tulip
Terri Webster Schrandt

Sunday Stills: What’s In Your #Garden?

According to the National Day Calendar website, April is National Garden Month, which explains my sudden need to see and enjoy spring flowers after a long, gray winter. It’s a joy to walk on my three-quarter-acre property and discover something new.

“The garden reconciles human art and wild nature, hard work and deep pleasure, spiritual practice and the material world. It is a magical place because it is not divided.” — Thomas Moore

tulips
Tulips, Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm

My four raised garden beds contain the promise of tulips, crocus, and daffodils planted last October.

garden beginnings
garden
Daffies and tulips

The white crocus emerged on March 29…

white crocus

… Even the bumble bees are enjoying their fresh nectar.

bee and crocus

“The hum of bees is the voice of the garden.” —Elizabeth Lawrence

I spied a tiny praying mantis in last year’s garden!

praying mantis

At about this time last year, we visited the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm near Portland, Oregon. Most of the tulip images you see were taken there. I bought a container of these Pretty Princess Tulips there and carefully followed the directions for saving the bulbs for future planting. I was thrilled to see them emerge last week!

tulip sprout
Emerging Pretty Princess Tulip
tulip

“Watching something grow is good for morale. It helps us believe in life.” — Myron Kaufmann

The Birds are Back!

“If you listen to birds, every day will have a song in it.” —Kyo Maclear

robin
Cheeky Robin

As the flowers grow and begin to bloom, the birds are also back to start nesting!

bird
Vigilant Male Say’s Phoebe

Last year’s Say’s Phoebes (flycatchers) are back and have already built their nest in the exact same spot (corner of our patio cover). Once we saw the nest construction, I asked Hans to add a small piece of wood (see blue arrow) to the ledge.

bird nest

Fun at the Feeders

goldfinch
Male Goldfinch
house finch
Male Housefinch

Sharing for Cee’s Flower of the Day (now hosted by her partner, Chris), Dawn’s Spring Festival, Johnbo’s Cellpic Sunday, and Lens-Artists: Seen on My Last Outing.

pink flower border

Sunday Stills Photo Challenge Reminders

The Sunday Stills weekly-themed photo challenge is easy to join. You have all week to share and link your post. Please use your own original images, whether new or from your archives.

  • Remember to title your blog post a little differently than mine.
  • Please create a new post for the theme or link a recent one.
  • Entries for this theme can be posted all week.
  • Tag your post “Sunday Stills.”
  • Don’t forget to create a pingback to this post so that other participants can read your post.
  • I also recommend adding your post’s URL to the comments.

I’m excited to see how you interpret this week’s theme! Creativity is encouraged, so please share your own photographs (old or new), poems, original short stories, and music inspired by the theme. Join me next week as we explore SHADES OF PURPLE.

Please visit my Sunday Stills page to view the April challenges.

“The garden suggests there might be a place where we can meet nature halfway.” — Michael Pollan

graphic

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121 comments

  1. We’ve had wonderful spring weather for the last four weeks, Terri. Sadly, most of the daffodils and crocuses are gone, so we won’t have any for the upcoming Easter weekend. However, the tulips are in full bloom and will hopefully last when the temperatures drop again, and the rains arrive over the coming weekend.

    I am so pleased that Say’s Phoebes are back and have built a new nest in the same spot. Isn’t it wonderful how they remember? Our garden is full of bird wildlife, all building nests. It’s a pleasure watching them.

    Have a wonderful weekend.

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    • Our daffies are now blooming. I’m hoping the tulips bloom by Easter. Yours sound wonderful to see. Cold, rainy weather is far from over here, too. Our backyard is home to so many species of birds. The Phoebes are literally feathering their nest now and will likely lay eggs mid April.
      Wishing you a happy Spring, Hugh!

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  2. Great pictures, Terri! I know you were thrilled to see your tulips coming up–good work! Your Phoebes are much lighter in color than ours, and much prettier. We came home to lush green spaces and our Pink Dogwood was in bloom. Yea, Spring!

