We’ve started our annual spring clean-up in our yard — since I was home this last year, we’re ahead of the game a bit since we accomplished more during our autumn clean-up than other years. What a huge difference — it’s making things a lot easier so far.
Our backyard has a few ridiculously large silver maples & ours drop their leaves very late in the year. We’re usually losing leaves from mid-November to early-December and end up missing the last run of our neighborhood’s seasonal yard waste pick-up. (Plus, brrrrr….it’s cold raking leaves that time of year)! This last year we divided and transplanted a lot of our different varieties of hostas & several other plants. We used the late-season leaves as mulch in our larger beds to help our divided plants as they over-wintered in their new locations in our yard. So far it looks like everything survived and the broken down leaves will be great for our compost pile.
I was pleasantly surprised that a lot of our cocoa mulch that we used up toward our patio survived — we love using cocoa mulch. It’s pretty, it smells great and it really seems to work well to keep our weeds under control. Plus it’s nice that it’s a project I can tackle myself since the bags are a lot lighter than traditional bark mulch. We will need to buy more this year to top things off, but we won’t need as much as last year.
We had a few nice days this last week & our daughter has been really excited to check the yard each day to see which plants are emerging. Several of our perennials are starting to show signs of life and the early-season bulbs she helped us plant last fall are starting to sprout. We’ll update our progress as the gardening year unfolds, but for now, here are the first signs of spring we’ve seen in our yard. 🙂
Happy Gardening!
So fun and this reminds me of my childhood going to Hershey Park in PA. the smell of chocolate is amazing! Is this kind of the same thing? Beautiful pics too Momma 🙂
xo, Nicole
lilflowermama.com
Thanks so much, Nicole! I haven’t been to Hershey Park (my parents have, though and said the chocolate smell was awesome)!!! The cocoa mulch we use does have a chocolate scent – it’s pretty cool! xoxo 🙂
Wow those flowers are so pretty! Also I’ve never seen a yellow dogwood, gorgeous!
Thanks so much, Cara! I love the dogwood this time of year – it doesn’t last super long with the little yellow flowers before the green leaves appear, but it’s always such a pretty little zing of color in our backyard! 🙂
These are such lovely photos. I recently moved to Virginia from Florida, and we had green all year in Florida. It’s so cool to see everything coming back to life here after the (very cold) winter.
– Hannah, http://www.thecatsandcoffee.com
Such a huge adjustment, I’m sure, Hannah! Hope you enjoy the changes in the seasons in VA! Happy Spring! 🙂
For me it is exciting to see everything start to green up and flower out. Keeps me motivated.
I love seeing everything start to sprout, too, Candy! Such a lovely time of year! 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing some Spring inspiration! I always get so excited this time of year when all the little flowers pop up out of the ground. I wish that I had done more Fall clean up like you did. It would be nice to be ahead of the game at this point! Enjoy those beautiful blooms. 🙂
We’re usually so far behind, Heidi and trying to scramble on the weekend! Hope you have fun in your yard this spring! 🙂
Those are just lovely. I adore my spring flowers! Daffodils make things so much more cheery!
Thank you, Justine! Happy spring! 🙂
There is something so special about the first signs of spring. Thank you for sharing your beautiful flowers!
Thanks so much, Suzanne! Glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Oh my gosh it makes me so excited to see signs of spring! It is still dark and nasty around here but my allergies are feeling spring!
Hi Kristin – It’s been weird here, too – we had light flurries this a.m. – and my allergies are going to be kicking in a few more weeks when certain trees bud. Yay, spring! 😉
So pretty! I need to put more flowers in my yard.. we just have a lot of mulch right now! ha!
Thanks, Lauren! It’s definitely been a work in progress over the 11 years we’ve been here (we had no landscaping in the backyard when we moved in so we “carved” out all of the beds & have been working hard at it each year)! 🙂
Oh, so pretty those first signs of spring
Most definitely, Melissa! Thank you for commenting! 🙂
Your yard must be beautiful!
It’s getting there, Janet! Can’t wait for more things to bloom! 🙂
I love when spring takes over and you see it in the yard, in the trees, in the weather. It’s probably the best time of year!
Totally agree! Such a wonderful time of year, Warren! Happy Spring! 🙂
What beautiful photos of you plants in your yard! I had no idea about cocoa mulch. We just did major work on our yard. Generally I dislike mulch – the smell is the worst!
Thank you so much, Aida! The cocoa mulch definitely smells much nicer than the regular mulch! Happy Spring! 🙂
Beautiful, clear and vibrant.
Thanks, Bob! Happy Spring! 🙂