Late spring

Crocus - April 3

In the mornings I open my eyes and one of the first things I see through the skylight are the buds on the maple tree in the backyard, swelling.  A little bigger every day, but still not close to bursting.
 
The squirrels are nibbling on the fresh buds  - greedy rodents. I've never seen them do that before.  I just hope those marauding tree rats left me some of the bulbs I  planted last Thanksgiving.

Rob called me to the front window one morning to see a little girl crouching down to admire the crocus in the front garden.  She was wearing a pink dress and had a bow in her hair; such a pretty, frothy child.  It made me happy to see her admiring the colours. I'm not sure she'd even started school yet, she was so tiny.  Her mother stood behind her, smiling.

We had such favourable weather at the beginning of April, and then chill set in.  More snow!

Thursday April 21 was the first plant show at the garden club and there wasn't much gracing the tables other than daffodils and house plants.  At this time last year, the cherry blossoms were already blooming in High Park.

More than a year ago, on April 16, my garden was in bloom with blood root and hellebore; this year they haven't yet unfurled their petals.

Speaking of hellebore, I was totally down and out because I thought I'd killed my plants with ambitious pruning.  I was comparing their progress to photos taken in 2009, fretting because it didn't look like any buds were coming.  This past week I was relieved to see the lenten rose showing signs of blossom:

Hellebore - April 23

... the tulips seemed to be drinking in the sunlight...

Ice Tulip - April 23

Giant Crocus - April 23