Thanks to the respite

There may yet be more Dutch irises to come. We have some of the shorter-stemmed alliums that came by mistake from Park that time and aren't the old, leggy ones in all the old yards. There's been a small resurgence of anemones, red St. Brigid and a few more blue de Caen. Ranunculus is going crazy, with more and more flowers every day, in more and more colors. Chiles in pots are covered with flowers. There are still just the three clematis blooms, but every petal is still attached. Every day we look for delphinium or cornflower blooms, but there are none yet. Some lantanas are blooming; others haven't even leafed out yet. The pecan limbs are embellished with soon-to-be leaves. The first round of nasturtiums continues to be colorful; they're trailing varieties that are either solid saffron or a less orange and more yellow vining version with red-orange spots at the throat. Some cucumber leaves and some tomato leaves were a bit touched on the edge by the chill but we've seen nothing more than that. All the returning and new volunteer fennel plants are very ornamental. Just how old were those free seeds when I put them in the ground? All loquats have been consumed by the creatures. Despite the chill of some of these days, the jays in particular enjoy making a great splash in the water set out fresh every day in big shallow coasters meant to go beneath pots. The potted milkweeds are all in bloom or are about to be, and one of them may even turn out to be orange and yellow and not just plain yellow.