Spring Planting!

It finally began warming up here and my attitude was "Better late than never." I resumed planting, beginning with two Bleeding Heart plants, a gift from a neighbor:

My PJM Rhododendron bloomed nicely:

And then it became even more beautiful:

I continued to put the Begonias, seed trays and baby roses out on nice days. They seemed to benefit from it:

And then one day I planted five of the six baby roses in the front yard, next to last year's hardy roses:

The sixth baby rose, a vigorous climber, got planted beneath the old sign frame. I'm hoping it will grow up over the whole frame. I'll cut off some of the cherry and pear limbs to give it more sun, but I want to wait until after they bloom:

Violets bloomed all through the lawn:

And Grape Hyacinths sprang up next to the bicolor Daffodils:

At close range, it's evident how this plant got its name:

And a new, fourth variety of Daffodil began to bloom, this one with small, buttery yellow flowers:

My neighbor saw me mowing my tall lawn grass and stopped to see if he could rake up the clippings for his cows. Of course I said yes:

He and his uncle raked grass clippings while my dogs watched. Only Fergus continued barking after they saw who it was. Fergus just can't help himself:

Spring's A Poppin'

Our much delayed and much anticipated springtime, once begun, burst upon us like fireworks. These bi-colored Daffodils were among the first signs of real spring:

 The lawn filled with Common Blue Violets:

 The hated and pernicious Japanese Knotweed began to pop up in all the usual places:

A surprise Grape Hyacinth (or a cluster of them) emerged among the Daffodils:

 The second plum tree blossomed and there was a brief couple of days when both plums were blooming simultaneously, giving me hope that they were cross pollinated:

 Plum blossoms are pretty flowers, and a pleasure to have on the property:

 Pear and Cherry blossoms among the still emerging apple trees, with the farm house in the background:

 The cherry blossoms were not abundant, but there were enough of them to provide hope for eating cherries this summer:

 Dandelions suddenly appeared in the lawn and pasture. I know many people hate them, but I think they're gorgeous:

 The pear tree blossomed and I decided these were the nicest flowers of all - at least so far:

The old fashioned Lilac bushes budded, almost ready to burst into bloom and fill the yard with their perfume:

 Wild Shadbush flowers all along every road were almost done for the year, but I found a couple of them to photograph: