The Bloomers

It has been the best of springs. It has been the worst of springs.
 

Warm and dry -- no frosts since early April and none forecast in May. My gardens are waking up early and with more promise than in any prior year.

But wildfires have been bad. Ranches on the other side of the mountains from us have lost everything, livestock, farms and homes. A summer home community where our neighbors had a house that had been in their family for generations has been burned out. Some homes completely lost, others badly damaged, the clubhouse gone, all services cut off so it's not habitable. 

It's devastating because we know these people, but they are the first to acknowledge that it was a community of summer homes in the mountains, not anyone's livelihood or animals. Still, the loss is difficult.

Some days the smoke here is just awful, but if the winds shift and the sun shines there are some days my gardens look great. The 'Oklahoma' redbud is having its best year. A blooming machine.

We came to an agreement after the first few years, this redbud and I. I wasn't watering it enough at first and it complained. It yellowed, lost leaves, got anthracnose, and declined. I drench it now -- a lot -- and the past year and this spring it has started to come around very agreeably with a lot less attitude.

But before you get too excited, you must realize it is still a tiny, tiny tree, swamped in a sea of mulch and unable to see over the fence yet. 

The beautifully scented viburnum by the deck has kept going and going, blooming for weeks now. 

This is by far its best year. I'm a little bit stunned actually. It never looked even close to this in past years.

Even rosemary 'Arp' is going strong, blooming with tiny pale blue flowers. Rosemary flowers are never very showy, but this is the first spring I've seen the quiet display and it's nice.

And the fruit farm promises to produce well. There are blueberry flowers blooming on my potted shrub. The birds and I are keeping a watch on them as they turn into fat berries.

As the spring gardens wake up everything looks good in a way it never did in the first years here. The early spring bloomers are blooming like never before, plants I have babied are coming in strong.

Some evenings, in the best of times, the smoke blows the other way and a lovely evening on the patio with a gin and tonic is pleasant.

Then on other evenings, in the worst of times, the smoke blows our way and makes it miserable and eerie outside.

Spring. A changeable, unsettling, rewarding time.