What Happens When?
Most gardeners have a pretty solid understanding of which flowers bloom first. Expectations, you might say. For some, those first flowers come in the form of bulbs. But which ones? Like I said before, it is a slippery slope. This tulip was planted by a squirrel or chipmunk. In the lawn. Decades ago. the one, single, lonely tulip that we never planted But then the bulbs start to transition into the early perennials and shrubs start to push up or leaf out. By the time the weather warms up, the rain stops, and the bugs come out... it is time for everything to suddenly become magically green. It can be an intoxicating green-ness, until the neighbor's mower shatters the reverie. Nothing ruins the daydream sunshine quite like the smell of exhaust and the roar of the lawnmower. Purple smokebush, Cotinus coggygria 'Royal Purple' I try to get outside early in the morning. Before the sun, but after the birds. The birds get up absurdly early. The frogs stay up late partyi...