Storey staffers share scenes from their spring gardens after a long, hard winter finally begins to loosen its grip.
If you’re a regular reader of the Storey blog, you know that each year, on the fifteenth of every month between April and October, our staff (and sometimes our friends and family members) join in Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day. We post photos of what flowers are bursting forth in our yards and gardens and neighborhoods. Over the years, these posts have become something of a time capsule — of the migration of birds, the arrival of insect pollinators, and of our weather patterns.
As I type this, there are parts of the country just digging out from a powerful spring blizzard. Here in New England, we are facing Winter Weather Advisories for the next few days. So it should come as no surprise that, when I sent the call for April Bloom Day photos out to my colleagues, a number of them responded dryly with photos of their gardens still buried under snow.
Heather Tietgens’s flower beds in Stamford, Vermont, still snow covered.
We had to look long and hard for signs of spring flowers. A lot of us found aptly-named snowdrops. A few spotted crocuses. But there simply isn’t much else happening yet where we are. In our hunger for blooms, several of us turned our attention indoors — to happy houseplants and greenhouse seedlings, and to spring buds brought in and forced to flower in the warmth of our homes.
All of this is to say, we’re more than ready for spring to show its true colors. What about those of you in other corners of the country? What’s blooming where you are? — Emily Spiegelman, Digital Features Editor
Carleen Madigan, Loon Lake, New York
Daffodils in the greenhouse
Of the future tomatoes, Peacevine wins the germination race!
Zoë Spring, New York, New York
Nope, not in New England! These blossoms were spotted in New York City, just far enough south of us to have seen warmer days.
A spring mix in New York City
Yellow pansies brighten the day.
Hyacinth and hellebores
A bed of happy hyacinth
Sarah Armour, North Adams, Massachusetts
This gardenia — now in bloom at the Storey office — was a recent purchase at the Boston Flower and Garden Show.
Happy office orchids
A line of purple crocuses
Michal Lumsden, Plainfield, Massachusetts
Snowdrops
A hyacinth, just emerging
Lisa Hiley, Williamstown, Massachusetts
Every year, I move snowdrops into more spots that I can see from the house.
This hellebore is braver than the others I planted last year.
Columbine just peeking out of the ground gives me hope.
Sedum starting
Debbie Surdam, Hoosick, New York
I managed to capture a photo of one crocus’s bloom open a couple of weeks ago. Since then, they’ve all come up and have buds on them but none have opened because it’s been too cold.
Mars Vilaubi, Williamstown, Massachusetts
Snowdrops
Emily Spiegelman, Wendell, Massachusetts
Forsythia cut from the yard, and forced to bloom
Ash Austin, North Adams, Massachusetts
I’ve had this prayer plant for a year. The cutting I took from it (nest photo) is finally taking root.
Prayer plant cutting
