Spring has sprung ..... Trees are going!

We moved into our house last May 2008. There are 3 trees in our backyard that have these ugly, spikey seedpods on them. These "spikey" things drop all over the yard, making an mess, so...... As you'll see from my pictures these trees are on their way out. Wahoo! My husband has de-limbed them and we are in the process of cutting up the limbs and filling up our yard debris container. Being a Oregon State Univ. Extension Master Gardener this goes against everything I believe in, but...... These are really ugly trees and they block our very spectacular view of the mountains in Washington State. We are planning on some raised beds for our backyard this summer to grow some of our veggies. The tomatoes we grew in pots last year were wonderful so we're going to expand out to other vegetables.

Spring is starting to pop out all over here in Western Oregon! We have sweet little miniature daffodils in the front and forsythia in the back. My bleeding heart is almost ready to bloom and the trillium's are just starting to bloom! Even if the weather isn't what I'd call spring weather, it's beginning to look that way. Our neighbor's flowering plum is blooming too. Yeh!