Shadows grew long on January, and she disappeared into the gray.  February arrived with sun upon her shoulders and spring upon her lips.  Although the groundhog predicts another six weeks’ of Winter, there is a glimmer of hope, an inclination that the season of renewal is not so very distant.  The distinct and dulcet tones of the bird song.

Winter birds, like Chickadees, Woodpeckers and Cardinals are some of the first to announce Spring’s arrival. According to John Hanson Mitchell, an Editor with the Massachusetts Audubon Society, “the changing light has a hormonal trigger that starts the birdsong.” Apparently, our feathered friends have photoreceptors in their brains that record the length of darkness each day. As the darkness shortens, and days lengthen, birds, just like humans, get Spring fever. So the promise of Spring is real. Nature says so, and I’m inclined to believe she knows what she’s talking about.

It’s never too early to start thinking and planning for Spring. Reach out to Sweeney’s to schedule your Spring Clean Ups, Mowing and Maintenance Services, and any and all of your Spring gardening projects!  We proudly serve the communities of Villa Park, Elmhurst, Oakbrook, Oakbrook Terrace, Glen Ellyn, Lombard, Wood Dale, Itasca, and more!

Sweeney’s:  A Plant Based Company

Plant of the Week

Bird’s Foot Violet

Native violet with lovely, lavender-blue flowers that bloom early to mid-Spring amongst fine, green foliage that resembles a bird’s foot.  Prefers full sun and dry soil.  Grows 3-6″ tall and 6-8″ wide.  Attracts butterflies and other pollinators.  Deer resistant.

“A birdsong can even, for a moment, make the whole world into a sky within us, because we feel that the bird does not distinguish between its heart and the world’s.”

-Rainer Maria Rilke

Warm wishes,

Kim Sweeney