BOISE, Idaho — We’ve reached the halfway point of spring, and nature has been putting on a pretty spectacular show here in Idaho so far.
We are spotlighting some of the beautiful pictures that many of you have posted on our ‘You Can Grow It’ Facebook group. And as the season continues, we’d love to see more.
After a long gray winter, there’s nothing more exciting and refreshing than seeing things come back to life – green grass, colorful blossoms on trees and shrubs, and all of the flowers in bloom everywhere. So let’s take a look at what nature has been doing this spring, thanks to a little help from our fellow Idaho gardeners.
Tulips and daffodils are some of spring’s earliest arrivals. Jan Brown has a pretty garden in a range of bright colors, including a delicate pink fringe-edged tulip.
Lorna Huff built this new flower garden last fall and planted over 900 flower bulbs. They’re blooming now and will continue through the spring.
Saleen Jones found these spectacular giant orange cream narcissus blooming in her garden.
Among other early spring bloomers are these purple hyacinths, shared by Sandy Stone; this basket of gold in Margie Barnett’s Payette garden; and blue brunnera, also known as Jack Frost, that Spring Alexander planted in her garden.
Patti Kaiser had a bright yellow forsythia on full display in her yard. When the forsythia blooms, it’s time to prune the roses.
Creeping phlox exploded in a lush colorful blanket outside Marianne Schiers’ front door. This showy ground cover returns to bloom again every spring.
Bleeding hearts are among the prettiest spring blooms, with dense green foliage and delicate pink heart-shaped flowers dripping with soft white petals. Vicki Prin and Diana Day each have some beautiful examples. And Diana also shared this shot of her gorgeous Lewisia, a perennial native to Idaho, named after the explorer Meriwether Lewis.
Linnie Johnson has some pretty pink Japanese peonies, one of the prolific bloomers that shows up as we head into early May.
Irises are one of the showiest flowers around, and they usually wait until May to burst into bloom. But these wine-colored showstoppers popped up in April in April Durrant’s garden, as did these burgundy beauties in Olga Pupko’s yard. Not to be outdone, these wild blue flag irises were waving in this shot by Kathy Smiley.
Kathy also shared pictures of some of her other garden delights, including this blue and yellow viola, some sweet-smelling lavender lilacs, and this early-blooming magenta dahlia.
And then there were the trees. Lorri Dunn-Keller caught these beautiful flowering pears dusting the ground like snow with their white blossoms. Carol Humphrey caught a close-up of the pear’s flowers, and Bonnie Drescher zoomed in on this crabapple blossom.
But it’s not always about the flowers. Scott and Stephanie Pengelly added texture to their landscape with desert spoon yucca plants. They’re native to the desert southwest, but yuccas can thrive in Treasure Valley landscapes. They’ll soon be putting out tall flower spikes with clusters of cream-colored blossoms.
Springtime means garden projects. Kay Spumoni and her husband built this corner garden, and they can’t wait to fill it up with flowering plants.
Lori Baumbach has a greenhouse full of plants, including lots of healthy tomatoes just waiting to be set out in the garden once warmer days are here to stay.
And speaking of warmer days, until they get here to stay, you can get a jump start on outdoor gardening like Helena Hanson did, by using cold frames and other plant-protectors that will help them weather any lingering chilly nights.
Finally, a follow-up. a few weeks ago I showed you this picture of Michelle Chappell-Norris’s indoor pineapple plant. And here’s how it looks now. She says it’s about the size of a lime and continuing to grow.
So enjoy the continuing beautiful colors of spring. And if you’re new to Idaho, there’s an old adage for planting your frost sensitive plants outdoors in the Treasure Valley – wait until the snow is gone from Bogus Basin. It won’t be long now, and you can grow it.
By the way, despite some unseasonably warm weather right now, we still have a couple of weeks before the average last date of frost for most areas. So either wait before planting, or be prepared to cover sensitive plants if it turns cold again.
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