It Feels Like Summer

The weather here has been ridiculously warm for April, with temps in the 70s and today is breaking 80. I've gotten all the beds cleaned out and I went ahead and planted my mother of thyme plants along the front walk this week. Actually, I planted and Jake watered each plant - such a great helper! We also planted his biodegradable birthday card from Grandma Gumby today. It's forget-me-not seeds, and he was very excited to plant and then water the seeds.

The first daffodils opened up yesterday, and I should have a nice show by the weekend. They are all bulbs planted by the previous owners, the ones I planted in the fall are weeks behind, but growing. I think the tulips will bloom before them. I have purple grape hyacinth and bluebells about to open up in the pool bed, and what is supposed to be blue and white grape hyacinth ready to open out front. I suspect the "blue" hyacinth will actually be purple, but we'll see.

My shrubs are all looking good, and everything seems to have survived the winter. The only one I'm concerned about is the Blue Prince Holly, which has a bunch of brown leaves on it. The stems looks healthy and I see new growth, so I'm going to follow my mother's advice and give it some chelated iron as soon as I can pick some up.

A few pictures from this week are below, I suspect I'll have lots more pics within the next week.

"Giant" Purple Crocuses: