Mother's Day is on the Way ~

 

Mommies & Grandmas & Aunts… oh my!

Transitioning from April to May is a welcome event in Southeastern Wisconsin.   This April provided a sufficient amount of warmth and sunshine to encourage spring bloomers to emerge and thrive.  We received light snow for one day in April, but no serious storms to disrupt our enjoyment of those vibrant springtime blooms.  

Daffodils—both yellow and white—just shook off the snowflakes and continued to adorn our landscape! 

Tulips have also joined the party, looking beautiful and bright as long as rabbits are kept away.  

(In previous blogs I mentioned using a cylinder of hardware cloth to surround clumps of tulips; this deters rabbits without injuring them. I leave hardware cloth in place until blooms have expired. Then I cut back stems only, leaving the leaves to “recharge” bulb for next spring’s bloom.)  

The transition from April to May also brings us to the celebration of Mothers’ Day. Mommies, Grandmas and Aunts are honored on second Sunday in May every year in this country.  (Other countries may choose a different day to honor Mothers, but the theme remains the same.)  

As Mothers’ Day approaches, consider honoring your Mothers, Grandmas, or Aunts in a traditional or non-traditional way:  Bake her favorite cookies or cupcakes. Purchase a gift and wrap it creatively.  Place a few small potted plants in a basket filled with sheets of colored tissue paper.  Give a gift certificate offering to cut her lawn or weed her garden.  Ask your children to make homemade cards or drawings to accompany the gift. You can even gift her with a gift card from her favorite garden center or florist.  If you cannot visit in person, a FaceTime® visit is perfectly acceptable.  

Whatever you choose will be much appreciated by that special lady in your life!

M. Lynn Schmid,  Certified Master Gardener
 A.A.S. Landscape/Horticulture/Arboriculture