The Winter That Would Not Die

Is it just me or does the title of this post sound like a bad western?

As I have stated in past posts, I live in Michigan and have been here my entire life. I love it here! The seasonal changes, the unpredictable weather and great ways to spend summers! Being surrounded by the Great Lakes makes things interesting. This is where I must also admit I love winter. Watching snowflakes cover trees and the ground like a giant white blanket of cotton.

I enjoy wondering if I am going to be snowed in (Less likely in the city though it can happen; see pics) and if I'll be able to take my kids sledding or be making a snow fort instead of taking them to school (NOTE: I believe school is important but I love having snow days with my boys too)! Parents learn to be creative and imaginative during the winter to keep our kids occupied!  The following quote takes a whole new meaning:

"Let us love winter, for it is the spring of genius."  ~Pietro Aretino

Pictured at right:  Snow drifts over 25 inches tall in our backyard from Hoth on Earth 2011 (Also known as the Groundhog Day Blizzard of 2011).  Pic taken on 2-2-2011 of my oldest doing random measurements of the drifts.  The snow in that spot was almost to his upper thighs.  Three snow days in a row for my kids is almost unheard of here.  We enjoyed every single moment.

Some fellow Michiganders would disagree on my assessment of winter because of the driving conditions, the cold and so on.  I agree it can be tough and sometimes downright brutal, but it doesn't make me hate it.  It does make me appreciate the other seasons even more!

So while our current winter is hanging on tooth and nail, I am dreaming about flowers and trees and the wildlife that will be coming soon!  I am already seeing new growth in my flower beds that will soon be marked with tulips, daylillies, columbine, pixie lilies, hosta and hopefully the other new plants that I put in last year will also have survived transplanting and be in bloom.  Yesterday I saw my first Robin of the year and it made me smile. A woodpecker was hammering away at the large maple in our front yard too!

(Pictured:  My tulips in 2010)

I know spring is here even though the weather isn't cooperating right now.  Like the hail we received last night and the freezing rain/sleet and snow we are experiencing today. We are at the threshold and I think every living thing can feel it coming!  I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!





"In the spring I have counted one hundred and thirty-six different kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours."  ~Mark Twain

Trying something new while keepin' it real

You know, I was so excited today with the response to my new Facebook page for The Royal Ranch.  It was really quite surprising; not only in the number of people, but who it was.  So since things were already on a little bit of a mixed up trend, and I;m getting ready for my big launch of Royal Rebels on Friday, I decided to do my post a little differently today.  I did part of post via video, so please bear with me and all of my nervous umm's, but I am new to this... so here goes:

And by the way, I was so excited about my idea to record my post I forgot one of the main reasons I was videoing.  That is to ask all of you to do the same.  Get your cameras and video recorders ready to record your goals for the Rebels and send them to me.  You can either send me a link to a YouTube video or e-mail me a picture to judy at royalranch dot net; this way we can all share in one anothers goals and successes.

Bringing the outside in

He picked a black-eyed Susan from a neighbor's yard.

I picked up a bouquet at the Farmers' Market.

And finally, we picked a color for our bedroom walls.

To see the rest of the story, go to Compost Happens.

Spring Flowers - Nature's beautiful reminder of things to come!

It's truly exciting to see how well the flowers you planted or transplanted the previous year have fared. About three years ago we bought our house and with it came some great flowers and tons of mystery plants. The biggest challenge was identifying the plants that were there and then deciding whether they were weeds or not. This meant waiting for blooms or waiting to see what they did.

Some of the plants did not need identifying. For instance, a climbing rosebush that had been planted to close to the house and had been trying to grow behind the siding. I made it a point to transplant as much of the massive plant as possible (A real feat considering the root mass was about the size of three softballs it had been there for so long). Since transplanting it, it has done well in another area of my yard!

Another group of plants that I was pleasantly surprised to find in my flower beds were the tulips; many different colors of tulips.

While the flower beds in the front of my house have been cleaned up and some of these transplanted or split up, my back yard flower bed is still in need of some major attention this year. I had waited a while to do anything with it, mainly keeping an eye on it to see if there is anything else that needs to stay.

(The picture to the right is of the back yard flower bed)

My front flower beds have slowly evolved over the past 3 years. Going from a few tulips, lilies, giving it a good weeding and putting in some cheap solar lights with old mulch in the spring of 2008 (Picture to the left taken in Spring 2008); to the major transformation of this bed that started in the spring of 2009 with splitting and transplanting lilies, then adding landscape fabric and edging. Around the same time I had a seed and plant swap with some family and good friends (Which is great for those of us amature gardeners who have a very limited budget)! You know who you are and thanks to all of you! At last, in the fall of 2009 I had a major pilgrimage to a couple farmers markets and then of course to local stores for perennials when they started going clearance. I managed to find the Giant Hybrid Columbine (Photo at the very top of this blog post shows you what it looks like), Hosta, Pixie Lillies, Blanket Flowers and the Purple Heart.

I also bought a new set of solar lights that looked a little fancier and colorful on sale. (The picture to the right was taken at the end of the summer in 2009, you can see a definite difference)

This year I have already seen amazing growth from the plants I received and bought last year. My sons and I made seed planting a family affair on monday.  I want it to be a learning experience for them and give them the chance to plant them into the ground when it is time.  My youngest was alot more excited about it, but he likes doing anything involving dirt (imagine that, a 5 year old boy that loves dirt ;)  My oldest (who is 8) is a little less patient and would rather get instant results so when we put them where we want them I am sure he'll be more into it.  I'll tell you more about it soon!  I can honestly say that I am excited to see what will happen over the course of the year as I continue to watch the transformation that comes naturally with flowers. I also can't wait to continue the swapping of more seeds and plants with friends and family!

Until next time!

Sincerely,

Khrys @ GreenSpot-On

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