Freeze Warning and Back to Normal March Weather

The pear trees were wrapped as best as I could to protect their early blossoms.

After a week of summer-like weather, last Monday and Tuesday our area was notified with a deep freeze warning. I spent the better part of my Monday battling the windy weather and wrapping various plants in frost protection clothes, including my poor pear trees, above. Upon arriving home, I told my husband why I was doing what I did.

"Oh?" He asked. "I just figured it was only our plants on the block that were cold."

Ah, dry humor.

Anyway,  luckily, it turned out not to be AS bad as they said, but it still was pretty cold. The only plant that seemed to suffer a little was the new growth on the butterfly bush- I didn't even think to cover that! Despite the warnings to not do so, I did leave the clothes on top of the plants (unless it was the old sheets) to endure the second cold night as well.

And when I uncovered them on Wednesday afternoon- the pear tree blossoms were safe!

Unseasonably warm weather- it's an early spring!

Love love love this Hellebore along my back fence. It's bigger than last year, so it must love being here, too!

The weather is beautiful- a little too unusual at this time of year - with the temperature possibly breaking the 70s this week! How crazy! The garden is growing quickly as if it was May. The only (there's always one) disappointment this spring so far is that I seem to have less daffodils blooming then last year. (Unless it's just too early to tell.) I've tried to figure out the source of the problem, and it may be due to not fertilizing them. (I'm pretty sure it's not cutting the foliage off too quickly after they bloom- I think I gave them a good long while to decay last year.) There seems to be clumps of greenery but few blooms. Bummer. Hoping the late season daffodils pull all the punches this year!

Here's what's blooming today:

Beautiful Iris Reticula along the driveway.

Lungwort for the shade.

Pansy from seed! Hurray! This little guy is out in pots now.

Ditto for this Johnny Jump Up from seed.

The pear tree is starting to come to life. It's too early! Stay put!!

The roses are sending out new leaves already.

This is where I've planted the first crop of peas today.

Rhubarb.

March Roll Call

I was happy to see this little honey bee in the garden yesterday when I started taking photos. He was one of five I spotted, and today there was a large bumblebee making his way through the garden, too. The mourning doves by the feeders are getting friendly with each other, the red-wing blackbirds made a migration stop over the weekend, and the grackles are back in town. Nature doesn't seem to mind an early spring, that's for sure! Here are some other highlights from yesterday and today in the garden:

 This deep dark hellebore is in bloom at the back of the garden.

More crocus shots. I came home from working a long exhausting week on Saturday (51 hours! What!), and spied the multiple crocuses all along our front entryway. It made me instantly smile, and it brightened my mood immediately. I must remember to buy and plant more of them this fall! What a difference seeing them makes, even if our winter has not been that bad! (In fact, I checked last year's photos, and our crocuses bloomed around March 28 last year. This year they began to show up last week.)

We hit 70 degrees today, so I took the geranium seedlings out from under the lights to enjoy some real sunshine (perhaps I should have put them in the shade- I forgot about the whole hardening off rule.) It looks like we'll be in the mid-60s and high 50s for the rest of the week. What a wonderful March! (Hope we don't go out like a lion!)

The pansies I started from seed are just beginning to flower. Here are two that were hardened off in the cold frame for the last week, and are now living in the blue pots out front.

 I cleared the Christmas tree boughs off the garlic beds today and found healthy shoots underneath!

And today is the earliest I've ever seen a daffodil flower! This was part of the mixed bag I purchased last fall. It should be fully open by tomorrow or Wednesday.