Back in the backyard

Well, no cows -- animated or otherwise -- in our backyard. We continue to see the occasional oriole and hummingbird, and recently we heard what we think was a heron calling from down near the pond. The hawks circle and robins and woodpeckers abound.

The plant life is finally taking off, both front and back. The crabapple is in full bloom. Tom got it from Home Depot last year and the branches were trimmed back so much that he says it looks more like a flowering post than a tree. But given time, no doubt, it will spread out. Meanwhile, all six of the wild plum trees made it through the winter and are adding color to the landscape with a scattering of small pale pink blossoms amid leaves that are reddish purple for now.

In the flower beds the tulips are out, as well as bleeding hearts, periwinkle, primroses and some of the iris. One of the daylilies looks like it will pop this week if we get enough warm days. (It was 34 when I got up this morning.) Tom had planted perennials out front and greenery is up. We are waiting for some to blossom so we can see what is a weed to be pulled and what is a flower to enjoy.

One of the lilacs has some blooms, and the wild strawberries that are everywhere are flowering. I was happy to learn what the white flowers meant, because the leaf pattern looked suspiciously like poison ivy at first glance. (The leaves themselves are clearly different.) So now no poison but instead we will get some strawberries if we can beat the birds and other critters to them. We also have wild grapevines and wild blackberry vines around, but Tom seems to consider them more a nuisance than a source of fruit. They remind me, though, of when we lived on Southwood Drive and would go berry picking along the side of the road with Muggie when she visited. If we got enough berries, she would make us a berry cobbler. Mmmm!

The wildflower garden Tom put in the back around the deck has become lush, and a few things have begun to flower. I think it will also look pretty good with a week of warm and sunny weather. The cats are now prowling through the foliage very stalkingly. It looks like the trumpet vine may begin creeping up the deck this year, and we hope some of the gazillion prairie roses Tom moved around last year will show up.

And there is a dead wasp in one of the wasp traps. It only took three weeks ...