I Think It May Be Spring! But Don't Hit Me!

I know that as I write this many of you are still buried under ice and snow.  I'm really sorry!  Truly.  Here in North Texas we certainly had our share.  More than even a bad winter would usually be.  The mornings still have a definite chill, but green is popping up all over.

My peonies are my pride and joy.  So much so, that I am considering ripping out much of what is in the back garden and slowly filling it in with peonies.  Why?  Well, for one...they're not suppossed to grow here.  I brought the first one home in 1995 from Monticello.  Planted it in a place I had no idea it would grow and for years it didn't.  Then...it did.  And every year it gets stronger and stronger.  I have added more plants each year so that now there are 13.  My soil is very acidic.  We have a huge live oak that provides the mulch and to be honest.....if we don't have a cold winter like this last one.... you wil find me pouring bags of ice on the flower beds every week so those peony bulbs think it is cold!

That top picture is my oldest plat.  A beautiful magenta Sarah Bernhardt. I counted 40 buds on just that one plant!  Oh late April/ early May will be glorious!
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The second picture is the newest peony.  Planted just last year, she is another SB.  No buds this year, but I didn't expext one.

I really never thought that Gerbera Daisies were perennial.  I think I say this every year because I am surprised when they start poking up.  But there they are!

The oakleaf hydrangea just popped open today. Yesterday those wern't there. And that pot holds Beebalm which, although perennial, doesn't seem to be here.  But I guess I am being proven wrong this year.

At the end are my beloved St. Joseph Lilies.  I have written about these here. They are like old friends
 now :))