The garden moves quickly in April, transforming from near dormancy to full leaf a few weeks later. While several emerging mysteries have been identified, I wonder what the heck I planted along the stone path under the dwarf Japanese cedar (Cryptomeria japonica ‘Elegans nana’). I’ll soon find out, and while I have given in to an often faulty memory by labelling several new ferns and barrenworts, I prefer to wonder rather than have the garden littered by tags.

There is a point in spring when the garden features its most abundant blooms, and perhaps that is today with hellebores and other holdovers from late winter still in color, with redbuds (above) and dogwoods coming into their full glory. I credit hellebores (below) for a shorter period of effective bloom than the ninety days some laud, but several that were late to get started remain quite beautiful, if mostly overlooked with such competition.

I enjoy watching as leaves of Japanese maples open, though I seem to have missed the best of these this week. The most prominent, with larger leaves and colorful blooms, are on the fernleaf maple (below), an out of the ordinary Japanese maple, and also the Golden Full Moon maple that is a week away from leafing. I will not miss it.

Again this spring, despite the recent freezes the floral display of camellias (below) is delightful. Without severe winter freezes every bud will flower, with most at their peak today. I expect that again mophead hydrangeas will also benefit from the lack of severe cold, but flowers are not expected for another month. We are not yet at spring’s peak, but every day the garden grows closer.