It's a good thing that I am a freelance writer with a flexible work schedule! It is difficult to sit inside an office (like I did for 32 years) when the sun is shining and the temperature is nice and warm. Perfect weather to be outdoors. I'm outdoors so much right now that I'm even struggling to sit down and blog!The Musician and I drove out in the countryside yesterday to Hillsborough to shop at the Multiflora Greenhouses. It is too early to plant annuals, but the grower is so popular that the annuals will be sold by May. We picked up a flat of impatiens and ageratum, plus a few individual pots of coleus, fuschia, strobilanthes and a hanging basket of begonias. The annuals will stay on our warm front porch until the danger of frost has passed.
On this morning's promenade in our garden we found the daffodils, jasmine and akebia blooming. The winter daphne is still holding on to her blooms that began in December! The Japanese maple leaves are starting to unfurl. The Japanese and Siberian iris foliage have grown several inches already this week. The echinacea are sprouting leaves and I have monarda and bog sage spreading out in all the right places in the rain garden. The salvia 'Black & Blue' are showing tiny green leaves, too. What shall we do today? The Musician and I are going to walk a mile to catch a free, UNC bus instead of trying to drive into town and find parking. We're going into Chapel Hill to meet our pharmacy student son for lunch. We'll walk a few miles from campus each way to our downtown lunch spot. It will be a beautiful day on Carolina's campus where the spring trees are in bloom. By the way, if any of you are basketball fans, make sure you watch the UNC Tarheels in the NCAA game on Saturday night! Go Heels!
What are you doing about your case of spring fever? I know that all gardener's have it right now!
Story and photos by Freda Cameron