A Seesaw Spring

Catmint

 There are several catmint plants in the front yard that have just started to bloom.  The weather has been up and down here all month. Unseasonably cool the first 17 days of May.  We had a night in the high 30's last week and a day where it did not get out of the 50's.  And now we are finally enjoying some heat for three days in the 90's.  And then back down in the 50's in two days.


Spirea bush

Several pink spirea bushes are just staring to bloom. Many plants are late because of the cool, cloudy weather the first three weeks of May.  The freeze that killed the crape myrtle tree leaves are just now starting to recover.  Leaves on three large sycamore trees that were killed in the freeze are now recovering also.


Peony

This is one of three red peony bushes that finally had flowers.  There is one yellow peony bush that was severely damaged in the freeze that is just recovering and has no blossoms yet. So many plants were damaged: the cotoneaster ground cover, the privet bushes, the yuletide camellias.  We'll see how they turn out.


Blueberries

The highbush blueberry bushes have a few berries coming.


Samaritan Jo clematis

 This clematis vine is behind schedule, and just opened three flowers but has several buds.


Dogwood 

Three dogwood trees in the yard are finally in bloom.  Many plants are damaged or late.  Usually by this time in May the temps average 75 to 85, but not this year.  I am longing for warm, sunny summer days.

A Freeze!

Crape Myrtle

 After the burst of warm weather in April, we had a freeze April 22nd that damaged this crape myrtle tree that sits next to our deck.  All the leaves curled up and turned brown.  This photo was taken three days after the freeze.


Pansies

There are four pots of pansies on the deck railing that the freeze did not bother.


Pansies

Another pot of yellow pansies on the deck.  This is one of the three pots that I put in the garage in January and left there until March, when I put them back on the deck. And they bloomed again. 


Perennial Bachelor buttons

There are several perennial bachelor button plants that the deer never bother, but this year they ate all the flowers but these two.


Pink Peony bush

There are five peony bushes in the back yard. This is the first one to bloom.  The rest of the peony bushes are yellow and red.


Purple Iris

A neighbor gave me this iris plant years ago.  There are two other iris plants that are different, but they are just starting to bloom. 

It has been so cloudy and unseasonably cool the last week and a half.  We have been stuck in the 40's at night and 50's during the day. This week we are supposed to have three days of warmer weather.  Then cooler than normal until the third week of May. We usually have temps in the 70"s and low 80's in May.