is suddenly covered in tiny green leaves. The one we were really worried about, the oak by the side of the driveway, didn't get enough water during the hottest part of the year last year and we were afraid it hadn't survived. But it looks like it is still alive. And, the best news of all as far as I'm concerned, my redbud tree made it! And it's growing. They all seem to have some new growth, and the redbud tree has a few tiny pink places. Redbuds usually sprout pink everywhere, all along the bark and all over. Mine doesn't have a lot of spots yet, but it does have them so I am absolutely thrilled. I have really missed having one. The one at the old house was several times taller than they normally are and it was also brittle because of that. We had to remove it a couple of years before we moved and I hated to see it go. I had not even thought of planting one here, until last year when we decided to plant a couple of trees since we'd lost two and Bill bought me the redbud sapling.

OK, time to get busy! I have a few things to list on eBay tonight. I've been putting it off, but it's not going to post itself.