Forsythia and an early spring weekend

Despite still battling allergies, Mary and I decided we needed to get out to the cabin this weekend, if for nothing else, to take care of a few pressing errands. I knew there would be at least one highlight in the trip - forsythia are blooming everywhere, and I wanted to check out how the three we put in last year have held up.

First, here is a photo of the small bush beside the house in Alexandria. It's been here since we moved in, but we keep it small. I think that it has a history of being kept pruned, because of how few stems it has. They tend to go wild pretty quickly and get very stalky when let go.

Which is exactly what we have in mind for the plantings we did out at the cabin, shown here. The foilage is strong and bright this year, a good sign that we've got them established. I've had second thoughts about the location - they are planted under a canopy of deciduous trees and so get only filtered light during the summer - but they seem to be doing well. It brightened the weekend - rainy all day Saturday - seeing them in bloom.

For photos of past spring flowers - click the label "spring flowers" associated with this post.