The Signs of Spring

Crocus tommasinianus makes sweet music with Adonis amurensis.

"The coming of spring is like the coming of a person you love,  you always think it will be the same and it is always different."

"After you grow up some things get less exciting, but the signs of spring never do."

- Elizabeth Lawrence

(from letters to Ann Preston Bridgers published in Becoming Elizabeth Lawrence by Emily Herring Wilson) 

It's hard to believe that only one week ago, we were in the clutches of a snow storm here in Charlotte, NC.  Today, I've opened all the windows in Miss Lawrence's House, and the sweet songs of birds have replaced the dull droning of the heating system.  Out in Elizabeth Lawrence's Garden it's 75℉, daffodils are popping up all over, Trillium underwoodii and T. decumbens are yawning out of winter's slumber, the intoxicatingly fragrant Prunus mume "Elizabeth Lawrence" is just spectacular, Galanthus are still nodding their delicate pristine heads, and the little tommies (pictured above) are smiling at me from nearly every planting bed.  It's a most magical time in the garden... so many botanical treasures are just waiting to delight visitors with their sweet flowers and precious fragrances.  Come see (and smell) them all!