Whenever there are a few moments between rainstorms this weekend I will need to spray the daylilies and a few other choice perennials with deer repellent. Many perennials will not have enough foliage until late in April, but the mixed border of daylilies along the lower side of the swimming pond has been nipped a bit already, so the time has come to protect them from further injury.

I have neglected to mention it earlier, but in our family yesterday was celebrated as Green Day, a tradition from my wife’s childhood observed on the first day of spring when you look out the window and  see nothing but green. Of course, Green Day is made easier when your home backs up to forest (as our’s does) rather than looking over rows of houses, but the day is as easily celebrated if the view along your route to the office is suddenly green.

When I returned home in the evening yesterday rain showers were threatening and clouds hung low, but the light was bright so that there was a glow about the garden as often is seen following a summer thunderstorm when the sun breaks through dark clouds. Trees and shrubs were bursting into leaf, with greens and reds exceptionally vivid in the soft light.

The foliage of Japanese maples has emerged suddenly, and if you are fortunate to have one planted in your garden (or two dozen as in mine), then you must drop what you’re doing at the moment and rush out to see the unfolding leaves and delicate blooms that dangle beneath (above and below). Of course, your garden is likely to be warmer or colder than mine, so the appropriate day to enjoy this splendid scene was last week, or perhaps tomorrow.

If Green Day is marked by a single event, in this garden that would be that the flowers of Dogtooth Violets (or Trout Lily, Erythronium americanum, below) opened yesterday. A contrarian would argue that the redbuds make a bigger show along the roadsides, and even in this garden where there are six that have been planted and scattered native trees along the forest’s edge, and who am I to debate the matter, except that I treasure the tiny woodland lilies.

I am quite certain that the Koreanspice viburnum (Viburnum carlesi, below) did not just pop into bloom yesterday, but I had not noticed it while roaming about on the weekend. Much of the border along the forest’s edge is still bare, and the fragrant flowers stood out as I was wandering before scrambling back to the house as the rain began.