Back in the beginning of March I posted about the very first signs of Spring in our perennial gardens – the snow melting and flower sprouts bravely pushing up through the mulch.   Fast forward just two months – see how much exciting growth has happened in our gardens - - -  Thank you Mother Nature!

The kiss of the sun, for pardon. The song of the birds, for mirth.

One is nearer God’s heart in a garden, than anywhere else on earth.

~ Dorothy Frances Gurney

 (Thank you to @OnBradstreet for sharing with me this perfect poem)


Clematis (my favorite climber)

 
Columbine (with Foamflower behind)

Coreopsis (with Hosta)

Poppy (our newest addition this year)

Salvia (with Liatris & Daisies behind - not yet in bloom)

Iris (so beautiful, yet so fleeting - they last only a week)

Wild Strawberries (Mother Nature's surprise for us, it grew in this year in place of grass!)

According to the U.S. Naval Observatory, the Vernal Equinox occurs this year on March 20^th at 1:32 pm. It marks the day of the year when the amount of sun and the amount of darkness are exactly equal. Though, more importantly, the Vernal Equinox signals the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring in our hemisphere!

Here in New Jersey, 16 days out from glorious Spring, we’re already starting to see the first signs that it’s on its way.

Firstly, it nearly hit 50 degrees!

Now, though the thermometer reads like Spring, we still have snow in our back yard and through the woods. But, out in the front yard, which is Western exposure, we only have one tiny patch remaining:

Our first robin made her appearance a few weeks ago, just as the snow was starting to melt.  I don’t know where they go for the winter, but they surely are the first harbinger of Spring. And just today we lovingly observed the Canada Geese pairing off. 

As for our gardens, the narcissus are well up and heading towards budding. Although, to be fair, they’ve been up since an unseasonably warm day in January, because in New Jersey weather is just weird sometimes (can anyone say snowpocalypse 2010?), and a few days in January felt more like October.

Our tulips are pushing up through the old mulch in a couple of places, and even our daffodils in the back yard (in the shade), are coming up!

 
Our favorite garden store is open for the season, and yes, we did drive by already, though they don’t have anything much out yet besides mulch.  Wait a week though, and that will change, for sure.  I can’t wait to fill our poor winter bare wine barrel planter with some color!

Once the snow is completely gone, we’ll be out with rakes to get rid of the old leaves & sticks that have built up on the beds, trim back any branches that didn’t make it through the snow, and put down mulch. Sadly, we lost a rhododendron at the end of the season last year, after nursing it through the summer, so I’ll be replacing that first. I’d like to put in a stone path this year through the front bed, and figure out some low-light, low-growing, green ground cover for the “lawn” part of our tiny back yard.  We'll be installing a new bird (squirrel) feeder in the back, and, trading out our snowman garden flag for one that has spring flowers on it. 

We just can’t wait for the warmer days of Spring: the return of song birds, the sweet smell of lilacs, the rainbow colors of tulips, and many glorious afternoons spent in the garden!

We have many houseplants – I don’t think you can ever have enough!

Houseplants are proven air cleaners. They add oxygen, regulate humidity, filter out toxins, and beautify your space.  I believe they add positive life energy to a home, and help children learn about caring for living things.

NASA did a study on houseplants and indoor air pollution.  Certain plants are able to remove dangerous chemicals from the air like trichloroethylene, benzene, & and formaldehyde!

Read NASA’s findings on interior landscape plants for indoor air pollution abatement.

Based on that study, here are my recommendations for best air cleaners: 

Top chemical removers:

Gerbera Daisy (Gerbera jamesonii)

Marginata (Dracaena marginata)

Peace Lily (Spathiphyllum “Mauna Loa”)*

Janet Craig (Dracaena deremensis)

Bamboo Palm (Chamaedorea seifritzii)

Mum (Chrysanthemum morifolium)*

Mother-in-law’s Tongue (Sansevieria laurentii)*

Other great air cleaners:

English Ivy (Hedera helix)**

Golden Pothos (Scindapsus aureus)*

Chinese Evergreen (Aglonema modestum)

Green Spider Plant (Cholorphytum elatum)

Heart leaf philodendron (Philodendron oxycardium)*

Ficus (Ficus benjamina)

Dumb Cane (Dieffenbachia)*

*NOTE: I find it interesting that many of the aforementioned plants are considered toxic– particularly when ingested. I wonder if this is partially because they are so good at absorbing (and thus, perhaps harboring) chemicals? I have marked the toxic plants with a star * in the event that you have small children or pets. Those with two stars ** are particularly toxic, and I definitely do not recommend for households with small children or pets who could consume the leaves.

For a list of toxic & non-toxic plants for pets, please see the ASPCA’s page.

For a list of toxic & non-toxic plants for children, please see the National Poison Control center’s page

That being said, all plants have the ability to clean air.  If you are uncomfortable with keeping any plants in your house known to have some toxicity, I’ve compiled a list of  common non-toxic houseplants (not listed above). Now, while these specific plants may not have been studied to show the ability to drastically reduce toxic chemicals, they will still do their job cleaning your air & beautifying your environment while being safer to have around children & pets:

African Violet (Episcia reptans)

Begonia (Begonia sp.)

Boston Fern (Nephrolepis exalta)
Christmas Cactus (Zygocactus truncatus)

Hoya (Hoya sp.)

Jade Plant (Crassula argentes)

Kalanchoe (Kalanchoe sp.)

Lipstick Plant (Aeschynanthus lobbianus) – this is a favorite!

Peperomia (Peperomia sp.)

Ponytail Palm (Beaucarenia recurvata)
Rubber Tree (Ficus elastica)
Wandering Jew (Tradescantia albiflora)

For a list of hundreds of houseplants with description, photo, and care instructions, check out this site.

Which houseplants are your favorites?  Please let me know!