For several years now, the spring highlight of the garden at our Arlington store has been the Chinese snowball viburnum. It is such a beautiful specimen, probably 15 feet tall. This old-fashioned shrub is planted in a spot where it is getting very little direct sunlight. In February, the flower clusters start forming in a striking chartreuse color. By mid-March large hundreds of 6 to 8 inch snow-white blossoms cover the shrub. It is stunning.

It all ended overnight. The rain and wind knocked off most of the blossoms. It was sad – and yet so beautiful…

Sunday, I found myself in our garden all day long, the first time I have done that in awhile. What a lot there was to do and discover. Our exceptionally cold winter had me worried about plants that might not survive. That was not necessary. The olive tree had not one dead leaf. It is already beginning to flower, though I suspect again I will not see one olive to pick at season’s end. The birds always win that one. Lemon verbena, Mexican oregano, prostrate rosemary – they are all thriving. Until a week ago, I was sure my five-year old lemongrass was history. Not so, new shoots are sprouting. Three esperanza bushes are starting to grow again. I never thought for a minute they would make it.

The eight-foot bay tree suffered the most. There were lots of dead stems and crispy brown leaves. I thought I was going to have to pull it out and start all over. A win for procrastination – there were new shoots all over the tree. I spent at more than an hour selectively pruning it; I think maybe it will one day return to its former glory.

For as long as I can remember, there has been a purple martin house mounted on the fence in front of our Dallas store. Several pair returns each year to nest. I absolutely love their songs as they fly into and around the house.  This year I was in a state of panic. We had remodeled the front of the store and had forgotten about the purple martin house. A few weeks ago the martins returned to find no house there – I was crushed. Almost daily, they flew over the store, to no avail.

On Friday morning, the new purple martin house was raised. Within one hour, six martins were back singing and settling in to their new abode. All is right with the world. In the meantime, a pair of robins have started a nest under a prime spot above the perennials. And Friday morning, I watched a hummingbird at my house sit and drink out of our little water feature. Spring has sprung!