Spring where you are~

[Karen]

Grass needs to be mowed but first we have to clean up the winter debris of downed tree branches and even larger limbs, and about a million pine cones all over. The wind this past winter was worse than normal, and created a bigger mess to clear.

This is only our second early spring in this apartment, so I do not know if this is a biennial thing, but the trees that line the parking lots littered thousands of rather large seed pods all over the place, and the squirrels don't seem to be interested in carrying them off either! So I hope the landlord sends the landscaping crew before the grass starting growing in earnest, or they are gonna have lots of spots where grass won't grow underneath all those seed pods!

[smokey the elder]

What are the shapes of the pods? Are they long and narrow? If so they're catalpas. My grandmother had some of those in her yard. Maples shed millions of these little "keys" both in the fall and spring.
I finally have crocuses over the last 10 days or so; forsythia is VERY late this year; just starting to bloom. Can just start seeing red tree buds.

[Karen]

What are the shapes of the pods? Are they long and narrow? If so they're catalpas. My grandmother had some of those in her yard. Maples shed millions of these little "keys" both in the fall and spring.
I finally have crocuses over the last 10 days or so; forsythia is VERY late this year; just starting to bloom. Can just start seeing red tree buds.

They are, and my sister immediately identified them as such the first time she was here! I will have to watch them this spring, they bear no resemblance to the 3+ foot thick trunked catalpa we had across the street from us when we were kids. I always loved their blossom, thought if the coloring was on the outside is would make a perfect elegant ball gown with massively ruffled hem!