Spring again?

After two very warm days, we are back into the same old same old.
Temperatures in the 40-55 degree range and cloudy with showers..
I did get things cleaned up a bit, and put some of my hardier 
container plantings outside, but kept most of them inside
just in case...  I got the large clumps of Miscanthus and 
other ornamental grasses cut down, and a couple of rows
of onions planted.  The soil in most of the vegetable garden
is still too wet to dig, and the drier parts still have all the
stuff from my front bed - remember the oil tank fiasco -
planted there.  I hope the landscape person can come
next week to put the large shrubs back, but this is their
rush season and we're not regular customers.
A couple of amazing things have developed.  One is that
the Amelanchier (Shad Bush) that grows on top of the 
huge boulder beside our drive is blooming a week early!
It was blooming the first week in May when we moved here
in 1970, and it has always bloomed right on schedule.  But
now it's in full bloom.  I've never known how this tree survives.
It appears to grow right out of the boulder, but it must have a
fissure that we can't see.  It's not a large tree - about  15' - but
it's an early spring favorite.  The other amazing thing is my
flowering quince.  It was showing color in January, and I cut
several bunches of branches to force indoors.  Then the extreme
cold killed off the remaining buds.  But now, after the leaves
are pretty well out, it is blooming again!  You can see the 
stumps of where the dead buds were, and at nearly every
node two or three buds are now developing.  I would never
have guessed that it could rejuvenate its flowers like that.
Ain't nature grand!
Auralie
 
 
 



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