So what happened??

Maybe I have tested the rain gods with this blog. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything! We've gotten so sensitized to drought here that any little superstition can somehow explain why it has stopped raining. I think the answer is pretty simple.....sometimes it rains, sometimes a lot. Sometimes it doesn't, sometimes a lot.

Meanwhile, the spring here continues to be a blockbuster. Oakleaf Hydrangeas (Hydrangea quercifolia) are budded up and ready to explode. Here's a photo (right) of the faded flower color on Hydrangea quercifolia 'Amethyst'. It opens as a huge white panicle, then fades to THIS! WOW. As I have been saying for two years that this species, and the other native Hydrangea (arborescens) are both well adapted to the vagaries of the SE weather, and do perform regardless.

Other natives extend the spring show, some with an exhibitionsitic flareFothergilla major 'Mt Airy'
some with quiet seduction. Asimina triloba

Viburnums are also showing off this month. Too many to list here, but a few notable that I have come to love. Viburnum sargentii 'Onondaga' is rarely seen in the trade but is a real beauty.
The red is deep and rich, the leaves unfold in lovely patterns of creases and color. The flower is more like a lacecap hydrangea than you might guess. White sterile flowers, maroon lace. This plant will get tall, but it is not such a space hog like the doublefiles and others.

Hosta 'Vanilla Creme'I took some Hostas to a customer this morning. I don't know many cultivars, but I do know what I like, and this little fella is one-

TS Eliot wrote "April is the cruelest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
The Waste Land, 1922"

On this last day of April, I am hoping that May will continue to stir.