Spring may have arrived late this year but it has been almost picture perfect. For the past several years, unseasonably warm weather in April and early May meant that most plants began to leaf out and put on blooms early, only to be damaged by late spring frost. Almost every year I lose something, either the magnolia, pear or crab apple blossoms. Last year was the worst I remember with so much frost damage that the majority of the apple crop in Southern Ontario was lost.

Crab Apples in bloom May 20, 2013

Happily this year, despite a couple cold weekends, we did not see any damaging frosts. For the first time since I started gardening in the country I’ve seen every tree and shrub bloom in beautiful succession starting with the forsythia and serviceberry, through the magnolia and pear blossoms, peaking with the crab apple, hawthorn and lilac blooms and just now finishing with the cascading bridlewreath spirea and doublefile viburnum.

So despite a late start, it has been a perfect spring after all.

Viburnum plicatum f tomentosum May 30, 2013