From April Showers....

It's been nice to get some of them this spring. We've been watching the earliest garden plants spring up, as well as a lawn which will soon require mowing. The mowing won't be my idea, but part of the lease requirements as this place apparently is inhabited by people who like to pretend they live on a golf course green. Or that's what I guess anyway, since I haven't actually been rude enough to ask any of them. Yet.
Scillas pop up first. For some reason the rabbits and squirrels don't feast on either tops or bulbs. In a few years these will go from isolated plants to ground cover - inside official garden boundaries of course. They die back early in the season, leaving lots of room for other flowers.

A rainy April means a bumper crop on the outside of the concrete block walls as well, this time in moss. Some will get knocked off either from drying out or careless lawn mowing. Since I pay somebody else to mow, I try not to complain. It'll return when conditions are right.

With luck you'll also see early crocus and the beginnings of the rhubarb patch.

Unfortunately for the crocus - more so for those of us who like to enjoy them, the rabbits also like fresh spring greens/yellows/whites/purples. Many of those bulbs were harvested by squirrels in the fall, and what survived got their tops nibbled off. The bottom picture of the two shows two plants, which you may not have noticed, as the one on the left proved especially delicious. Of course the rhubarb was never in danger from any of the local critters with more than two feet. By now it's much bigger and we're starting to eat it.

Many of the daffodils failed to thrive over the winter, just rotting in the ground, and a few are simply slow in coming. Others had their tops cropped before buds could form. Fortunately, my absolute favorites popped up in a clump of four - after planting over twenty, of course! In the space of a week the blossoms go from cream and yellow to white and orange, which they finally arrived at today.

                         Happy May Day!

These were not the only surprises outside this morning. One of the good ones was seeing the Bleeding Heart going overnight from a tight clump of lacy stems of green to  draping rows of blossoms, the first stamens starting to turn white.

Last year I didn't get to them with a camera in time, due to the move delays, and missed the best part.

I also didn't get the hydrangeas pruned back at all, nor had the previous owners for at least a couple years, so a major cutting happened last fall. I've been anxiously waiting for indications that I did it right. Buds yet? No buds. How about now? Nope. Today? See for yourself:

In another few days I should be able to sort out the maple trees growing inside through and between the branches and get rid of those... for this year. I'm sure more helicoptor seeds landed last summer for another year's sprouting. One I partly got rid of last fall was the tallest thing in the north garden bed. It's short, not gone. Not yet anyway.

Of course not all surprises were good ones. My lilies have been sprouting, with more inside waiting for being ready to transplant into the garden to make up for squirrels. But while the squirrels are ignoring them, the bunnies have taken a liking to the leaves and buds.

Have I mentioned I've ordered a pair of live traps, to be delivered Saturday? I'm already baiting the area they'll get set in with fresh fruits and veggies the rabbits are supposed to prefer. I figure a couple days of watching to see what their favorites are will both inform me and reassure them that here is a reliable feast for dependable safe munching. I figure about a 4 mile drive for release should work well enough.  I know where several eagle's nests are.