Spring Signs

Finally the crocus is blooming (crocii? What's the plural?). Usually this little patch blooms in February and gets buried in snow. They are lovely this year, the colors brilliant.

I only have the purple ones, but I remember that my mother used to have masses of them in purple, lavender, gold, white, and purple and white striped. Their life is a little harder in the mountains where winters are tough and chipmunks abundant.

Larry has pruned the grapes in readiness for the new growth. Seems impossible that they can be cut back so far and still have grapes, but they actually bear more when they've been pruned. These are Concord. The white Niagara also do well in our soil.

And at last, after a few days of rain and dreariness, the sun came out on Sunday! It shines through the branches of the yellow apple tree in the yard that is in bad need of pruning but probably won't get it this year.

This is my applesauce tree, a wilding that sprouted under my porch and continued to thrive after I moved it to a better location. No sugar is needed for applesauce made from this tree.

The daffodils are tentatively putting up buds. They are always in bloom by Easter no matter when the holiday falls. Many people here call them "Easter flowers" because of their habit of blooming at that time. My husband is one of those.

I expect, if the weather stays as warm as it's been the past few days, that these will be opening up by the end of the week. Just in time for the start of Spring--and a very early Easter!