As some of you noted, it doesn’t take much for my backyard to green up. It gets sun all day and has nice tall fences to shelter it, so if the weather is right, it’s the perfect little spot for growing things.

The last few days have been wonderfully spring like. I’ve seen robins and grackles, and I’m hoping against hope that we’ve seen the last of the snow. Though it will still be another month before I even have a chance of seeing blooms, I just can’t resist going out and poking around in the mud every day.

In addition to the spring bulbs, all my lilies are poking through. It looks like I’m going to have to do some thinning this year.

I have both Siberian Irises (left) and Bearded Irises (right) in the gardens and both are doing well.

I was surprised to see my hollyhocks coming back – they had a really rough year last year. Hopefully, they will do better this year.

My oriental poppies are looking very robust, which thrills me to no end! I had a hard time getting these to take.

It looks like I’ve finally had success with getting foxglove to reseed too! I’m very excited about this. I adore the foxglove. And so do the bumblebees (which I love as well!).

I was also worried about my Bleeding Heart. While it’s done beautifully for several years, by last fall it wasn’t looking very good. But there’s some teeny tiny sprouts coming up under all that mulch. Phew!

And of course, while I was getting some much needed fresh air, the  boys were too.

Relic loves to be outside, but he especially loves it when we’re out with him. He was just a total ball of energy, and was burning it off with a good wrestling match with Burton.

Of course, I’m pretty sure it was all a ploy. During the match, Burton got his leash unhooked from his harness, and by the time I noticed, the pair of them were heading out of the yard, right toward Burton’s favourite climbing tree…

Thankfully, they didn’t make it, but I can forsee them keeping my on my toes all spring and summer-long!