Sure enough, the twenty-six degree (Fahrenheit) night came and flowers of the ‘Merrill’ magnolia were damaged (below). Flowers are just opening on the ‘Royal Star’ magnolia so these should be okay, but there are many buds still to open on both that would not be injured by the freeze. This is routine for the early…

The first of the trilliums (below) is up, ten days earlier than a year ago. While temperatures have turned cooler in recent days, there were several inches of snow a year earlier that delayed flowering. Ups and downs are the norm for March, but so far the garden has been breaking early and freezes have…

I must take credit on the rare occasion when it is earned. A year ago, a yellow leafed winter hazel (Corylopsis spicata ‘Ogon’, below) exhibited only a single flower. Two years earlier, the winter hazel had been moved to this location that I figured was part sun, and possibly the move diminished the number of…

While damage to flowers of early flowering magnolias seems inevitable, there have been times in recent years when all made it through unscathed by March freezes. Surprisingly, the early flowering ‘Merrill’ (below) and ‘Royal Star’ are barely early after this mild late winter. I recall years when both showed their first color in late February….

Despite mild temperatures and thus more time spent roaming the garden, I must have been more anxious than ever through this winter. The number of mail order plant purchases that are now beginning to trickle in should verify this, but I also have plans to add another redbud and a magnolia from the garden center,…

A year ago, on a mild and breezeless March afternoon, the sweet scent of the paperbushes (Edgeworthia chrysantha, below) wafted over the garden. Very likely, the scent wafts regularly, but for once, my severely limited sense could smell it. Probably never again, and today I tried mightily to make the connection, with no luck. Oh…

Tis a glorious morning, with temperatures quickly rising from below freezing. In a few minutes, Barbara and I will head out to the mountains, our first hike to a mountaintop in weeks as my cold averse wife seems confident today’s sixty-five degrees (Fahrenheit) will not translate into freezing temperatures at the top. (Spring ephemeral flowers…

No doubt, trouble lurks in the weeks ahead. The very mild winter has hurried flowering along weeks early for many plants, and for most there’s little reason to be concerned if and when temperatures drop low into the twenties as they almost certainly will sometime and perhaps several times over the next month. Most early…

I could not be happier. This has been a marvelous season for hellebores. After a typical late December start to their flowering season, mid and late season bloomers have come on weeks early. I could not care less that flowers last until April. I’m bored of them by then, as trout lilies (Erythronium) and trilliums…

I am quite fortunate that the variegated leaf, Cornelian cherry dogwood (Cornus mas ‘Variegata’, below) has survived repeated moves as preferred trees were planted too close alongside. I blame this apparent disfavor on its reluctant growth, clearly through no fault of its own, resulting from the several transplants. The glowing, early spring blooms profit from…

No purpose is served by counting the number of hellebores (below) in the garden. Perhaps there are hundreds, at least many dozens, but no matter the count, the goal of helping me get through the long winter has been served again. Yes, there are many other flowers in the garden, and others assist in bringing…

Recent mild temperatures have encouraged me to get out into the garden. Lengthy strolls encouraged by blooming hellebores, snowdrops, witch hazels, and now the first daffodils (below) have been briefly punctuated by pulling of winter weeds that should be plucked before going to seed. Many remain, and there is much clean up to do before…