Has Spring Sprung?

Or am I just being optimistic?  Yesterday's high was 81; today's was 71; tomorrow's is 51.  I might have jumped the gun, but if I did, so did my yard, the nurseries and just about everyone I saw out in their yards today.  

  Mom and I were supposed to go Nursery Hopping today, but we spent our whole budget at one store.  I got a lilac and a camellia.  I can't remember what she got, only that it took her a lot longer to decide than it did me.  I have been fully immersed in all of Penelope Hobhouse's books on gardening, and I long for a cottage garden.  I have a checklist of plants I must have, and the lilac and camellia were on that list.  They've gone in near the peonies I planted in October.  Remember the little nubby roots I planted while it was snowing?  Here's one of them, the largest.  No blooms or buds yet, and they aren't supposed to have any until next year, but all three have come up and are thriving.  

  The camellia has two frothy blooms, and at first sniff, have no scent, but as they sat in my car while I ran my errands today, they became quite fragrant.  The lilac has a little under a zillion buds, and I just noticed my neighbor's lilac is just beginning to bloom.  I think mine might not be far off.

If you remember the loropetalum I bought in November, you'll remember I posted a photo of someone else's from the internet.  Well, mine is now in full bloom, and simply gorgeous.  My iphone camera is not the best, so it doesn't do it justice, but today was the first day I noticed it, and it took my breath away.  

Yesterday, I put the geraniums out on the porch from their winter home, the back porch, where they bloomed their heads off all winter.  I noticed as I sat on the porch and knitted that people were slowing down and looking at them.  Whether it was the flamingos, the geraniums or both, I'm not sure.

One thing that keeps catching my eye on my way to and from the car is this Carolina Jessamine I planted two springs ago.  It has suddenly burst into exuberant bloom, clinging to my sister's copper tubing trellis. 

And my garden is bursting with nitrogen and nutrients, full of Crimson Clover and rye grass, tempting me to plow and plant.  But Jeff Ross, gardener to the stars, keeps telling me to wait until after April 15th, the normal date of our last frost.  It's difficult to wait, but I'd rather do so than risk sad, frost-burnt plants.

 I also bought some snapdragons for the front yard, as well as some bulbs for anemones and alliums, but the daylight was waning, my stomach was growling and it was time to call it a day.  I leave you with my lovely but sparsely populated red bud tree, fading in the sunset.