The major palette is still grey and dark green, but the promise of spring is here. Soft green buds hang like rain drops on the bare arching branches of wild shrubs in the surrounding forest. Cherry trees are showing a pink haze and green is showing at the base of the salvias and nepeta. The white lilies I love are showing green, and David phlox is alive. The new leaves on the roses have been bitten by the freezes that come and go, but the growth keeps coming, faster, faster as night time temperatures reach past 40 degrees. The albas, more resolute and tight, grow it seems in fits and starts, with no grey green leaves touched by cold.

Days are 12 hours now, lengthening by a spare 3 or so minutes a day until summer solstice when daylight to dark will stretch to 17 hours. Is it possible? Last summer passed so quickly, it seems a dream. But the photos of the garden don't lie, do they? When July comes, I'll be afraid to sleep, something like driving all night on a cross country trip, looking for the only town within 100 miles with an all night diner and gas station. If I blink I might miss it.

We're still having rain, which i good because we haven't had much yet and the rain season is coming to a close. For those of you who don't live here and don't know, as I did not before I moved here some twenty-odd years ago, we get all of our rain between October and May, and nearly all of it from December through March. So the fact that we finally topped ten inches this season yesterday means I'm in no hurry for the rain to stop.

All over the place buds are breaking and trees and shrubs are leafing out in that rich, tender mahogany foliage. Daffodils and redbuds are in glorious bloom, as are the clematis. That last surprised me. I didn't remember from previous years that clematis was so early.

Rosefolly

Raining, raining, here too, although to my surprise we are still (at 30 inches) a half inch below our "normal to date" number. Our season (ends in June) "normal" total is 35 inches, and it does look like we will make that this year.

Despite the fact that it has been raining at least every other day for weeks, plants in my garden are having Spring. Our old flowering crab apple tree is in full bloom, and to my delight is holding on to its bloom for now in spite of all of the rain.

All of the camellia bushes (we have 3 old giant ones - a white, a pale pink, and a large dark pink) are in full bloom.

Most of the bulbs are up & blooming - daffodils, Iris, sparaxis, etc. Of course, everywhere there are masses of forget-me-nots, none of which I planted - they just show up.

Also just showing up w/o any human intervention are lots of valerian plants - not quite blooming yet, but sprouting & they will be blooming in a little while. The valerian and the forget-me nots have even planted themselves in a large pot I have that is sitting on a 4 foot high tree stump - last Spring I noticed how great they looked in that pot. The original planting of cascading petunias were still there at the edges, draping down over the pot. Sometimes Mother Nature makes much better flowers arrangements than I do!

Of course, the naturalized yellow oxalis is a bright yellow ground cover everywhere - despite my efforts over they years to get rid of it. It does look great in early Spring. Then I have to pull up as much as I can, because it will shade out other plants. It is all over our county - everywhere you look. I decided long ago that I had better enjoy it, as it is not going away!

Jackie

My dwarf purple crape myrtle is putting out darling young leaves, the penstemons are beginning to show a few of their blush-purple flowers and the pelargoniums, which have never really stopped blooming, are putting out dozens of new buds. The sea lavender is blooming its head off, reinvigorated by the winter rains. Since some of the roses are also blooming, and most have new leaves, it's far from a grim scene, and a preview of what I hope will be a beautiful spring show this year.

Ingrid

The early flowers are blooming, and spring has officially started. The pussy willows started a couple of weeks ago, and the snowdrops are in full bloom. The early crocus in the lawn are doing their thing, but looking like I should replenish their numbers next fall. Winter aconite is in full bloom, and the hellebores are starting. I could probably find some skunk cabbage, if I looked, and the New England forum is discussing peepers.

Now I just need to start my tomatoes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Spring 2011 Photos

Harborrose, when I lived in Olympia I did that arithmetic and counted the minutes of the lengthening days as well! I do it here, too, as we're not that much further south than we were in Washington. I found out that I'm a highly photoreactive person.
In Washington my impression was that spring went on forever, blissfully. Summer didn't really start until around the 4th of July, and while July was too bright and even hot for me, August was already a sweet mild month. Coming from Florida as I did I really had to adjust my ideas of what seasons are supposed to be. But I liked the pattern of the seasons in the Pacific Northwest just fine.
Madgallica, sounds like you need spring to be happening where you are! I've lived in mild climates all my life; don't know how I'd take being in a place with such a long winter.

Melissa, I'm getting adjusted and am liking it here quite a bit. I've learned that there is spring and there is autumn, rainy and cool both. And then a few minutes of winter and a few minutes of summer.

Sometimes I really miss the sun, but when I think I might be a little stir crazy from too much grey, I'll awake to a blue and brilliant sky and I forget then that it's ever been anything but a blissfully cool and beautiful place.

Last year's summer lasted not even a few minutes, but maybe this year will be a little longer.

Indeed, it is spring. Yesterday I spent my first day of the year out in the garden pruning. By mid-afternoon it was actually hot out there in the sun--I was sweating! Just think--a couple weeks ago I was huddling in my winter clothes and trying to avoid those bone-chilling winter winds. We just jumped from one season to the next in about one week's time!

My first blooms of the year are always those vivid purple crocuses strewn around the edges of a couple beds--I adore them. They are just finishing up now and the cheerful yellow daffodils are taking over, with some forsythia in the background, and the purple hyacinth are starting to open. Some purplish-bluish pansies managed to winter over and are in full bloom. I always refer to this early season as my purple and gold garden.

No other colors yet--except a lot of green things poking through the ground (tulips). The roses are all starting to put out lovely green and reddish leaves. Saw a misty green in the sky yesterday--was puzzled until I realized the neighbor's tree was beginning to leaf out! The other trees haven't caught up yet.

I can't wait for the redbuds to make their misty lavender-pink buds--so lovely. My pink tulips and pink and lavender creeping phlox get going then--leading up to my beloved beloved pink poppies and white and pink peonies, punctuated by purple and blue and lavender irises here and there--my pink and lavender garden that replaces the purple and gold one.

And during all this actitivity, my roses keep growing and growing--they should be able to join in the symphony of color by peony time. And of course, they become the queens of the garden when they finally burst into full bloom.

I just love my spring gardens.

Kate

Spring started with rain here yesterday, too (for Southern Californians this is still worth mentioning ;-)). In my garden my white camellias are now approaching their peak, looking very elegant and sophisticated. Alstroemeria, different varieties of scabiosa, nemesia are blooming already, whereas, dianthus, heucheras, dusty miller are just getting ready to flower.

And the roses, the roses are approximately 2 weeks behind in comparison to last year. I blame our relatively cold winter weather. Still Baronne Prevost was the first rose to bloom for me this year and is over her peak, already. Sweetness, a modern lavender grandiflora will be the second rose to flower and the buds are ready to open. My Iceberg roses, Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Zephirine Drouhin have set buds, but all the other roses planted in the ground don't even show any buds, yet. Of course, the roses growing in pots are a different story. They are giving me sporadic blooms all winter long and have slightly increased their production rate in the last 2 weeks. That is why I always will grow some roses in containers, just to help me get through the winter.

Melissa, you were right in your last post, by now I found out that I can grow violets here. Yay! Thanks for making me aware of this. Now I just have to plant them, like many other companion plants. So much to do so little time...

Happy spring, everyone!

Christina

Here is a link that might be useful: Organic Garden Dreams