The Nature of Things

Here we are at the first of March. Spring hasn't arrived on our calendar yet, but it feels like it has been present for at least a couple of weeks now.  In the vegetable garden, my corn is as high as a mouse's eye and the tomato plants have blooms already. This week, I'm hoping to get my beans and squash planted. Around the garden, plants continue to wake up from their short winter naps. New growth is everywhere. And as the old plants come back, more and more blooms are added to the mix. The crossvine is nearly in full bloom now. Ditto the 'Peggy Martin' rose. And the redbud. The pansies and violas have bloomed all winter and they bloom still. The purple oxalis is just beginning to bloom. While this old azalea has been at it for weeks. And so has the Carolina jessamine. It is actually on its second wave of blooms now. Pretty little leucojum snowflakes, the only kind of snowflakes we ever get around here. Onion chives. Coral honeysuckle. Heucera 'Coral bells....