Easter Flowers

Saturday i drove out towards the mountains to a new Gardener's Market set up on the front green of a gourmet food market. It was a bitterly cold, breezy, wet day, but there were at least four vendors there selling native shrubs as well as perennials and herbs. I could have dropped a bundle but kept tight rein on the pocketbook...bought 3 perennials in 1 quart pots, two for my shady backyard and one for my sunny front yard.

Next i went to Laughing Duck Gardens to pick up the Jerusalem artichokes that i won on her blog! It was really nice to look at a big, soon-to-be productive kitchen garden, sit down for a sociable cup of coffee and conversation, and spend some quality time with a couple of very excellent cats.

Sunday was almost as cold as Saturday had been, but at least the sun was out. I did a little bit of weeding and took some pictures of Spring's progress.
My bleeding hearts dicentra spectabilis are just popping up leaves and starting to unfurl a couple of pink flowers:
The viburnum, which is now showing LOTS of color in the buds and a few flowers are even opening:
A few flowerheads forming on "my" lilac. (This bush used to be in my former neighbor's back yard, but he kept piling up lumber and firewood along the fence, so the bush squeezed through the fence and now is growing entirely on my side.) Behind the lilacs you can see the plum trees blooming. I think these might be Damson plums. The fruit usually is full of bugs by the time it falls, but the birds and squirrels love them.
Lovely little wild violets everywhere. Most of them are the regular dark purple, but there are a few almost-white ones with purple stripes mixed in.
My hardy pansies, looking much happier now that they've gotten some rain and sun.
A few tulips blooming just in time for my across the street neighbor to look out her window and enjoy them for Easter
A really healthy clump of daffodils (with vinca behind them) in the front perennial bed.

My friend April invited me over to dinner at her house. It was her, her husband, her teen-age son, her grown-up daughter and daughter's boyfriend who were visiting from New York, and me. It was a huge spread...a ham, lasagna, green bean casserole, creamed spinach, asparagus, Greek salad, rolls...and about four or five kinds of dessert! With all that wonderfulness, the only picture i seem to have taken was of "Paul," April's son's female (!) hamster, stuffing a cracker into her cheek pouches!