It’s slim pickings for new bloom this week as another cold spell with night temperatures below freezing frightened off a few flowers and their growth!

The male Box Elder, manitoba maple, Acer negundo is showing masses of its tassle-like flowers as it reliably does! Luckily the male tree my son grew from seed does not attract the Box Elder Bugs like the female flowers do. This now massive 42 year old tree offers so much lovely shade, I am glad we have it.

Cushion Spurge Euphorbia polychroma(many colours) is just beginning to show its bright yellow bracts. Many ask what this plant is in the spring as it is a stand out in many ways. The yellow colour is actually the leaf-like structure around the flower.

The damage from the extreme cold (-39C) this winter is now showing. The Forsythia, has leafed out but there were two flowers when normally it would be a mass of yellow! By the time I got there there was one way down, where it was protected in the leaf mulch.

The daffodils and tulips continue to increase in numbers as the sun warms cooler parts of the garden. The Fritillaria, Pulmonaria, Hellebores and Grape Hyacinths are all doing well, Hyacinth and Scilla are now fading.

Two welcome visitors popped in and I am starting to have enough flowers to bring indoors again!

I haven’t been out much on the trails this week but beyond the garden gate, I have seen the Holly Grape, Mahonia aquifolium, coming into bloom which is a good sign for the berry pickers in the fall.