Mom nature

Good ol' mother nature never ceases to amaze me. We have had such a long winter...and snow up until 3 weeks ago. Suddenly everything is blooming as if to catch up. We literally went from freezing to 80 degrees. The rhubarb above is from my mother's plants. I have carefully moved it to a new home whenever we moved for the last 30 years. I have shared it with others and left it in gardens to be nurtured by new occupants and always kept a piece for me. It is the best deep red rhubarb!! Like all gardeners, I watch for buds and cut them off so that the energy needed to produce is not wasted on flowers which go to seed. For some reason this plant has done nothing but try to bloom despite my efforts to encourage it to do otherwise. I discovered this pretty little flower hiding deep within the center of the plant. Since my lilacs for the most part froze...I was delighted to see how pretty this flower was. (I did however pluck it from it's mother plant shortly after I took the picture.) Below, is another of mother natures wonders. I found the plans for this robin box which we mounted on a dead aspen just outside our window last spring, but alas, it was too late for nesting I guess. I dutifully watched every day this spring for signs of a robin and when I was not looking, the Mr. informed me we had a nest. She has been sitting on eggs for a couple of weeks now and the male robin has begun to take his post on a branch above the nest when she leaves to feed or take a bath in the birdbath I provided for her.
We don't want to disturb her too much, so this picture was taken through our window and screen. But you can see what a wonderful view we will have of the babies when they hatch.

"Look deep, deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better." ~ Albert Einstein