Spring Unfolds

Winter retreated as Spring rolled onto the prairie last week.

Spring begins to roll across the prairie.

With temperatures in the 80s for a few days, it seemed that maybe Spring brought Summer with it!  Our cat Howard found that seasonal napping adjustments were required sooner than expected.  Of course, he quickly and skillfully adapted from cold weather curl to summer sprawl to enjoy the afternoon haze on the floor of the sun porch.

Howard maximizes surface area for cooling efficiency.
Howard maximizes surface area for cooling efficiency.

Meanwhile, things outside transformed quickly too.

Asparagus shoots broke through their winter mulch and reached for the sky.

Aspargus reaches for the sky.

Nearby the rhubarb unraveled wrinkly leaves and burst into ruffled green mounds.

Rhubarb leaves unravel.

Rhubarb

It’s exciting to see the rhubarb bed my grandparents once maintained thriving again after we rescued it from overgrown grass a couple years ago.  Ladybugs and catnip plants equally embraced the rescued rhubarb.  Literally.

Weeding around nearly 20 mounds of rhubarb, I found a catnip plant wrapped around the center of each one, with a community of lady bugs living on the catnip plant and old leaf mulch.

No wonder this garden is popular with the barn cats!