Well if I thought the spuria looked good last year...

I walked out in the back this afternoon and was greeted by at least three blooms apiece on stalks where I'd never seen more than one before! And there is a whole 'nother scape ready to burst open. I am awash in giddiness. These are gorgeous glowing things in the early dusk, and they are fully four to five feet tall, healthy as horses.

Whether the difference has been our drought-drought-freeze-flood-freeze-freeze-flood winter, or the fact that they got Buds 'n Blooms both this spring and last, I do not know. But I know they will be getting more Buds n' Blooms. Here's a closeup:

Bookkeeping: Last weekend I planted 10 Siberian iris "Caesar's Brother," 3 asiatic lily "Lollipop" and one lavender calla in the northeast corner of the back bed (a forlorn barren spot by the gate).

Catching up on three weekends of garden blooms

Here it is the first weekend in April and my Duchesse de Brabant bush is covered, just exploding with buds. She's already given me three fat frilly roses, currently scenting the bedroom:

Last weekend I was amazed to find five of my Thalia jonquils sporting lovely, pure-as-snow white flowers, two to a stem. The blooms are larger even than I had expected (this is the first year they've bloomed for me) but with that stunning graceful form that looks almost more like an orchid than a narcissus; the scent is pure paperwhite narcissus, though. These two came to work with me and spent the week making my desk happy, along with a miniature Parade rose that I think might be Apollo Parade:

And the weekend before that, I was stunned to see blooms on my tiny. tiny Louisiana jonquils, which like the Thalia did not bloom their first spring, but must have enjoyed our conditions this year -- drought, freeze, flood, freeze, neglect, freeze, flood. Hmph. They're also called Early Louisiana jonquils, which fits 'cause they did come up first -- middle of March. Tiny things, and sweet-scented -- I zoomed in close for detail here. Also borne in pairs:

Since I have planted a drift of, say, five bulbs each year, I am now starting to get the effect of a few dozen wide paintbrush strokes that appear in green at first, then flame into a different color as each week rolls on. This fall, I think, if I put in some Iris reticulata and perhaps a peachy white jonquil, I'll be able to expand the magic a few weeks (and a few colors). Off to place my order!