A little pop

Now that the temps have risen to near June-like 80's, shrubs and trees are starting their spring show. The neighborhood magnolias are gorgeous, as are those all over town; last night's rain may have ended that show prematurely. The ornamental pears have magically popped as well, which is a mixed blessing as they are proving to be invasive. My completely unscientific observation is they spread to relatively open undeveloped land but not to mature woods. Has anyone else noticed this?

In my own yard, the serviceberry has popped. Some years it fails to bloom due to late frosts, but despite the erratic weather we have had, it patiently held on. Mine has never fully recovered from rabbit girdling its first year, hence its lack of height.

The grape hyacinth has made it's return. Started elsewhere in the front yard, it spread to the yucca bed. I recently did away with the yucca (or at least made a first attempt) and hope the grape hyacinth takes its place, as it's a harbinger of spring and a low-growing ground cover the rest of the summer.

Some people don't like violets in their beds, but I am not one of them. There are also some Johnny-jump-ups elsewhere but getting a photo of them would have required more agility than I have as they are growing under the elderberry behind some hardware cloth. (I don't know if rabbits eat elderberry, but I have lost too many plants and shrubs over the years to take a chance.) This pic also show a bit of columbine starting to show above ground.

Besides the pink hyacinth under the purple smoke bush, there are white ones behind the barberry. I have no explanation for this "hidden garden" other than I thought the white would be a nice contrast to the dark barberry. The barberry is being removed, to give the gold mop more room, plus it is another invasive (one I have not noticed in the wild... yet).

Some of the daffs are done already, but others continue to brighten the landscape. Too many daffs are never enough.

Yellow isn't the only color of daffodil around here. I think this was marketed as a "pink" daffodil, but was not quite what I (nor the catalog) pictured. I still like them.

One of these days the redbud will pop. Meanwhile, the trees are starting to leaf out, even the Prairie Fire crabapple I planted this year in the backyard. Hopefully, those leaves will turn into branches, as right now it mostly resembles a stick.

For the record, my order from Prairie Nursery arrived intact but with no forewarning. The plants look really robust. One flat of coneflower, one of rubekia, one of butterfly weed (for clay), and one of mixed this-and-that. Not pictured: a one gallon pot of Culver's Root. Guess what I will be doing for the next couple of weeks.