SNEAKY SPRING

Mr. Bee leads the way.

I was headed out to the laundry room yesterday when I suddenly caught the faintest whiff of something delightfully, well, honeyish.  I paused in my tracks, thinking "Hmmm, this is familiar, and I think it indicates something important, but I don't quite remember what..."  Then a buzzing brown blur whizzed past me, landing on the boxwood shrub to my left.  Oh yeah, that's what it means.  It's SPRING!

Boxwood Blooms

Spring always catches me off guard here in the Texas Hill Country.  It was just a couple of weeks ago that we were finally coming to grips with winter: our first serious deep freeze predicted; first reports of burst pipes; first snow, etc.  Then, last week, I read a post on facebook from a gardening friend, and found myself thinking "Whoa!  You mean to tell me I should have started sprouting seed potatoes weeks ago, and they should have been in the ground by Valentines?  How can I possibly be so far behind on my gardening chores?  It can't be spring already!"  Mr. Bee begs to differ.

Agarita buds, ready to burst.

If the Boxwood is blooming, then the Agarita can't be far behind, with an even headier honey scent, and we know what that means, don't we boys and girls?  It's almost Grape Koolaid Season! (the delicious scent you get when our native Texas Mountain Laurel blooms, all over the Hill Country)

Oh my gosh, I'm soooooo far behind on what needs to be done in the garden before then!