The suddenness of spring caught me by surprise yesterday. After two days of being kept inside by sometimes torrential rains, I went out and saw that the ajuga, escaped into the lawn years ago from an old flower bed, is in full and startling bloom. This area has not been mowed yet because I made the mistake of planting daffodils here and must wait until they have finished blooming and ripening.
Only a few daffodils are still in flower. Newly blooming are the poeticus daffodils which means the season will be over any minute.
The old apple trees in the field and by the Cottage are suddenly clouds of blossom, barely opened before being battered by the rain.
I began weeding the area around The Fairy rose in the north Lawn Bed. I got most of the grass out from under the Fairy’s root and released the tiny fine alliums from groundcovering shepherd’s purse and carpetweed and other weeds yet to be identified. I also ripped out a good deal of silver artemesia that has become a weed. I should have known better than to have planted it in a flower bed. It was not ideal to be working in such wet soil, but I can feel the grass growing beneath my feet, and the weeds will quickly outpace the newly emerging plants. Spring is here.
Boule de Neige and Rangoon are the first to rhodies to come into bloom. Other bushes have buds getting fatter by the minute.
Tiarella plants put in last summer and this spring as part of the lawn reduction project are blooming away and spreading out.
Lilacs have been blooming for more than a week in the lower elevations, but finally mine have burst into bloom. I gathered up a bouquet of mixed lilacs and brought them inside, into the kitchen. Suddenly spring arrived in the garden, and I was able to bring a fragrant bit into the house. Hallelujah!
What a perfect word – ‘suddenness.’ We don’t seem to have the birds this year. Have you noticed anything like it? No bluebirds, no swallows. Mostly robins. And the phoebes in the barn.
I love the ajuga throughout the grass. It does like to spread, doesn’t it?
Nan – So good to hear from you. My eyes are not good enough to see the birds, and I just got my hearing aids (see a previous post) so I am hearing the birds for the first time in many years. I did go on a bird walk a week ago, and while I couldn’t hear the birds our guide did and he thought there was a pretty good population.
Beth – Ajuga is a determined spreader. It is always in the lawn, but we only see in the spring in this area. Very pretty though.
You have so many wonderful plants! Those rhodies are just beautiful!
So nice to see spring bloom there…it started here and then stopped and then started and stopped…we are in limbo again waiting…
Christy – I have become a great fan of rhodies. I have a friend who has about 400!
Donna – There has been a lot of back and forthing here too. Really cold last week and after more thunderstorms they are predicing 90! How can I garden when it is 90?!