Spring at our Cabin

We've been spending most of our spring weekends up in the mountains at our cabin. 

Driving up to and back from the cabin is always a treat because the beautiful landscape is always changing. Spring comes to the mountains of Idaho much later than it does in the high desert of Boise. When it finally does arrive, it seems like the brown winter meadows turn emerald green almost overnight.

  

This was the view from our car window on a recent early spring morning.  

A full moon glows over the snow that's still frosting the mountain tops, and the misty fog is drifting over the lakes and through the lowlands. Soon the meadows will be the summer pasture to thousands of grazing cows. 

  

Every spring there's a thrill to arriving at the cabin to see the last drift of snow has finally melted from our driveway. 

Just like in the mountain meadows there's an explosion of new green growth all around our property. One of my favorites spots is this corner of the driveway where these soft little green plants spill over the rocks, and I just can't make myself cut them back. One of my goals this year is to learn the names of the wildflowers growing all around us. 

The mountain ash might be my very favorite native Idaho mountain tree. They get creamy white flower clusters in the spring and have bright red berries in the fall. This one next to our cabin was almost dead when we moved in with just a few withered leaves hanging on. I watered it twice a month last summer, hoping to bring it back. Our deep winter snow knocked it completely to the ground and covered it, and then my husband walked on top of it while he was shoveling snow away from our windows. I thought for sure it would be a goner, but here it is reaching for the sun and half covered with leaves and even tiny flower buds! This is one tough little tree, which makes me love it even more!

We only had one bloom last spring from dozens of daffodils we planted the fall before. This year almost every one bloomed, so this fall we'll add lots more. Now that I know they will thrive here under the trees, I aim to plant drifts of them.

These pretty little low growing white wildflowers are one of those I hope to identify this year. Anyone know what it is?

The return of birdsong is one of the best parts of spring in the mountains.

We've been super busy for the past two weekends planting new plants and trees all around the cabin. I hope to share more of them in another blog post. For now, here's a first glimpse of the new plants on the sunny south side of the cabin facing our fire pit area. We're starting out slowly to make sure the plants we've chosen will survive here before we add more.

Spring has been so welcome here where we had such an enormous, almost overwhelming, snowfall last winter. We were so happy and surprised to see that, as each new snow drift melted away, all the trees and bushes we planted last fall survived and are thriving. With each passing season we love our little cabin even more!