April: Transformation

Now that it has reached mid-April, signs of spring can be seen everywhere. I have noticed that the sun is out for longer as I can look out my window at the sunset well past seven at night. I feels like only a few days ago I was walking back to my dorm from class and the sun had already at 5:00 pm. Now that the sun is out more often, my houseplants have been able to handle more water and I no longer have to worry about root rot. My palm though, had a major mold problem at the base of its stems. I removed all of the infected stems and I am hoping the mold does not spread. I have also begun to notice a lot more birds as most have returned for the spring. We have a bird feeder right outside my kitchen window where I have seen cardinals and chickadees eating the seeds there every morning. There is also a murder of crows that sit in my neighbor’s tree which I have seen everyday around 3:00 as I sit in front of the window to do my homework.

The weather is consistently getting warmer as well. Most of the trees have yet to show signs of any leaves, but the the two oaks growing next to my drive way have hundreds of little green buds (Figure 2). My neighbors two trees have grown beautiful white flowers, but the storm a couple days ago had such strong winds that it knocked one of them over (Figure 1). My sister’s lilac bush in our garden has begun to grow green buds as well (Figure 6). Sadly, the sprout off of my peony tree I mentioned in my last post has disappeared (Figure 5). I suspect that it must have been eaten, perhaps by one of the bunnies that live under the trees behind my house. We usually see the bunnies around this time of year, but I have yet to see any so I can expect that they will appear in the next couple weeks. The rest of our peony plants have begun to grow again, and I can see small red stems growing out of the soil (Figure 4). The vinca-minors that cover the ground next to my garage have begun to bloom as well (Figure 3). We planted two ferns from last year next to my house which we were hoping we would see grow again. We did some research, and the soil and shady area was supposed to be a perfect spot for them to regrow. However, it is about the time we should have seen them by now, so I am hoping they will grow within the next few weeks.