Snow, snow … go away!

According to the calendar, the first day of spring is almost here … March 20, to be exact. I sure hope that happens. Bet you do too.

There are many kinds of spring bloomers in this photo. I want to talk about the primroses. I’m sure you’ve been seeing racks of them for sale at the local stores. Don’t be fooled into thinking these are houseplants. They’re not. These are actually very hardy perennials and need to grow outdoors.

If you should purchase any of these, you’ll need to keep them in your coldest, but bright window until you can plant them in your yard. They need a lot of water, so don’t let them dry out.

Once you can plant them outdoors, you’ll be able to enjoy them for years as they’ll bloom whenever the weather is cool enough. That means early spring and late fall. I had some in bloom up until the snow finally got deep enough to cover them. They’ll enjoy a location in your yard that gets morning sun.

If you’d like to attract monarch butterflies to your yard, you’ll need to cater to their needs. They lay their eggs on only one type of plant. Don’t let the name milkweed put you off. There are several types and colors and grow as perennials. This is the only kind of plant the monarch caterpillars can feed on, so they are a “must.” The adult butterflies will feed on other types of flowers, but they need to grow up to adulthood first.

Monarchs are suffering a severe loss of numbers and may go extinct if Americans don’t come to their assistance. The ones that spend their summers west of the Rockies, spend their winters just south of San Franciso at a place called Pacific Grove. It is magical to see them in the fall and winter as they literally cover the trees there.

If you aren’t able to find these at local nurseries, milkweed plants can be found in mail order catalogs such as Michigan Bulb Co.

Once the weather warms up a bit and we can start working in the yard, you may want to trade extras with friends and neighbors. A word of caution: watch out for the thugs. These are plants that have no manners. They may work fine in contained areas such as big planters, but will spread like wildfire when they have room to roam. You’ll have a very hard time getting rid of them once that happens. Some of the worst offenders are lamium, mint and those mini “jack o lanterns.”

A lot of us have been feeding the birds this winter. I enjoy watching them. Frequent visitors have included Oregon juncos, Cassin’s finches, pygmy nuthatches, mountain chickadees and one lone song sparrow. Lots of robins have returned too.

Unfortunately, whenever I try to put out any blocks of suet, they get attacked by large groups of starlings. They will eat the entire block in no time and the other birds get zip. So far, I haven’t found a solution to this problem.

As today is St. Patrick’s Day, be sure to wear something green … or maybe you enjoy being pinched!

- • •

Elaine Cerny has gardened most of her life, starting in 4-H. She has belonged to garden clubs in three states and is currently serving as secretary for the River City Gardeners Club in Post Falls. Her column appears in the Press every other Sunday from early March to late October. Email eandtjcerny @aol.com