Springtime in Wisconsin

Like most of the country, we are experiencing an usually early spring........we are at least a month ahead of normal and even set records for temperatures in the lower 80's in March.  That's unheard of here!  But I'm certainly not complaining!  As a result, I have been working in my garden.

One of my favorite trees is my 'Betty' Magnolia.  She has prolific blooms before the leaves appear, then continues to bloom sporadically all summer, with only a flew flowers at a time.  But she is gorgeous and I always know that spring is officially here when she is flowering.  'Betty' is one of the little sisters series of Magnolias.  Here she is in all her glory:

In fact, I like her so much that I dug out three ugly juniper bushes on the other side of the yard and planted another 'Betty" in that spot.  In 15 years, the new "tree" will match her sister.  Here is the tiny Miss Betty:

Can you see her?  She is the tiny twig behind the two peonies!  Who knows, perhaps it will be 20 years before she matches her big sister!  I do wish I had taken a before picture so you could see the junipers that used to be in this spot.

Even with all the gardening, I do have a little stitching progress to show.  In an earlier post, I mentioned that I was ripping out stitches from a project for my EGA chapter.  I have been making steady progress in re-stitching this design.  Once completed, I'll frame this and donate it to our annual show's drawing.  This is "A Walk in the Woods" by Cricket designs.