Welcome Signs of Spring: Blossoms Around the Property, and What I Cut for Indoors Even in February

I know it's still very wintry in other parts of the country. However, I wanted to provide some encouraging photos -- winter will eventually end. Here's what I found in our yard and on our deck.

The native plum is beginning to blossom. It does fruit, a little.
But the plums are small and best for jam or leaving for the squirrels.

Here's a pot I showed last March.
The primroses stopped blooming in the heat of summer
but returned in late fall.
The grape hyacinth next to the birdie's head, bloomed in spring,
 dried up, then put on growth in fall to bloom this month.

I have two pots of petite daffodils that are
the earliest of my spring bulbs to bloom.
As they're on the deck, they bloomed earlier than those in the ground.

The forsythia is just about to bloom.
In about 4 weeks or so the bush will be fully yellow.
But I did find a few blossoms this week.

In February I like to bring some forsythia cuttings indoors.
Right now they look like bare branches.
In about a week to 10 days the cuttings will provide an indoor show.

For cuttings, I look for branches that have
just a touch of yellow in one or two buds per branch.

Winter can't last forever. My hope for you is that your spring will come sooner rather than later and will bring lots of cheerful blossoms.

More Movies for Free Streaming

The Freshman. 1990. PG. Comedy/Crime. An N.Y.C. film school student accepts a job with a local mobster who resembles a famous cinema godfather and who takes the young man under his wing, after demanding total loyalty.

For Richer or Poorer. 1997. PG-13. Comedy/Feel Good Romance. An unhappily-married Manhattan socialite couple flee from the IRS and end up in Amish country, where they pretend to be visiting relatives.

Midnight in Paris. 2011. PG-13. Comedy/Romance. While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight.

The Harassed Hero. 1954. no rating. Comedy/Crime. Comedy abounds in this British farce about a hypochondriac bachelor who uncovers a plot by a gang of counterfeiters. 

Blast from the Past. 1999. PG-13. Comedy/Sci-Fi. A naive man comes out into the world after spending 35 years in a nuclear fallout shelter.

I really enjoyed all of these movies. Midnight in Paris was a surprise to me how enjoyable I found it, as some of the subject matter had to do with historical figures in the art world. My degree is in Art History. The Freshman had some fun twists, which is always refreshing. My family stumbled upon For Richer or Poorer when looking for a New Year's Eve movie. We didn't watch it then, but put it on a list to watch later. This was simply a fun and heart-warming movie. As many of your noted last time I offered some good clean-cut movies to stream, I have a penchant for old black and white films. Well, I managed to convince my family to watch The Harassed Hero with me. They agreed that it was a great movie. We watched Blast from the Past just this past Friday. This one took a fun look at early 1960s America's involvement in the Cold War. But mostly it's just a sweet movie about what life would be like if you somehow missed a few decades and were dropped into modern life.

All of these movies were available to stream for free on Tubi, Classic Comedy Channel, and Kanopy/Hoopla (library-based streaming services).

If you watch any of them, I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.