It became a little colder today (in the 50s [°F]) today and my cherry tree looks just like it did yesterday with no new blooms. To the left, you can see the rapidly budding flowering almond; to the right, one of the early blooms of kerria japonica ("Japanese rose").

My wife pulled out more than a wheelbarrow-full of lovely, rich compost; I used about a quarter of it mixed with items like alfalfa meal, cottonseed meal, rock dust, rock phosphate, etc., and spread it around the cherry's drip line, as well as around the other fruits (blueberry, fig, and apple) except I ran out of this load before the stalk apple trees.

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.

We had pretty good weather that allowed me to work in the garden in shorts. I took advantage of the imminent rain (which came around 5p) to fertilize the front lawn with a 36-pound bag of Milorganite. I also made up a mixture of compost, bat guano (compassionately harvested when bats in Texas were not in their caves), cottonseed meal, alfalfa meal, rock dust, earthworm castings, and rock phosphate, as well as some Eden Rich plant-based fertilizer from GardensAlive! . I used that self-mixed fertilizer blend to apply under azaleas and hollies in the front, both of which are starting to have bud swell, and a little to my blueberry and fig. I also distributed 3 6-pound bags of epsom salts around my roses to encourage new basal breaks; I could have used a little more, and will pick another bag up soon.

Spring is in the air! The blueberry bush has lots of blooms, outdone by the rosemary bush, with many light purple blooms. Hyacinths have been opening, and today I noticed that both forsythia and flowering almond are starting to bloom - forsythia's blooming indicates I can now prune my roses. Lady Banks Rose, as well as most of the other roses, is leafing!

Spring is coming! Here you can see pictures of my flowering quince starting to bloom, 'Holland Sensation' daffodil, and winter honeysuckle and rosemary blooms.

We have been having unusually warm weather, in the 70s (°s F) and even touching the low 80°s! The fig tree has done great this year and grown nicely and healthily. It quickly acknowledged autumn by dropping all of its leaves fairly abruptly a week or two ago. Here you can see the camellia on the east side of my house beginning to bloom.

For about a week now, blueberries have been ripening! Just this afternoon, for example, about a dozen berries were ready. A few days ago, my butterfly bush started blooming. The fig seems quite happy to be planted and the little fruits are growing. I am thinking of cutting the lavender stalks and drying them; they are nearing the point where that can be done.