Hey – it’s time for What’s Blooming again! Something nice to talk about other than coronavirus, right?

A few plants are peeping out. It’s been fun going out and seeing what survived the winter, which appears to be almost everything. I lost a couple baby plants to frost heave and there are a few that won’t wake up for a few more weeks, but looking good so far.

The birds have been going crazy as well. It’s that time of year to get working on bird babies! Some of the migrating birds are showing up. I hope to get a picture of the yellow throated sparrow before they move out. I hear them all the time, but they don’t always come to the feeder.

Papa Cardinal was having a good meal the other day:

I don’t know how long cardinals live, but a pair has been around for the last few years. Not sure if it is the same two birds, but they have brought their babies to my feeders for several summers now. I hope they do it again.

First flower of the year was some scraggly hyacinth:

Only 3 of these came back. Scent powerhouses, though!

The vinca is making a reappearance near the house.

I thought this was pretty much all gone from renovating the front garden bed, but it has appeared again. I’ll let this do some spreading to cover some bare spots on that side.

And one of my new bulbs. This is a fritillaria:

Isn’t that cool? The blooms are about 1 inch or a little bigger and maybe 4 inches tall, so not really viewable unless you are up close. Sorry pedestrians! I didn’t know they were that small, but very cute. I think the common name is snake head or something like that. My hope is that these will spread.

Our garden centers are considered essential businesses here and you can actually go in there to pick things up. The nice thing is that you can call and order things and they will bring the order to your car when you arrive and you don’t even have to get out of the car. So, I can still do planting and get started on some lawn work. Might buy a new rhododendron for the back yard. I’m not that interested in actually going in to the store at this time. Our county has advised that Covid cases in our area will peak in the next week or two, so obviously we are still on high alert. John has asthma and I grocery shop for my parents – and so we are being very careful to not get sick.

Here’s hoping more plants show their faces this week!