I worked to get a good portion of the pile of shredded limbs left from the tulip poplar that had fallen in a windstorm on February 10th spread; normally one should not use such "green" (fresh) mulch as it can rob the soil of nitrogen as it breaks down, but since I want to put it on top of existing mulch and primarily in walkways, I think it should be okay. I spread the mulch in the front area of flowering shrubs, as well as the old rose bed and most of the fruit tree island.

Great news - I noticed that my cherry tree has its first blooms!! I saw three blooms and when I looked a half hour or so later, there were maybe ten more! The forsythia is rapidly blooming and the quince is now at peak, dropping some petals.