springing so soon

Everything in my gardens is blooming about a month early this year. I hope there is still a lovely show when Sister MD comes to visit from chilly Pittsburgh in April.

 Trees are budding, including the baby dogwood I spent $10 to get at a garden sale. I may have gotten my  money's worth!  A gentle winter was a good way to introduce it to this new home.

Japanese maples which had no leaves last week are showing wrinkled butterfly wing leaves now.

This morning I could smell the pollen, then I used my windshield wipers to confirm it later in the day.

Some things are still on schedule, like this Lenten Rose which has turned from bold pink to a freckled green. It has seed pods too, so perhaps I will have more to transplant. January bloomers are always welcome when spring does not plan to arrive right after fall.

These hydrangeas need to get big enough to be seen over the azaleas. The poor things seem healthy but are not winning in the size contest. Of course the azaleas have been here for years and years.

The bag of grape hyacinth which I thought contained ten bulbs had 100, so I set them out all over. I hope they will colonize and show me seas of blue in a few years. Of course, setting them into the herbs means that the herbs may need to fight for space. I like them interspersed with the parsley though.

The Lady Banks Rose on our gate has been a perfect time keeper for ten years. We leave town on spring break and it blooms. Not this year. We were planning to stay home this year.


I've never seen such a showing from the flowering Quince. In fact I don't think I knew that I had three of them! I've made myself a new screensaver. That color is so wonderful. Unfortunately the forsythia isn't putting on much of a show at all. I'd hoped they'd play off each other.

The native azaleas are also preparing for their spring show. One bud had one petal to display today. In a few days it will be all in bloom.

The evergreen azaleas are just starting their bloom. Scattered everywhere are daffodils, not bothered by last year's crushing by the tree cutters.

 And wildflowers have spread. I took seeds from everything last year and sprinkled them around, even pulling aside mulch to be sure they could get a footing. It looks like many did well. Another week or so should tell. The shade of my "woodlands" is so much less that everything is much happier, even shade loving plants.