March- Spring Fever Arrives

March is the  time in Chicago where many of us start wishing, hoping, planning, thinking, and dreaming of warmer weather.  Mother Nature teases us with a few warm days and then suddenly snow blankets our homes. But we still find a need and an urge to bring Spring into our homes.  So out come the nests, the moss, the rabbits, and the Costco planters of tulips and hyacinths this time of year.  We eagerly scour the grocery store section of flowers for pots of spring bulbs, a bunch of tulips- anything to make us feel like Spring!    But as I said earlier- it is still winter in Chicago. A couple of days ago this is what my front porch looked like.............

 

A wintery storm blew snow into every crevice on the porch.

 

It looked like Mother Nature created lace made of snow on the wicker.

 

The wind pushed the snow through the wicker in these amazing patterns.

The iron gates were perfectly coated with fluffy snow.

Every branch was painted with white shimmery snow.

 

No swinging on the porch this time of year.

 

But of course- this only drove me crazy.  I really want my gardens back!

So I decided to take the winter arrangement of icy branches and frosted cabbages  out of the urns in the dining room and create some large springy arrangements..........add a little color to the gray March days.  I had some large lilac branches but I wanted to add something else.  So I googled silk kale and found these amazing silk kale plants from www.qualitysilks.com . They arrived 2 days ago and I am so impressed with the quality. Large- 14 inches wide, they really look like the real deal.  There are so many possibilities  for these silk beauties, but for now they are the base of my dining room urns. 

 

 They are available in white and purple, so I mixed the two together.

 

The leaves are very realistic and have a leathery texture to them. I can visualize a basket of these  with blue eggs and violets on a tablescape. 

 

While the snow is still on the ground outside, I can only create touches of spring inside.  So now- where did I store those nests and eggs last year?????? I really do have Spring Fever.