March has roared in and out through the hollow, gusts or steady siroccos almost every day, and in her wake has left us strewn with blossoms.
Lovely Witchhazel (Hamamellis) ‘Diane’ was the star of February but has now made way for the Queen of Virginia spring, the dogwood (Cornus florida), whose silken buds are just now opening along the woodland edges. Violets star the turf and have popped up in fortuitous places in the gravel by the potting shed, purple and Confederate grey. I always think of Shakespeare’s
“Who are the violets now/That strew the green lap of/The new come spring.”
It must have been a young fawn that chomped off two stalks of the ‘Pink Charm’ peony in the fig bed out back. You never know what they’re going to do. In all my years, I have never before seen deer browse a peony. Now hopefully its palate has told it it’s not on the menu! ‘Festiva Maxima’ is coming up unmolested.
The forsythia tangle is in its glory and has been in bright golden bloom since February. Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica) is slowly spreading out through the middle and will scent the summer air. Nativists will shudder. When I was a child we would pull the stamens out through the bottom of the flowers and sip the nectar. Across the drive is a pure white spray of bridal wreath spirea (S. prunifolia). I love the old country plantings that add the clashing pink quince to this traditional combination but I have not been able to bring myself to do it.
Native honeysuckle (L. sempervirens), alas not fragrant, called coral or trumpet honeysuckle, has unfurled its blue-green silken leaves up at the potting shed. The buds withstood the arctic temps of late winter and I fully expect it to make good inroads on the lattice this summer. The bright cerise flowers are a favorite of hummingbirds and I long to sit on the bench beneath them.
On this last day of the month the wind still blows, tossing the treetops, moaning through the chimney and nodding all the daffodils. We’ll look to April for our lambs.