Blossoms, bees and growing garden helpers........

It's now officially Spring!  It seemed like a rather long and cold Winter. It was officially the coldest (and wettest) Winter in Canberra for 15 years. Judging by the minus 5 and 6 mornings in May and run of frosts and rainy days we had, I was not surprised at the official 'cold' status.  Winter seemed to hit hard and fast, and we seemed to spend most of it sick. As much as I love Canberra Winters, I was over it by mid-July.  Luckily we started getting (at least some) nicer days during August, which meant some outside time for the kids, when the weather cooperated.

With the early start to Winter the garden was a bit confused and we had crocuses, daffodils and jonquils all through July.  Even the magnolias and camellias were out a bit earlier than usual this year.  It did brighten up the garden and gave us something to look at on the 5 degree, raining and stay inside days!

The kids were itching to get out and 'dig, dig, dig' so we had a few outings to prepare the vegie beds for Spring, and just generally enjoy the sunshine and smell the daffodils.......

By the first week of August the blossoms were starting to make an appearance.  That is when you know that Winter is on it's downhill run. Within a week the bees were buzzing and there were beautiful blossom displays all over the yard.

Astrid and Soren love smelling the blossoms, and looking at the bees buzzing around them. Astrid is a little unsure of the bees but is fairly enamored with the blossom displays. Soren just likes smelling everything.  He also likes to chase anything that moves, so here's hoping he doesn't catch any bees any time soon!

For the last three years I've taken a photo of Astrid under our flowering plum tree just as it bursts into bud (around mid-August).  Yep, she has grown up so fast!

As Soren had to have his photo under the tree this year as well (see above), I'll be interested to see how grown up he looks next August!

So our garden thinks Spring has definitely sprung......

After a fairly cold Winter, the last couple of weeks of August turned very Spring like, very fast!  Our garden was suddenly convinced it was time to bloom - despite some cold nights!

Here are a few photos from the last half of August and the first week of September.  It's a pleasure seeing blosssoms on the trees, bees buzzing and bulbs starting to flower.  It's even easy to forget those cold mornings and nasty September winds!

The flowering plum, near our front door, is possibly my favourite tree in the whole garden (well at this time of year it is). Beautiful blossoms, smells divine and looks spectacular. Pity all the blossoms end up in the house with the wind!

The Manchurian Pear in our front yard is also a favourite. It has the coolest buds, and close up the flowers are gorgeous. They are a dime a dozen in our suburb but they grow so well and are very pretty trees.

Then there is our almond. The individual blossoms are beautiful (and quite large), starting out pink and being white when they open.  Most years they get blown off by the winds but this year they are hanging in there. We might even get some almonds - until the cockatoos find them of course!  The tree isn't quite in full bloom yet but it's still looking pretty good.

We have a number of fruit trees in our yard.  The peaches, plum and nectarines are just starting to blossom, with the apples just behind.  In a couple of weeks they should be in full bloom, and fingers crossed the blossoms survive long enough this year to be pollinated and get us some fruit. It seems to depend on how windy the September is and some years we end up with very little.

Then there are the bulbs..... The jonquils and crocus start mid-Winter and are followed closely by the Daffodils and hyacinths. In the last week the freesias and spring stars have made an appearance. Another couple of weeks and there should be thousands more bulbs out.  Not quite Floriade but it makes for a pretty yard!