I walked out the back door this morning and all I had to do was breathe to know that the lilacs have begun to bloom.  It’s a fragrance I wait for each spring, one I wish stayed around longer. Cut branches will fill the house with their scent.  I’ll enjoy each and every breath, indoors and out.

Elsewhere in the garden, the oldest and largest of the bleeding hearts are in full bloom.  The others aren’t far behind.  The tulips, grape hyacinth, and late blooming daffodils add splashes of color in patches across the yard.  The flowering hellebores are hanging in there, and the honeyberry bush is full of little bell-shaped flowers that the bees can’t seem to get enough of.  The blueberry bush crushed during the March blizzard is looking a bit sad, but it’s slowly leafing out, so I have hopes it will eventually recover.

Around the house, the bumblebees keep setting off the Blink camera on my doorbell.  It took a while to figure out what was happening, until I went outside and paused to watch them buzzing from flower to flower.  Sure enough, when I took a closer look at the latest video, there was a fat old bee flying past the camera. 

The daffodils in front have passed their prime and need to be deadheaded, but the creeping phlox is in bloom, as is the vinca.  While the flowering quince won’t reveal its foliage for a while, its deep red flowers (and its half-inch-long thorns) live up to my nickname for it:  “Beauty and the Beast.” 

While the heuchera aren’t in bloom, their foliage has put on its warm-weather colors.  The hostas have broken through the ground, and I’m considering adding some of the shoots to tonight’s dinner menu.  In the meantime, I need to do some weeding and add mulch. 

Oh, and the leggy, starter fuchsia I bought last summer and never got around to planting over-wintered well.  I’ve enjoyed watching the three buds on its single stalk grow plump.  I’m thinking of training it into a standard form.  My garden to-do list grows longer each day.

Yes, this is it.  The sun is shining, there’s a gentle breeze blowing, and spring is here in all its glory.