The Arbor, Daffodils, and the Front Garden

It really seems that spring has sprung already. The warm temperatures have brought everything to life, I only hope that the plants aren't doomed by the next freeze happens to come along. It's reminiscent of the spring of 2007. Back then we had an early warm-up followed by a hard freeze that damaged a significant number of Japanese maples and crape myrtles. I'll keep my fingers crossed but everything is growing in full spring growth mode and I know we have a few freezes ahead. The daffodils have come alive this week and the front porch garden is starting to thicken up with early spring yellow blooms. There are some gaps to fill in and maybe I can make more by dividing a few of the bulbs later in the year.

My arbor has seen some wind damage lately. The diamond shaped decorations on each side have been battered by heavy winds that pulled the chains apart from the structure. It's cosmetic and easily repaired but still another thing to add to the to do list.

In the front porch garden that I began remodeling last fall the glossy leaves of the camellia above are on the same plant as the frost burnt leaves on the tips of the branches below. I have two 'Winter Snowman' camellias in the front garden and one did fine while the other got a little singed. I'll give them both a little pruning this spring and they will recover nicely!

The front sidewalk garden is the home of my tulips which are pushing through the mulch. I planted pansies here in the fall but the tulips will overtake them and you won't even know the pansies are there.

This will probably be the last look at the winter jasmine this year. The picture was taken yesterday before the high winds of last evening and today that blew most of the petals away. You can see the new green foliage beginning to emerge from the stems. Spring is here again!

Has spring arrived where you are yet?