Before I present my vase for the weekly Rambling in the Garden meme, I would like to congratulate our host Cathy on her five year blogging anniversary! With “In a Vase on Monday” Cathy has inspired so many to go out into their gardens each week to find materials for a vase to share. Not only that, her regular and cheerful posts about her garden, along with her poems, are such a pleasure to read. So thanks Cathy, and here’s to the next five years!
To mark the first day of astronomical Spring my vase this week was photographed at the exact time of the March equinox – 11.28 a.m. I didn’t actually notice the sun crossing the celestial equator, as it had gone behind a cloud (and seems to have stayed there 😉 ) but I did then inspect the garden to find the first Narcissi opening, along with the first tulips “Early Harvest”. Bang on time! Here is one of those precious tulips, together with some Forsythia that came out today after being indoors for a few days.
I brought out my Forsythia vase, which sadly doesn’t get used very often, although it is always on display on my sideboard.
This is the cusp of Early Spring – in phenology Early Spring starts when the Forsythia opens and the Narcissi are in full bloom. Full Spring will be when the fruit trees start to blossom and the lilac is in flower. So we have plenty more of the season to come.
Happy Spring to all in the northern hemisphere, and to those in the south a very Happy Autumnal Equinox!
😀
Words and Herbs 
Love that pretty pop of orange!
That orange certainly brightens up the brown earth so early in the season!
I’m glad the beautiful vase isn’t hidden away when it isn’t being used, it is lovely. Very sunny spring display from you today Cathy despite the real sun going behind a cloud (its the same here today). A very happy spring to you too.
Thanks Christina. We are looking forward to temperatures up to 17°C by the end of the week! 🙂
Your Forsythia and vase are so pretty. Forsythia is another shrub we cannot grow here, but sometimes we can buy cuttings to force.
It is a lovely bright yellow to cheer up the garden before anything starts leafing out. 🙂
I am so ready for spring! We have another stormy week and then I hope more sunshine. The vibrant orange tulip brought a smile this morning, surely spring is coming!
Yes, spring is definitely here now, and not just according to the calendar!
Just beautiful…spring came at 6:28 am here but it is cloudy and we have over a foot of snow waiting to melt from last week’s storm that dropped 3 ft….too cold until next week for much of a melt….so it was great to see blooms that won’t show up here until probably mid-April!
It’s lovely to hear from you Donna! I have been wondering what kind of winter you have been having. Hope all is well. Hope that snow melts soon too! 🙂
It’s lovely to see that spring has finally arrived in your garden. This vase is gorgeous! Have you painted on the flowers? So pretty! And yes, roll on spring, I’m ready for it 🙂
Hi Annette. That vase was a present the Christmas before last… it has a bee painted on the reverse too! 🙂
Forsythia and Cherry blossoms are harbingers of spring to me. A lovely group of sunshine in containers, the vase is so cheerful with it’s (are those painted?) own flowers. Happy Spring!
The flowers are painted on, and there is also a little bee painted on the back. 🙂 I love Cherry blossom too, but we will have to wait just a little bit longer here…
Gosh, that’s very dedicated, choosing the actual time of the equinox for your photograph – a great idea though! Thanks for sparing your first tulip for IAVOM – and lovelyit is to see your forsythia vase again 😉
Thanks Cathy. The Early Harvest are all open now, and growing taller every time I look at them! 🙂
I love that the Forsythia stems have their own matching vase, Cathy! It was clever of you to capture your photo to mark the actual time of spring’s arrival too. I think that was 3:28am here so, needless to say, that plan didn’t even cross my mind.
😉 I was actually hoping to get the vase posted at 11.28, but time got the better of me!
A cheerful welcome to spring – a charming trio! Looks like your yard is snow-free, too. 🙂
I love that pretty vase, too!
Yep, the snow has gone and now we are getting March winds and April showers! 😉
I expect that is next for us!
Happy Spring to you too Cathy.🌷
Thanks Brian! 🐝
Oh that’s such a vivid burst of colour Cathy 🙂 The equinox announced its arrival by pouring down this morning and again tonight but there was some sun in between. Happy spring to you!
That sounds like the weather we had a few days ago. Still, the garden needed a good drink. 🙂
Happy spring Cathy. Enjoy seeing your forsythia and forsythia vase, perfectly offset with that lovely orange tulip.
