Spring Galloping Into Summer

Laurel

 

After two somewhat warm spring weeks at the beginning of April, we have had much cooler temps these last two weeks. It has been in the mid to high 30's many nights with frost on two of those nights.  The temperature  has struggled to reach 60 most days. Now the weather is supposed to charge into summer this week with highs in the mid 80's to 90.  I need to get out the short-sleeved shirts and shorts.

The above photo is one of the many cherry laurel bushes we have in both the front and back yards.

Viburnum

This is the only snowball viburnum bush in the yard that just bloomed this past week.

Lady Ferns

The lady ferns have really grown and filled out in the last two weeks.  They are surrounding the hellebores plants in the backyard under the trees.  We also have some in the garden on the side of the house under the trees there.

Azalea

This is one of the older azalea bushes on the side yard that bloomed a week ago.  We have some in the front that have not bloomed yet.  Most azaleas are blooming in the neighborhood, as well as most dogwood trees.  The three dogwood trees in our yard have not yet bloomed.

Rushing Into Mid-Spring

Brunnera Jack Frost

 

My Brunnera plants are in full bloom.  We were in the 30's at night this past week and then suddenly we warmed up to the 70's during the day.  What a change!  The weather forecast predicts high 50's at night and mid to upper 70's all next week. Although the early cherry trees are finished blooming in the neighborhood, all the late cherry trees are in full bloom.

Close up of Brunnera flowers

I love the blue color of the Brunnera flowers, a blue not frequently found in flowers.

Tulip

This is a tulip from a pot of tulips I bought at the grocery store last year.  I have not planted tulips because of the many deer that roam through the yard. But my husband insisted on planting the bulbs I was going throw out, in an out of the way place, where the deer don't seem to roam anymore at the base of some holly bushes.  And low and behold, they are blooming and have not been eaten! 

Daffodils

These are late blooming daffodils that are in four of the yard's gardens.

Catmint

The early blooming daffodils have died off and catmint is emerging behind them.

Ferns coming up around the hellebores under the trees

 

Close up of late blooming daffodil

        

Everything is Blooming

Backyard

This is a partial view of my backyard with two flowering pear trees that were in the yard when we moved in. It seems the whole neighborhood burst into bloom in the last three weeks, with pear trees, cherry trees, forsythia bushes and daffodils everywhere. I heard the first birdsong on Easter day.

The pachysandra on the side yard has just about finished blooming.

This is the first violet I've seen in the yard among the pachysandra.

We have two saucer magnolia trees in the yard. This is a blossom from one of them.  We had a couple of nights of freezing temps, and it killed most of the blossoms.

This is one of the several Brunnera plants in the yard that have just burst into bloom.

There are several rhododendron plants in the yard that are just appearing through the soil.

These plants are perennial bachelor buttons that just appeared above the soil in the side yard. It will be three or four weeks till we see the blooms.