Spring in Our SD Yard

6 Apr 2010, by Louise: A fairly warm, blustery day today -- perfect for our cat Leesha (aka, The Furry Purry) to get a little sun and eat some cat grass, Brian to take pictures, and me to clean the flower beds. Leesha is always closely supervised when she's out; we never let our cats roam freely outside.

When we moved in, these beds were filled with fist-sized gravel. We took out the rocks and plastic and worked in tons of compost, Then I designed the beds, and we started planting. The plants are almost all native to this area; our goal is wildlife habitat for birds, butterflies, bees, and other critters.

The early spring bloomers are out -- pasque flowers (Pulsatilla putans) and prairie smoke (Geum triflorum). The blood sedum is redding up, and the phlox is greening up. I'm really pleased about all the green shoots out there; seems most everything made it though the winter!

Pasque Flower (Pulsatilla putans) and Quartz

Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum) Blooms

Blood Sedum (Sedum spurium)

Husker Red Penstemon (Penstemon digitalis Husker Red)

The little songbirds are flitting through the trees -- chickadees, house finches, and goldfinches. We heard flickers calling in the big trees by the pond. And then the sandhill cranes flew over -- way high up feeling out the right north winds to carry them to their breeding grounds as far away as the Arctic and Siberia. It's fun to hear their calls again and to remember our amazing trip to see them up close in Kearney, Nebraska, last week. Looks like they caught up with us.