April and things are busting out all over

It's been two weeks since posting, simply because growth had slowed down due to a week of below normal temperatures. Yes, some of the tulips had put up green, and the crocuses had continued to blossom.

All that has changed in the last week, as we had temperatures as much as 20F/11C above normal.

First, the downside of the heat. The dwarf irises "Katherine Hodgkins" quickly faded in the heat, as did the crocuses. In addition, we have had little precipitation since mid February, so the soil--where exposed--has turned to powder.

The upside is that in spite of the dryness, the warm temps encouraged lots of activity.

Basically, all the perennials, except possibly the coreopsis and astilbes, have started to show growth. Daylilies, salvia and veronica have been the most vigorous.

And the bulbs have been active. First of note is the species tulip turkistanica which can be seen in the following two photos.




Also, chionadoxa in both the main garden and the tree bed are having a field day.



The east bed has also been enjoying the mild weather. The scilla continue to expand, the earliest daffodils are up, and late hybrid white crocuses are up, pleasingly interspersed with galanthus.




The rear naturalized dafs are also starting to blossom.



In a few weeks the rear should be covered with blossoms.