You Can't Fool the Plants

In spite of colder than average temperatures for this time of the year, according to the plants, spring has arrived. There's no stopping it now. With the first blooms of the ephemerals, we'll not have a single day without blooms until next winter. Now isn't that a lovely thought?

Iris reticulata 'Cantab'

New to the garden this year:
Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis), planted with Muscari latifolium

Crocus tommasinianus ' Barr's Purple'

Crocus tommasinianus 'Ruby Giant'

Narcissus 'Jetfire' is just beginning to open.

Various cultivars of Helleborus, including 'Ivory Prince', 'Red Lady' and
'Sunshine Selections'.  Look at all the little seedlings!

Helleborus 'Red Lady'

Helleborus 'Ivory Prince'

Helleborus 'Sunshine Selections'

Sharp-lobed Hepatica (Anemone acutiloba), one of our most charming
native wildflowers.

Iris reticulata 'Harmony'

Striped Squill (Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica)

There are many, many things that are breaking through the surface, such as the Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica), Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria), our native red Trillium, Dutch iris (Iris hollandica), Dutch hyacinths (Hyacinthus orientalis), and many species tulips. The ramps (Allium tricoccum)are up and all three of the Allium schubertii made it through another winter!

So now that what I've been wanting to hurry up and get here is here, I want it to slow down. It's always a little sad when the first blooms to appear (snowdrops) start to wilt. Even some of the crocus are done. But on the bright side, each of them seems to hang on long enough for me to revel in their beauty and the miracle that each one is.

Were I to live a thousand years I still would know that flaming thrill,
That rush of joy when first appears — the golden daffodil.

    A thousand times my heart would sing when purple irises unfold;
    Or when forsythia's branches bring their dazzling showers of gold.

I could not see an almond tree with branches all a rosy glow
But that a tide of ecstasy would through my being flow.

Were I to see, a thousand times, blue scilla bells amid green grass,
I know I'd hear their fairy chimes as I would pass.

Were I to live a thousand years I'd never watch the nesting birds
Except through eyes bedimmed with tears, my tongue bereft of words.

Were I to weave ten thousand lays, knew I a thousand songs to sing,
I still would lack the power to praise — the miracle of Spring. 

Taken from “Silver Lining” by Wilhelmina Stitch, 1942 

Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa forbesii)