Seattle Spring Has Sprung (2005)

Daphne odora

Cascade view from Pike & 37th Ave

Spring has sprung in Seattle though its only the middle of February. In fact, spring really began a few weeks ago and I just got around to putting this post together now. A few weeks ago I was walking the dog and I smelled an extraordinarily wonderful scent which I immediately knew was Daphne Odora. For me, this shrub is a harbinger of spring. There are lots of other plants that might rightly claim that title, but Daphne Odora is the sweetest smelling and therefore most wonderful. It’s like perfume!

Then I started noticing the cherry trees in bloom, the roses beginning to put forth their new green shoots, the tulips poking their shoots ever so slightly out of the ground. I’m not the kind of gardener who writes down what they see in their garden and when they see it. So I don’t know if my sense that spring is way early this year is anecdotal or based on hard evidence. But we’ve had a relatively mild winter with lots of sun and warm temperatures (it seemed like almost the entire month of January was in the 60s–unheard of for a Seattle winter) and spring is coming on like gangbusters! In fact, one of the highlights of our days is taking our newborn twins out in their Baby Bjorns for long walks down to Lake Washington where we bask in the sunshine and brisk lakeside breeze.

So I’m sorry to those of you back East or in the Midwest who had the winter from hell. We’re doing pretty well for ourselves this winter.

Fruit tree in spring blossoms