Seasonal progress in the yard

Monday (4 March) brought us the first iphieon; Tuesday, the first sweet pea, a purple one; Wednesday, a rose on the stock that used to be the base for another rose; and today, Saturday, our first tulipa clusiana (alternating soft red and blue-white petals on the outside, with a blue-white interior. We have more and more iphieons and more and more grape hyacinths. In Mack's yard, there are now blue Dutch irises and tending-toward-blue-violet ones making a show everywhere. There's a red anemone out front. Sun Disc and plenty of Ice Fillies are to be seen from the windows of the study. One of the potted nasturtiums is blooming now more than ever (golden-orange with red-orange rays) and is elbowing itself up on a hardware-cloth fence and some Turk's cap stalks. Geraniums and milkweeds are flowering happily and profusely in pots. We have some mystery narcissi that are similar to Suzy but a bit larger.