Thanks Susie. It’s good to see some bright colours at last! 😉
Today was my birthday, Cathy, and I have always enjoyed knowing that my birthday is on the first day of spring. Yesterday my mother brought the family together for a little “birthday dinner” and I thought of you when I noted the pretty vase on the table filled with a variety of blooms–whatever she could gather that had a little color.She lamented that she didn’t have much to fill the vase, but it was quite pretty! I like your description of early and full-bloom spring. 🙂
Many happy returns Debra! How sweet of your Mum to put fresh flowers on the table! We have distinct seasons here in Bavaria, often defined by dates, but also defined by what is in flower. I wrote a post about phenology a while back that might interest you (https://wordsandherbs.com/2015/04/05/the-ten-seasons-of-phenology/ ). Happy spring!
Our Forsythia has another week or so before it blooms, but ‘Early Harvest’ probably needs a couple of weeks.
Ours isn’t quite showing yet either, but I brought in a few branches a few days earlier and they opened really quickly. Those tulips will be up before you blink… mine caught me by surprise, after just two warm days they were suddenly opening!
We are definitely in Early Spring here, I will enjoy each day and not wish for the next stage, as we often do. Your vases celebrate the season perfectly. I’ll be going out to enjoy it very soon.
That’s how I feel Alison. This year spring is unfolding slowly and I am making the most of it, as in other years it seems everything flowers at once!
What a clever idea, Cathy, and a lovely way to celebrate the vernal equinox.
Thank you Kate. 🙂
My god, Forsythia. I live on the east coast of the USA. I grew up with Forsythia. It isn’t spring, until I see the bloom of Forsythia. It never occurred to me that Forsythia grew in Europe as well! Wow. I LIKE IT.
🙂 I love it too! I think it has spread across most of the northern hemisphere!
I did not know! I love it that one can always LEARN something in this life!
What a cheerful post! I love your forsythia and the special vase decorated just like it. I really like the shape too. Nicely done, Cathy. I didn’t know about Early Spring or Full Spring. It’s fun to learn new things. It will be wonderful to see the lengthening days. Happy spring.
It stays light until after 6 pm now, which means dinner will be getting later and later… 😉 We change our clocks an hour forward at the weekend, which will mean even longer evenings! 🙂
Wow, you are enjoying longer days. We changed our clocks two weeks ago. I’m still adjusting!
Forsythia is one of the flowers I remember from a childhood garden. It is always a joy when in flower, but sadly not a shrub of outstanding character for the rest of the year. However, that should not detract from its short-lived moment of glory.
I agree, rather an untidy gap-filler the rest of the year, but that yellow is just wonderful before the rest of the garden shrubs start turning green. 🙂
I recently learned that New Zealand and parts of Australia designate March 1 as the beginning of autumn. Unofficially I could say something similar about central Texas, where by February we already begin to get spring-like weather and early wildflowers.
Our meteorologists have also declared March 1st the first day of the new season… you can’t deny the equinox as a defining timepoint though!
Right. It was the untying of the season from the equinox that surprised me. If we go strictly by weather, central Texas could declare summer to go from May through October.
Maybe we should ditch the calendar altogether and simply rely on phenology. Nature can take as long as it likes then, without anyone minding! 😉
Your Forsythia vase is lovely and what a wonderful opportunity to use it on the first day of spring.
Thank you Karen. I hope to put it to use more often this spring and make the most of it! 🙂
Love the vase. I did a double take to check that the flowers weren’t under water! The tulip is a great colour and focal point.
🙂 I love that vase too. If I could paint, I would make vases like that with all sorts of flowers painted on them! 😉
Very pretty…and thanks for the reminder that Spring stretches out ahead of us for some time to come.
🙂 I never think of it as summer until June, so we have plenty of time to enjoy everything returning!
Fantastic color on the tulip, it goes so well with the bright forsythia!
If this is early spring, and full spring is yet to come, what do you call the part of spring when the snow finally melts and you get to see a bit of lawn again? 😉
😉 Erm, depends if the snow is going to come back a week later, then it’s called ‘fake spring’! 😉
Ooh, your Forsythia is lovely, Cathy – as is the vase! I admit to missing those moments of Forsythia’s bright yellow from a colder clime, though we have loads of brilliant yellow in the roadsides here at present, thanks to winter rains and the desert wildflower Brittlebrush.
I’m missing seeing you post this week; hope all is well? But I am a week and a half late myself at getting to your post as things have been a little crazy here. I did manage a very late Tuesday View at last: https://www.smallsunnygarden.com/2017/03/29/tuesday-view-late-in-march/
Hi Amy, sorry for being so late in answering. Have had a nasty cold, but am back in the land of the living at last. Will definitely post a Tuesday view next week!
Glad to hear you are feeling better!