sharon_dubois

Today in the low 70's F.

Two mocking birds sitting on my porch roof. I did not help that chipmunk to commit suicide. Watched a SMART squirrel get across a busy street by using the sidewalk overpass (constructed so children don't cross at street level).

Daffodils blooming all over the neighborhood as was a Kwanzen Cherry and a Star Magnolia. Saw a Tulip tree that should be open by tomorrow.

Wandered around my back yard when I got home and found the following:

daffodils:



more daffs, some single blood root and in the neighbors yard some scilla:



hellebores and a closeup:





and a rugosa rose already unfurling it's leaves:



The willows are at that lovely yellow-green haze stage. Some maples are flowering which explains why I was sneezing so much when I opened the windows yesterday. We are about a month ahead of things by my figuring. I looked back at old garden pictures and found some comparisons.

The daffs in the side bed on March 31, 2010.



The backyard March 31, 2003. Not much of anything is up.



The hellebore by the back shed, in comparison to the one above from March 27, 2009.



These are all old established plants so size, etc. has to do with weather. I could do more but it is just amazing how much further along we are. This week is supposed to be in the upper 70s F all week. So some of the daffodils and definitely the bloodroot will be past their best by the end of the week.

I've just returned from an early morning doctor's appointment. Took some pictures of day lilies on the way in. As this is still the middle of the night for me -- I'm going to go take a nap.

Went off to Van Atta's to get some basil plants for the pot near my front door. ... must have pesto ... It wasn't very busy which was a surprise for a Saturday afternoon. The week of rain might have had something to do with it, perhaps. I found that they had lots of basil plants but less of other things. Petunias however could be had in hugh quantities on the other hand. Petunias were obviously not THE flower this year. I bought some however as the trail nicely over the edge of the basil pot.

I feel I was a good do-bee in that none of these guys followed me home. Orchids! I am great with plants outdoors but inside, not so much.



I can keep Christmas Cactus and African Violets alive inside. They respond well to my forgetting to water them. Proof here:



Most of the roses opened while I was on vacation. The peonies and poppies are in fact mostly gone by. Here are a few roses that are still going strong. Some of these are a bit over exposed. I didn't really want to brave the mosquitoes any longer than I had to.









And a bunch of yellow loosestrife Lysimachia punctata. No relation to the purple loosestrife that is invading wetlands.

Just got home from the program's open house for graduating students. They present their portfolios to (at least this semester) a crowd of people. Fun seemed to be had by all. I have turned in grades for two classes, two more to go!

Got home and felt the need to document the yard. It is HOT! outside today so somethings may go fast. It is currently 80 F?!? which is not uncommon for May but is for this very cold spring.

Fothergilla gardenii and friends.



Beautiful contrast twixt leaf and flower on a redleaf barberry --Berberis thunbergii var. atropurpurea.



Red bud. Cercis canadensis var. Forest Pansy



... and a Kwanzen Cherry Prunus serrulata ‘Kwanzan’ covered in flowers that look like little tutus. And lilac blooming from my compost mountain.

It is currently 84 F outside, it was about 70 F yesterday. I figured that the daffs would be open after two days of heat. One will be open tomorrow as seen below.



I then looked around the yard to see what else I could find.

Crocii in the right of way.



An iris near the door.



And more hellebores in the back yard.

Only 62 F today, which isn't bad. Three days of 60-ish weather gets my flowers other than the witch hazels. I have achieved blooming croci and a couple of the daffodils next to the foundation on the south side have potential buds above ground.

Lavender and yellow & purple species croci. More soon, or we could have a blizzard tomorrow. Whatever.





iPhone images -- so not the highest resolution. And then the little matter of me taking them out the car window as I was leaving this morning. I will get out there with a camera this weekend for better ones.

The day started out cloudy and cold. Supervised the pruning of the rose that is attempting to eat both my and my neighbor's house. It was trimmed and constrained to the fence. We shall see what it decides to do next year.

While I was out the sun decided to come out. At the time I was attempted to work on school budget stuff and watch the "Rally to Restore Sanity". Then the sun came out and I went back outdoors. As we have yet to have a killing frost there is still a lot of color out there. Leaves and flowers both. So this is what my yard has to offer, starting near the front door.

I don't know if this is good or bad. From the rate the garden is growing up it probably doesn't matter. Nothing new opened today but I did bring in a few roses, some of the less smelly ones. They set off my allergies but they are so pretty I wanted to look at them close-up for a while. When the sneezing gets too bad then back outside they go.

It was in the low 70s F today with a fair wind. More stuff opening but it is supposed to cool down a bit so that the flowers will not expire right away.

Species tulips of some sort but I cannot remember the sort. I like the species better because they naturalize, Dutch hybrids are much too fussy and short lived.



An overview of the hordes to come.



And then a couple of bicolored dafs with some yard furniture.





MSU lost the game. Heard some sirens in the distance so wonder if the annual Spring riot has started. Ah, the smell of burning police cars on the breeze. Last time the idiots posted pics of themselves setting things on fire which made it easy for the police to arrest the participants. Social networking?!

The dafs have finally started opening. HURRAH!!! See evidence...



... and the other new faces are iris reticulata.



New crocus open to add themselves to growing collection. Some in among the irises at the curb seem to persist even with neglect. I'm not sure what variety these are as a squirrel or other critter planted the first one.





On the school front more wrangling with the new scheduling software, it messed up our offerings again. How much did this system cost? I also tortured my 3D Animation students with a midterm.