Stepping Into Spring With God's Flowers

This year has been strange in that we missed all of these glorious wonders as they happened. We are all sheltering in as they say and some of us are not near enough to these wonderful blessings of the trees and flowers that have come up. So I'm sharing what we did see in years past.

Spring has sprung with all God's glory. The Pittsburgh area was blessed this year with a very mild winter season and we only had two real snowfalls to talk about. Of course, with every blessing there is a cross to bear. This phenomena made the Spring flowering season start early. Early in March the crocus came and went and then the bulbs started to grow. We had a very unseasonably warm March and this made the ground open up it's carpet to let out all of the Spring flowers that normally grow in late March or early April.

Two years ago, I bought and planted two White Day Lilies and just as scheduled they came back out last year in the early Spring. Over the winter this year, dogs on leashes came through my little garden and dug up my day lily bulbs. I found them on top of the earth this Spring. I took them and put them in a small Tupperware in the basement to dry out over the summer so that I can replant them this coming Fall. Lesson No. 1: It's best to plant bulbs in the Fall for the next Springs flowering season. As a result of my loss, I bought two Asian Lily plants this year to be planted in front of my Madonna which sits on a pedestal above my entrance stone.

Sometime in late March the Dogwood trees start to bud. They are usually in full abundance during the Easter season. The tree that I placed at the beginning of this hub was taken just around the block from my home and has a history for the family that now lives there. It was planted by the present owner's grandfather and this young man has a green thumb of his own. The tradition of the Dogwood stems from the story of Judas and one that makes us grateful to God for his daily guidance. The flower if you notice has the distinctive marks of the crucifixion on each of the four petals.

Nestled beneath the Dogwood Tree in the opening photo is the glorious purple Azalea Bush that is picture here. This photo is a bit grainy and I will attempt to replace it soon. This wondrous creation has a magnificance that can only be appreciated by an eye for beauty. I think it grows so profusely because of the shade it receives from the beautiful tree above it.

One of my favorite ground covering plants is Lily of the Valley. This wondrous plant reseeds itself and continues to grow further and further into the area in which it is planted. Sadly, the little blossoms that give it such a profuse scent only flower once each season. The ones you see above grow in my neighbors garden across the street. I have thinned out her plants in the hopes of having numerous additional growths over the years so that mine will be as thick and lucious as my grandfather's were at our old home when I remember them as a child.