Slow Spring Movement
You’ve heard of the slow food movement, right? We seem to be living through a slow spring movement. Don’t be anxious for all those spring flowers, the weather is telling us. Be in the moment – savor the season day by day. Most years, the slow spring movement lasts only as long as there isn’t much going on. Once spring gets really good, it forgets about being in the moment and rushes headlong into summer.
In the meantime, though, I’m pleased to say that one of the tulip pots is full of pointy little leaves of ‘Princess Irene’. The other pots still have no signs of life, but this is still a good sign.
In the borders, there are various Species Tulips making an appearance. Not sure what this is, but I like the red edging.
There are also some of the super early Tulipa kaufmanniana ‘Early Harvest’.
And the rabbits are already noshing on them. After I saw this, I spread around almost an entire container of animal repellent. Seems to have halted the rabbit attacks, but now our whole front garden smells like cat pee.
Lots of Daffodil shoots emerging out of the ground.
A few of the most impatient Crocuses have flower buds. They are staying closed, though. Given that I’m not seeing any bees yet, this is understandable.
Is this ‘Glory-of-the-Snow’ (Chionodoxa forbesii)? I planted some in the Sidewalk Border last fall, but maybe these are just Crocuses.
They don’t bloom until May, but the ‘Purple Sensation’ Alliums are making an appearance.
The Common Snowdrops (Galanthus nivalis) are fading, but the Giant Snowdrops (G. elwesii) are reaching their peak. Or it could be the other way around.
You can also see the hairy leaves of Linc’s Poppy.
Buds are starting to swell also. This is Clove Currant (Ribes odoratum).
And this is Spicebush (Lindera benzoin).
This year’s spring is running a couple of weeks later than what’s been normal the last few years. Even so, we seem to have made a definitive turn away from winter. So that’s good. Are you having a slow spring movement in your garden?
gardeninacity 
No, I’m afraid our spring is rushing madly ahead with new flowers opening every day. Hopefully it will slow down this week as it is supposed to be quite a bit colder once more which will be good for the flowers if not for us!
It generally seems the more flowers in bloom, the faster the season moves.
Here in Kentucky, we seemed to be lagging with spring growth, but last week’s warm days brought out blooms everywhere.
It’s definitely getting warmer, but blooms are still pretty scarce.
An apt description of spring, not only in your neck of the woods but also in Maine. This year, Spring is reluctant to show her pretty face. Or maybe we should blame grasping Winter. 😉
Hard to know who to blame. Maybe Spring is just lazy.
Or Winter’s bony grip is too tight. But eventually, Spring bursts free.
It may be slow, but it’s definitely on the way. Enjoy the transition.
Thanks, I am enjoying it.
We’re well into wisteria and azaleas and wildflowers galore — spring has gone into overdrive. But it’s cool this morning, and we have some rain in the forecast, so things may slow a bit and continue to be that extraordinary ‘pretty’ that characterizes early spring. I’m glad to see those tulips poking up. I remember your concern that the potted ones might have succumbed to the cold.
Slowly the Tulips are emerging in one pot after another. There are now 5 pots with Tulips coming up. Hoping we’ll see them coming up in the other 7.
Definitely having a slow moment as well. But I am not complaining. Do you think if we plant tulips in the middle of daffs it would protect them from the bunnies. Nothing worse than going out and seeing those tragic munchies.
It’s worth a try.
This am it was 20 degrees and the Dark-eyed Juncos (Snow Birds) were still scratching around. They were wearing their tuxedos so maybe they are going somewhere. Daffodils are blooming.
The Juncos haven’t left around here either. Now Daffodil blooms just yet. Maybe in another week.
Here in California, spring blooms came in early… the tulips have already withered and died.
I heard the wildflowers were spectacular this year in California.
Our spring is not in hurry, Jason. There is a bit of snow in the garden. Your tubs with new sprouts are pretty well. Hope your tulips blossom soon.
Thanks, there moving along slowly.
Yes, spring is slow here too, but I have seen some crocuses and reticulated irises blooming, and dandelions and snowdrops too. Daffodils are budded but not showing color yet.
No dandelions blooming here. I keep meaning to plant reticulated iris.
Beautiful spring flowers!! I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure those are crocuses coming up in that one picture. Every spring I find something coming up that I can’t remember what it is! 😀 We still have a lot of snow to melt here but we’re making progress.
I think you are right about the Crocuses. But then where are the Chionodoxa?
Send some warm air this way please!
Would if I could!
I’m looking forward to your tulips Jason, just when everything is getting wintery here in Canberra.
So far Tulips have made an appearance in 5 of the pots, still 7 to go.
Oh yes, that describes our spring perfectly…. until last weekend when we had really high temperatures and everything started bursting into life! The headlong rush into summer has begun!
Still moving slowly around here.
It’s certainly taking its time getting going in your neck of the wood. Snowdrops are a memory here. Once spring gets going you want it to slow down so that you get savour every joyous moment.
Yes, that is true. Though it is a way of saying that gardeners are never satisfied.
It may be a little later than normal, but it still looks like spring is getting ready to bust out and put on a fabulous show at your house.
I hope so!
All those signs of spring are so exciting! A bit slow here, but not too bad as it seems as if the long range forecast is favourable. Last year we were behind by about 4 weeks, so I’m hoping we don’t be having a repeat of that.
I don’t think it will be quite that bad around here.
Yes, we are well into spring and our daffodils finished a while ago. Weirdly, spring seems to be sooner in climates that are normally cooler than ours. Usually, only Southern California and Florida are earlier than we are. I am not certain if we are late, or they are early, or a combination of both.
And then our expectations are getting increasingly scrambled.
It is hard to keep track of all the variety of plants too. They all respond so differently to the different climates.
Good your finely seeing signs of spring, and there’s hope for the tulips after all! I hope the repellent works. Nothing keeps the neighbor cats from my front yard. It’s really bad right now, I have to put on gloves and deal with it soon. Last winter they kept their dainty paws dry by going on top of the blue fescue clumps!
As of now there are 5 pots with signs of life. Still 7 to go. I don’t worry about cats. The repellent seems at least somewhat effective for cats, squirrels, etc.
Hello Jason, the only thing that’s slow in my garden at the moment is me – I’m falling behind on the winter jobs that I should have done while the garden is racing away. I haven’t been able to prune all the roses, the spring bulbs are up, making mulching a lot more tricky, there’s still all the border edging to do and I’ve missed the window for cutting one of the hedges. It’s not great and at this rate, I may be able to catch-up by early summer, at which point I can start the Spring jobs!
This is why I gave in and hired someone to do my spring clean up.
Lovely to see the emergence of spring in your part of the world, it will gather pace fairly quickly now. Ours has been crazy fast this year.xxx
And today it’s snowing! (But not sticking.)
A magic, meditative post. Your photos and words remind me of “The Secret Garden”, favorite children’s book. Today on my blog I wrote about the Slow movement in relation to age. You might n be amused.
Thanks for letting me know, I’ll take a look.