Last week was so warm for so many days in a row that bloom and bud development was just about explosive. By now all pears are blooming as well as all plums, and the last time I saw them the sweet cherries were about to bloom also.

I was lucky to be able to prune grapes last week (who wanted to be inside in that weather, right?) and Cabernet sauvignon was bleeding very heavily, Norton not so much.

So far we had some colder nights again, but the danger of night frosts is not over yet, maybe about 3 more weeks until we are in the clear.

In my garden nothing much had been going on until last week, then the 3 inch daffodil leaves showed buds suddenly the next day, and a day later they all began to bloom.  Of course forsythias look really good now and the flowering quinces (hm, at least those few buds that the deer didn’t get. They don’t seem to like the forsythia!) and the cushion phlox is opening more buds each day. I even have one tulip that decided to be early this year, completing the color palette from white, to yellow and the blue of the grape hyacinths.

On the vegetable side of things I noticed the first asparagus shoots yesterday when I was planting my peas. Now that is something I can hardly wait for!