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    • Thank you, Joe! The tulips were courtesy of the tulip farm, as mine are still growing. I’m thinking (hoping) they’ll bloom here in time for Easter!

      I love your attached image. The fresh spring green is such a lovely backdrop for the pink dogwoods!

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  21. April is the perfect gardening month, when all the fun starts! I am looking forward to seeing what’s in everyone’s garden 🙂

    Listening to the birds is one of the things I enjoy the most during my early morning visits to the garden, when the rest of the world still sleeps. https://greendreams.blog/2025/04/06/weekend-coffee-share-spring-cleaning/

    PS. On a different note, I finished my thesis. Thanks for your encouragement to not give up.

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    • Thank you, Tina! I went out to check on the blooming daffy yesterday and spied 3 bumblebees. I had taken a picture of a crocus and saw a bumblebee face down inside covered in pollen, but it was dead! Pollen overload?
      Thanks for sharing your post this week, perfect!

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  31. Oh you got some lovely tulip photos from farm, Terri! My daughter invited us to go next Sunday. I hope we’ll have a sunny day to take photos. I love what you and Hans did to add support to the nest. I did the same thing at our CA home to add support to a nest used by the finches and the mourning doves.

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  35. What a lovely garden full of everything. I created carnage yesterday doing an Autumn tidy up which I usually do in March but the constant rain stopped that.
    Not much to see here at the moment

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  36. You will have much to look forward in your 2025 garden Terri. I think the raised beds will keep from any deer or other hungry critters from munching on your flowers too. We have no tulips yet, a few daffodils and crocuses but that’s it. I did see one Forsythia bush in bloom, nothing else. We might have a little snow Monday and Thursday, but it will quickly go away, but still ….
    Here is my post from today – reflecting on my old garden:
    https://lindaschaubblog.net/2025/04/06/meandering-along-this-path-we-call-life/

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    • Thank you, Linda! The garden beds are fenced off with a gate i cab get into. If a deer hops inside it won’t be able to hop out 😁 We’re in for rain this week. It’s still cold here in the mornings, 29 this morning, but 59 and sunny right now at 1:15.

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      • That was a good idea Terri – you are lucky Hans is handy with carpentry to build the raised gardens. The deer will think twice before going in there. 🙂 The weather is not nice at all, but I try not to grumble since I know fellow bloggers have been dealing with a slew of tornadoes and flooding, so I will live with the cold awhile longer!

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      • Hans loves building and doing! The key is to do outdoor stuff in cool sunny weather. He’s digging a 200 foot trench for our front yard water line. I’m just sitting here replying to comments and reading posts 🤣

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      • I know you showed us the porch and the deck from a few years ago – no rest for the weary! That is the key for Summertime work activities. I always hand watered and even weeded in the early morning when it was cool. Hans knows on Sunday and Wednesday afternoons/evenings, he will “go it alone!” 🙂

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  43. It always cracks me up when people talk about gardening in April! What’s in my garden? 4 to 5 feet of snow! Not even the crocuses have thought about life as it hasn’t been more than +4 (about 40F) here, and that was just yesterday.

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  47. There is a nest in the corner of my porch. It’s been there a few years now, most years it gets fluffed up for new occupants (or I don’t know, maybe the same ones). I have solar lights up there and every year I tell myself I should remove the nest after its use, because maybe my lights might get damaged, but I don’t. I’m a procrastinator, so there’s that, but also, I just can’t bring myself to do it.

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    • The birds must love your real estate, Dawn! We were thrilled last year when the Phoebes built their nest last year. We did relocate the loud wind chimes from there to another location until the babies fledge. We love our front row seat!

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  48. Thanks so much for the Sunday flowers and birds. I look forward to your photos each week. The neighbor’s daffodils are pushing up green leaves. My peonies are pushing through, as well. Have a lovely week, Terri. 🌸

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  52. Lovely, lovely, lovely!
    Spring has Sprung and your garden shows it! Beautiful pictures! I cantceait to see you bulbs bloom. 🌷
    I shall share on Tuesday! Hugs! ~Nancy🌸

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