Hi, everyone!
Today is Earth Day, and it’s also Green Day! We’ve had two sunny days with warmer temperatures and all the leaf buds on the trees are opening!
Grandma says we’re about two weeks behind last year for the time plants are blooming. Ten days ago, we had one warm, sunny day. Grandma took me to Highland Park to see whether the sub-freezing night had damaged the early flower buds. Last year, the cherry trees were in full bloom by then! This year, only the earliest star magnolias had opening flower buds. I could see brown marks from frost damage. The pansy bed hadn’t been planted yet.
The Siberian squill were still blooming. The cherry trees in the glen didn’t have any color yet, but at least I could see the blossom buds on the lilacs. And I saw my first groundhog friend! He was sunning at his burrow, but he went back in when I got close.
At home, more of my daffodil friends were blooming. The forsythia was blooming, too! I got my Palm Sunday palm, then we had another light snow shower before Easter!
The day after Easter, the work crew repaired the damage to the lawn at the bay. Grandpa and I watched them working on the feed from the camera we set up! We went out to the bay to set up watering for the new grass seed later that day.
We went to the Point to watch sunset for the first time this year! The sun set into haze and a cloud bank. The winds had made sand dunes in the parking lot. The next morning Grandpa set up a smart timer to water all the new grass patches one at a time. It was warm enough that Grandma put the chairs back on the porch!
Last Monday, my tulip friends in Fairport bloomed! The leaves on the apple trees are starting to open up. One of our new lilacs has blossom buds, but the Sensation lilac doesn’t.
Yesterday, a friend of Grandma’s invited us for an Earth Day tour of Highland Park. It was chilly and windy, but the sun came out! Our guide told us about the history of Highland Park and I learned a lot!
The tour route was a big loop around the reservoir! We went past the early blooming azaleas in the azalea gully. Then our guide showed us a lilac that was actually a big tree! The cherry trees were in full bloom! Our guide told us the official name of that glen is the Apple Valley, because all the blooming trees there are actually in the apple family.
When we got to the magnolias, they were looking a little happier than last time I saw them. The star magnolias were in full bloom, but the later blooming kinds were just opening their buds. Our tour ended back at the reservoir. Before we left, Grandma and I stopped at the pansy bed. It was being planted!
We had lunch with Grandma’s friend. Just after we got home, our friend Rita-san came to visit and pick up the biscotti we made for her. Then the lawn roller arrived! It was a busy day!
Today I’m enjoying all my daffodil friends! Spring has finally arrived!
Love,
Lion-san