It’s hard to believe that February has already flown by, and that spring is less than a month away (at least on the calendar!) Signs of early spring are already appearing here in eastern, KY, so I just had to share some photos with you in hopes that these little signs of life will lift your spirits as much as they have mine! Let these photos be a reminder that spring IS on the way (even if you still have ice and snow on the ground!)*This post contains affiliate links.
I have been enjoying taking it easy in our cozy cottage all through the winter, spending evenings and weekends enjoying hot tea, resting, and just perusing gardening and decorating books. As much as I wanted to share more of our new home, I have had relapsing chronic health issues that kept me from having the energy to do any extra decorating for a winter home tour. We also still have several rooms that aren’t finished including the kitchen, and I just wasn’t inspired to try to rush decorating unfinished spaces.
I did create a few winter-garden inspired vignettes around the house to freshen things up after the holidays and lift my spirits until spring arrives, such as my countertop terrarium with pretty faux hellebores and a faux thyme topiary.
I really tried through January and early February to decorate and blog, but I just could not find the energy or inspiration to get anything accomplished. However, when the first signs of daffodils started poking through the ground in mid-February and we had a few mild, sunshiney days, I began to get so excited about all the promises of the season. All the early flowers put a little “spring” back in my step!For the past several days I have been busy spring cleaning and refreshing our home for early spring, and getting excited that there is an end in sight for the major renovations we started over a year ago.
Signs of Early Spring in the Garden
Hello hellebores and daffodils!!!!!!!!!!
Here are the daffodils as they were just waking up mid-February. As much as I would love to clear away all the leaves, I know that honeybees may be overwintering in them, so I need to wait for a few more weeks to do any real early spring garden clean up.
The stunning old-fashioned hellebores that we inherited with our new home just started blooming profusely last week. They love the cooler temperatures of February and March especially, but will continue to bloom through early May. They are some of the earliest bloomers in the late winter garden, along with precious crocus.
I purchased this gorgeous ivory-greenish hellebore in a pot from Lowes last Mother’s Day with my gift card and planted it in my back yard shade garden. I am so happy it survived the first year and looks to be established now in it’s new home!
If you are unfamiliar with hellebores, you can read all about them in my post, Hello Hellebores!
Crocus Surprise
This time last year we were still in the middle of renovations, and we also had some really bad weather so I don’t think I was walking around outside and I must have completely missed the crocus growing on the side of our driveway.
I remember thinking that we didn’t have any crocuses here at the new house, so I was so pleasantly surprised to be greeted by a few of them this past week.
I did plant several clumps of tiny grape muscari on the bank along the driveway along with some tete e tete daffodils last spring. So far this is the only muscari that has popped up, but I am hopeful more will show up soon.
Tete e tete are tiny and just darling! I really like them because they bloom for a really long time and the foliage isn’t as noticeable when dying back. All of these were purchased last spring for pots on my porch, then I took a chance and planted them right after they finished blooming. All of them came back!
Even though daffodil bulbs are supposed to be planted in the fall, I always have great success planting spent potted daffodils directly in the ground in early spring. Here is an example of potted daffodils in a French box that I purchased for Easter decorating and then planted after they finished blooming. All of them came back the next year at the yellow brick home.
Knowing this method works for me, I purchased several large pots of spent daffodils at Lowes and the grocery store last spring on clearance for just a couple of dollars each and planted them along the driveway. All of them came back up and are getting ready to bloom!
I am always dreaming of daffodils and can never get enough of them inside and out during springtime!
The Greening o’ the Spring
Of course we all know there will still be cold, rainy days in the weeks ahead, but all that extra moisture just helps spring the garden back to life. Beautiful, thick moss is beginning to form on stones and rock walls around our property, which is nature’s way of welcoming March and St. Patrick’s Day! Notice the thyme along the bank and the oregano is starting to green up too.
I didn’t realize Irises start waking up in February. Isn’t this early?
I was shocked to see that several of my succulent ground covers are already springing back to life! I also think this seems early since they love the heat. These succulents are along the path I created in my brand new shade garden last summer, but things were so hectic with moving in and sending our son to college in the fall that I didn’t get to spend much time out there and I have already forgotten what I planted and where!
Luckily I took several pictures that I can use to refresh my memory. This year I won’t make the same mistake of forgetting everything, as I am starting my brand new Linda Vater garden journal to record all my gardening adventures. The journal was a special Christmas gift from my husband.
The Garden Journal: A 5-year record of your home garden
If you aren’t familiar with Linda Vater and you love gardening and living a garden-inspired life (which I know you do or you wouldn’t be here) I highly encourage you to check her out on youtube and social media. She is one of my biggest garden muses! I will be sharing more about the garden journal and some other books on my late winter-t0-spring coffee table in an upcoming post.
This free spring printable chalkboard art by The DIY Mommy is a wonderful reminder of sunnier days ahead! I am still loving chalkboard art and I think I might get crafty and use this somewhere in my early spring decorating this year. By the way, I will be participating in the annual Spring Home Tours hosted by A Stroll Through Life on Friday, March 8th. While the house still isn’t ready for a big reveal, I will be sharing several peeks of areas with pretty spring vignettes. I hope you will stop by to take a look!
I hope this post has brightened you day and given you HOPE that spring is truly on it’s way! Is anything blooming in your area? I love hearing from you, dear friends!
Thanks for visiting!
Amber
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3 Comments
Your tabletop terrarium is perfect happy spot. I love seeing all the blooms popping up. You’re a bit ahead of us in the “spring” department. But with our warms tip the next few days I know things will start budding out. I did notice a few bits of yellow showing up on the forsythia. Hope you’re feeling better, this was a long rough winter for me.
February 26, 2024 at 10:57 amThanks Debra! I have missed you! I am hopeful spring will bring us both the physical healing and rejuvenation we need!
February 26, 2024 at 9:01 pmThose early spring sightings are so encouraging!
February 29, 2024 at 12:17 pm