Spring has Sprung

I might say this almost every year but I mean it this time when I say this has been one of my favorite springs yet. I mean that as a gardener and as a nursery guy. The slow and steady roll that spring entered our area was such a classic spring. We got some rain but mostly at night and the rains came in intervals that were spread out just right to keep the pollen in check. Pollen was heavy this year and the oak tree ‘worms” that followed were piled up thick after the rains. The windy and rainy moments we received helped to keep all that stuff moving and hastened the whole process. The strong winds knocked out a lot of dead branches that needed to come down anyway.

I really loved the gradual but steady rise in temperatures that could have started much later. I don’t remember many years that we were as far along in our yard as we are now. I don’t remember many years that business has been as brisk as it’s been before Easter. The weather has been so pleasant almost every day it just shouts, “go to a garden center and see what’s happening!” Or, at least, “get outside!” The spring bloom was one to write home about. The Forsythia, Redbuds, Spirea, Wysteria, Grancy Greybeards And Azaleas really gave it their all. They all deserve a pruning and a little fertilizer as their reward for making us all look so good as gardeners. Those plants can be pruned on a regular basis until August when it is time to stop pruning so they can get busy making buds for next springs bloom.

My favorite thing to see in my yard right now are our Japanese Maples. They are so beautiful when they leaf back out in the spring, their leaf colors are at their most intense at this time and again in the fall just before they drop their petticoats. My other favorite thing in our yard right now are the winter hardy flowers that we planted last fall. We used some of our vegetable garden beds to plant Foxglove, Delphiniums, 3 kinds of Poppies, Sweet Peas, Lupine and Snapdragons. Right now, all of those things are in full bloom except the Lupines but I won’t give up. The bloom show with that cast of characters looks like we are someplace other than here. I would imagine this would be what happens in a garden in England in mid summer. Mimi and I talk about taking a garden tour trip in England to see the old, magnificent gardens. Travel is going to have get a lot less weird before that happens, though. These plants won’t be able to take the heat and I’ll be wanting all that space back for my vegetables anyway but the gradual build up to this wild and colorful show has been fantastic. I will post pictures of it on our blog page at Martinsonsms.com. Mimi and I have

been bringing home flats of bedding plants every day from work and have been planting up our pots first, just in case the weather fooled us. We have slowly moved to planting some of the areas in beds as we have begun to see the night time temps stabilizing into the 50’s.

The most exciting thing for us this spring is that we will be headed to Greenville, South Carolina with Mimi's mother, Hilda Robinson, for the Easter weekend. This might be the last time we see Mia and Cody before they get married this fall. Cody's family is from Philadelphia, so Greenville is a good halfway point for us all to meet there for the weekend. We will all help them moving from one house to another and all those things you have to do when two lives are about to merge. I can’t wait to meet his family, from what I’ve heard and as kindly as they have taken her in on her several trips that she’s taken up there, I know this will be fun. Mia said some of them are going to give me a run for my money in the jostling and kidding around categories so I’m polishing my skills. I guess I had better get ready for some verbal jabs a few left hooks. I’m sure there will be lots of accent jokes going around.

Greenville is such a beautiful town and we will be able to see it at its finest since they are about two weeks behind us weather wise. Mimi found an Airbnb somewhere on the outskirts of town that looks like the owner loves to garden so that should be fun to explore. The next time we see these folks will be at their wedding in Greenville this fall. We are so happy for them and excited to see their plans unfolding so beautifully.

This article will be falling in around Good Friday and the Easter weekend, I hope somebody finds the Golden Egg. I’m hoping that your family time is relaxed and time well spent. The Tuesday after Easter is Earth day. I never really see much about Earth Day any more. When it was first started in the Seventies by a senator, it garnished more attention. World wide it has taken off unbelievably successfully. The idea behind Earth Day day is that communities are formed or get together in a group effort to be aware of any

little things that can be done to make you street, your community, your county, your state, your country, your world, depending on which level you feel like sticking your toe in to. Anything from picking up trash that’s not necessarily yours while on your walk, making your kids aware of what goes on around them in nature to writing a letter to your congressman about an idea that you may have that will help to preserve the Earth. If enough people pause for a day and do some stuff all around the world it becomes a big moment. Twenty million people participated in the first Earth Day globally and that number has continued upward every year since then. Last year, 197 countries and one billion people got out and did something, that’s a big movement.

With Easter and Earth day upon us it is time to get in your yard and get things shaking, thetiming is great as the nurseries around town are stocked with native plants and pollinators since April is Native Plant Month. Using more of these kinds of plants are a great way to add your part to helping our worlds access to the plants that keeps the pollinators busy, keeping the hummingbirds and butterflies healthy and providing natural habitat which makes the world go around. There are so many lists of those plants that will benefit your world, write down some of the names and commit to adding some to your world. Mississippi State extension has some great information available for you to plan your plant hunt. Spring has sprung! Have a blast!