What is your favorite herald of Spring?

I have loved all of them. Duck pairs loudly discussing where to nest, daffodils blooming, and the first green shoots pushing up from lettuce seeds. I think now though my favorite harbinger is the smell of warm earth. For just a few weeks before the ground heats up, something almost imperceptible in the quality of the light changes, and within a few weeks we are barreling towards spring. The undeniable sign that Spring has truly arrived is the aroma yawning, stretching, and finally rising up from the moist ground. I tried to find an image of this smell from my beloved farm, since I can't convey the fragrance through this medium. I don't know about you, but I needed it.

I received the nicest note from a very creative company:

Greetings and Happy New Year Karen,

We received an issue of Wisconsin Gardening this morning and noticed the article relating to making a great first impression. We are Creative Mailbox Planters based out  of Mid-Missouri and we have recently received a patent for our solution to the drab #1 selling standard mailbox in America. We thought you might like to take a peek and please let us know your thoughts. Have a very good day!

Cheers to Gardening. . . .anxious for spring!!!

Best regards,

Teresa & Mark D. White

http://www.creativemailboxplanters.com

Well, I just had to check them out. Their solution is not only made in the U.S.A., it is affordable, well built, and gives you room to be creative and really celebrate the seasons. They have so many more pictures with interesting approaches, but here are just a few of them:

I always wait too long to tear out my annuals. In Pennsylvania, they are just reaching their peak a few weeks before the first hard frost. Wait too long, and you have a very mushy, cold and nasty job. The nasturtiums around my swan pond had been copying the regal residents. They were stretching the necks beneath their tender flowers way over the pond to admire their reflection. Narcissi are known for this, but as Monet knew, nasturtiums are also guilty. It was with a heavy heart that I pulled the last flowers and tender leaves from the plants to serve on tonight's salad. I will miss these peppery accents. Until next year.