More Spring Blooms

Gosh I got all involved with the fence project and what with work taking my spare time I just didn't get around the garden for a couple of days. It is amazing what can happen this time of year when you turn your back on your garden for a few days. The apple tree popped open with blooms. It is pretty full this year.

Here is an up close look at the apple blossoms. I think they are so sweet and delicate.

The creeping phlox is just gorgeous now. It had a few blooms earlier but decided not to be outdone by...

Later blooming daffodils. These beauties are such a pretty color of buttery yellow.

There are a couple of them that are turning white. I wonder if the netire clump will eventually do so or if this is just a result of the drought year last year and then all the rain this year.

Now Frances I know you will appreciate this next bloom. It is on a small azalea bush. This little azalea has been in the garden several years. It started out as one of those small azaleas that I bought to decorate the Easter table a few years ago. I put it in the ground wondering if it would survive our winters or if it was just one of those greenhouse plants. The little jewel has survived despite being moved several times, with limbs being broken off and having a terrible place to grow under a maple tree. So I really appreciate its little pink blooms and it will to live.

Our French Lilacs are blooming up a storm. They smell great but aren't as stongly scented as the old fashioned kind that grow across the street from our house.

I will leave you with a little more eye candy. This is Chocolate chips Ajuga all abloom and...

this bloom is on the Five leafed akebia vine known commonly as the chocolate vine. I really like this bloom I just wish it lasted longer.

Signs of Spring

I got out into the garden to look for other signs of spring. I must say that the few signs I am seeing are not exactly what I was hoping for. These hellebores are not looking so healthy. We have had such abnormal highs and then lows in temperatures I am afraid they just don't know what to do. These look pale and peaked. I don't know what to do for them. I hope they snap out of what ever is ailing them.There are buds coming on the old lilac. Actually this bush is not old but the bush that I got this start from is old. It is a white lilac that grows in the garden where I work. No one knows how old this lilac is but the neighbors have lived next door to it for 50 years and they said it was there when they moved in. The building that houses the shop I work in is over 150yrs old. I wonder if the lilac is original to the place. I guess we will never know. My little piece of the lilac is just 4 years old. It had its first blossom last year. It was wonderful. I can hardly wait until it get full of the scented white blossoms. Maybe I will have more this year. There are daffodils peeking out of the ground. Even they have a sickly pale green cast to their sprouts. I can sort of understand that because it hasn't been very sunny despite what the picture is indicating.

These are the beginnings of some hyacinths that are showing signs of awakening. Actually they look normal. This is a good sign. I mosied over to check out the forsythia. I wondered after several days of above normal temps if there might be a bloom or two that had been coaxed into the warm winter air. Not a single one. There are buds. The most interesting thing I see are some galls. They are in the uppermost reaches of this bush. I wonder what kind of bug has made them there?? This is where I usually have lots of house sparrow nests. This past summer I kept the House Sparrow nest torn out to try to force themto go nest at some other garden. They kept attacking the House Wrens and sticking their heads into the nest box trying to force out the wrens. I just couldn't tolerate them doing this. So the eviction began. They were persistent but I was more so. They finally gave up on this spot and built high in the apple tree. Not high enough though. I threw them out of there. Then they got the message and went into the side lot and found a tree I couldn't climb and built. They did leave the Wrens alone the rest of the summer. Anyway...does anyone have an idea of what type of insect might make these galls? I was guessing some type of wasp. What do you think?

Tonight the wind is howling so it is possible I will have snow pictures for you tomorrow. I would rather think about spring.