Spring Surprises
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On April 1 the movers arrived, spent the day unloading the van, and thankfully set up the bed before disappearing in a cloud of dust and packing materials. My Amazon order history tells a tale of settling in: a big soft dog bed for the kitchen, bedroom and kitchen cabinet organizers, wine racks, a filing cabinet and folders … I could go on.
But after a year feeling cooped up in the city, we were also eager to tackle our outdoor spaces. For starters, this meant replacing gardening tools we’d sold in our move to the city. But it also meant setting up birdhouses and bluebird nesting boxes, and getting to know the local flora and fauna.
Every morning the birds arrived at our feeders, eager for their feast. The mourning doves, blue jays, and cardinals were first, but they must have spread the word because every day a new species would pay us a visit: dark-eyed junco, downy woodpecker, white throated sparrow, northern mockingbird, white-breasted nuthatch, tufted titmouse, and, occasionally, an eastern towhee or brown thrasher.
We were also pleasantly surprised by the green shoots popping up in the garden, which hadn’t seemed very promising when we first visited the house during the winter. Daffodils and hostas came first.
The Terrace Garden also gave us coral bells, jasmine, verbena, ferns, and other shade-loving plants. Nearby, a kousa dogwood came into flower and a large lilac bush perfumed the air.
By May, azaleas graced the front of the house, including a yellow variety we’d never seen before.
These were pleasant surprises, for sure, but what did we want to do with the rest of our 7 acres? We asked Huntlands Landscape Architecture to help us develop a Master Plan. Thanks to their help, we ultimately envision several landscape “rooms” from formal gardens to a potager, and re-wilding our pasture into a wildlife habitat.
And then we discovered an unplanned, and totally unexpected, “wildlife habitat.” More on that next time.