Spring is in the air! Flora & Fauna, part 1

Fall is one of my favorite seasons, weather-wise.  Summer can get a bit scorcher - unless you're lucky enough to spend the hot days by the water - but Fall is often dry, warm-ish, & beautiful.  Spring is my favorite for the fact that we watch as the world turns from brown & grey to lovely greens, pinks, purples, blues, oranges, reds...  Our yard is no exception - we've spent lunch breaks & evenings walking around the yard, cutting back dead brown plants & watching excitedly as the green baby shoots shyly peek out from hibernation.  A few warm days & plants magically double their growth overnight.  This year, as our yard comes to life, I'm trying to capture it on camera.

I added more bulbs last Fall for more color in front of the boring concrete steps.  This year, I'd like to add more late-season bulbs because the plants pictured below are early Spring-blooming bulbs.

Chives!  They were indoor potted plants that weren't doing so well, so I stuck them in the ground last-minute in the Fall.  The chives took well to their transplant before Winter blew in & when Spring rolled around, they completely took off.  Currently, they have flowers nearing bloom that are supposed to be pretty AND edible.  I love being able to step out the door & snip a few chives to throw in a dish.   

Hip hop anonymous! (Name that movie)
We have three hops plants (one in front yard, two in back) that have become very well-established.

One of my favorites...strawberries.  :)  We had them in a planter last year & they never did well, so we made another last-minute snap decision to move them in-ground pre-Winter frost.  It was apparently an excellent choice because these babies immediately took to their new home.  Strawberries can be invasive so we'll have to keep them from intruding on other plants, but we have them in a low-maintenance portion of the yard that we let go, so they're free to roam (& I'm not opposed to having a strawberry problem).

Said portion of the yard that's low-maintenance.  It's an area believed to be a gravel driveway in years past & we've never had luck growing grass & we made a decision to change it to an eco-friendly area of the yard that doesn't require [much] watering & no mowing, utilizing native plants & grasses that are sun-friendly & low-water.  We included plants that attract bees & hummingbirds - we have yet to see hummingbirds but we love watching the nectar-drunk bees enjoy the plants.  Two young aspens are starting to fill in & with a bird feeder, it's become a favorite for neighborhood birds.  It's my favorite part of the yard.  Interestingly, it stays the most lush throughout the hot summer.

More pictures to come as our yard continues to wake up...