At the Arboretum 2-20-24

Another snowfall over the weekend is keeping the grounds covered under a white blanket. Crisp, clear and cold today, but the sky was a magnificent shade of blue. The fuzzy buds of a Magnolia x ‘Butterflies’ (Hybrid Magnolia) were lovely against the azure sky. I was lucky enough to capture a male Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis) flitting about in the shrubs along the Four Seasons Garden path. A patch of lemon yellow Eranthis hyemalis (Winter Aconite) is blooming in the snow under the Cornus alba cv. Siberica (Red Twig Dogwood) providing a nice contrast between the yellow flowers and the red twigs on the Dogwood.

The days are getting longer, Daylight Saving Time is due to arrive on Sunday, March 10th and Spring is less than a month away. To quote Leo Tolstoy in Anna Karenina “Spring is the time of plans and projects”, for me that means thinking about my garden, creating new beds and introducing new plants.

Picture credits: Margery Ennist.