YARD DRESSED IN OESTARA

  This is pretty much the last chance to place Oestara decoration outside the house! The sabbat is coming to it´s end, but we´ve had such cold weather that it has been impossible to do so earlier. And I do enjoy seeing all these blooming bulbs finally out there! Beltane is approaching, but unless the weather warms up rapidly, there is no business planting the next flowers anytime soon either. I need to go with the flow of nature outside, respecting it´s pace. Here´s a glimpse of what sweetens my world outside in my yard these days:

At the porch. These old milk jugs stand here year round. All it took now was to place some narcissus in the middle of the spruce branches I put there for winter. Voilá! Spring is finally here.

It is so chilly that the buds open really slowly.

These babies are last year´s narcissus bulbs I stuck in the ground. I´m happy to see they´ve survived the winter and are raising their heads now!

Now I´m not one of those people who have a green thumb... So to see these little sprouts pushing their way through last summer´s leaves is a miracle to me. =)

Narcissus isn´t the only one waking up. Apparently my lady´s mantle hasn´t died either. Yipee!

In addition to these lovely real plants I sometimes use...

... these fake ones to make impossible possible. This wreath hangs on the garage door, and is usually only seen from a distance. I thought it would be nice to repeat the same look here, as is in the rest of the yard. I wanted to keep this simple, so it would look as natural as possible.

When fake and real are combined, the result is usually excellent. Both accentuate each other.

To hide the chopped off ends, I added dried hey for cover.

  It is funny how year after year I always am as eagerly excited about spring as before. It never stops delighting me with its coming. I wonder if that will change after I´m fifty, sixty, or seventy... I hope not. Getting excited about life and the changes in nature around us is an indication of a person´s livelihood. My grandfather was always watching and writing down marks about the changes in nature, and he lived a happy and long life. I want to be like that until the end too.