Plant sale

 White dicentra (bleeding heart) will be among the perennials for sale on Saturday. Flowers, above, and gallon-size container, below.

Alden Township kicks off its farmers market this Saturday and we'll be there with a selection of perennials freshly dug from sillydoggarden. The market is in its second year at the town hall on Laine Road. 

Open from 10 a.m. to noon the first Saturday of each month through the growing season, it's a casual operation and hard to predict exactly who or what will be there -- but that's part of the charm. 

This Saturday you can count on white bleeding heart along with some catmint, shasta daisies, euphorbia and sedum. Hmmm ... maybe some phlox and some penstemon, too ...

This morning. From the front door.

Weekend news of note

 The first magnolia blossom at sillydoggarden.

Two markers to document this weekend: 1. Hummingbirds have returned. They've been spotted working over the lungwort. 2. The magnolia has flowered. So what if it's only two flowers. You have to start somewhere.

The poor shrub has had a tough time settling in. It's a star magnolia, Magnolia stellata, probably 'Royal Star.' It's now four or five years old and we almost pulled it out after the first year. It died back completely after its first winter, but some new growth at the base persuaded us to give it another shot. Patience and persistence, again, pay off.

Today's tulips ...

 Tulipa  turkestanica

... and last week's red-winged blackbird.

Singing along with Seventh Day April

 A chickadee perches on the Therese Bugnet rosebush in the herb garden.

The spring soundtrack is playing loud and clear around here. The forecast is for a little snow next week, but today is supposed to warm and sunny. The birds have been active, from the chickadees that stay through the winter to the sweet-sounding red-winged blackbirds that appeared in recent weeks. This week I saw my first cardinal in the yard ever -- a female.

Take a look at what was going on this April 7.

Flowers inside and outside the house

Amaryllis -- maybe 'Red Lion' -- that I overwintered and recently pulled out from its dormancy location in the closet under the stairs. Here it's backlit by the setting sun.

Crocus tommasinianus just starting to bloom near the side door.

Seventh Day March: Marching into spring

 A lineup of dainty larch cones.

That snow you see in some of these images -- forget it. With temperatures pushing 70 degrees the past few days, much of it is gone. Oh, we still have significant pockets of white, but the palette is much more buff, brown and green. Can crocus and tulips be far behind? Check out the Seventh Day Project: March 2012.

(Thanks to Brian for taking these photos.)