Happy Spring!

SPRING IS HERE! If you've caught a glimpse of me dancing about and spinning in circles like a Disney princess, don't mind me...

Unfortunately, while it is "officially" spring, it's not quite warm enough to do our "Spring Cleaning" yet. Since October, I have done... almost nothing. I left the stems. I left the leaves. My yard looks kind of pitiful right now, all brown and crispy. But unfortunately, baby insects don't care that I'm dancing around like a princess on spring equinox - they care that they have somewhere safe to hide until it's warm enough for them to emerge. And it's just... not yet.

I wait until the nighttime temperatures are not dropping below fifty consistently to begin cleaning out dead stems and leaves. Even then, I usually pile them up somewhere out of sight and leave them for another month or so before I do away with them in case some late bloomers want to crawl out (I'm so sorry husband...). I know it sucks. This may be my actual least favorite part of native planting. But it's really important, possibly one of the most important things we can do for native wildlife. And it should be the easiest thing we can do, right? I've literally been tasked with "doing nothing"...

Native honeysuckle waking up!

You know who doesn't care that it's messy? My plants! They are waking up! My front yard is currently awash with purple deadnettle and henbit, an early source of nectar for pollinators. Common evening primrose, native honeysuckle, wild strawberries, common blue violets, and wild bergamot are all starting to leaf out and say hello. As I wait impatiently for it to warm up outside, I stare at these tiny leaves in wonder, willing them to grow big and strong!

I am also removing grass from another section of the big front yard, foot by foot. This task is, somehow, even less fun in the early spring - less bugs and spiders pop out to say hello - but it keeps me busy while I wait. It will probably be another two years before I'm done slowly killing grass under tarps and removing it. I hate looking at them too, but what is worse than taking my time is biting off more than I can chew. And this year I'll not only be establishing a new section of my yard as a prairie and removing dead bermudagrass, but I'll still need to weed/maintain/plant in the first area! EEK!

Oh! And I added a new bed on the west side of my house :p There ARE wee baby plants in there, you'll see them soon!

Thanks for being here ~ Kelsey