The End Of Perky

Testing, testing, testing. A diagnosis of lung cancer has been confirmed. I won't be doing a cancer journey blog. It may get mentioned from time to time. I suspect the number of posts will dwindle since walking the gardens is difficult when you can't breathe. One more test to go and the first appointment with an oncologist is on April 7th. The waiting for some actual treatment is not fun.

The last two rounds of cold in the teens and low twenties did very little freezer burn. Daffodils like rhododendron curl up in the cold and that has a tendency to snap the flowers stems making it impossible for them to stand back up. The show of perky daffodils is mostly over. There are many more yet to bloom, so it is not totally over.

Spring continues on. The early trilliums have started to rise and they were unfazed by the frigid temperatures.

The Trout Lilies also ignored the cold as they must, being one of the very first spring ephemeral wildflowers. Their spread through the garden has been dramatic.

The snowdrops have been multiplying abundantly too. The original clumps are getting fatter and seedlings are appearing some good distance away. My heiau may be about as big as it is going to get. Like sands in the hourglass, these are the rocks of the heiau.

Some damn varmint dug up the chionodoxa bulbs right after I planted them. I wasn't sure how many would show up this spring. It looks like I got a good take. This isn't the more prolific multiplying plain species though. Maybe they will surprise me.

This is what I like, when one becomes many. Trillium luteum keeps expanding.

Amazing Grace

I spent my 65th birthday in a hospital. Testing, testing, testing. I have not been feeling better. My shortness of breath has gotten so bad, so rapidly, I can't walk ten steps without having to stop and catch my breath. My right lung is partially collapsed. I'm on oxygen now. The tentative word was lung cancer. More tests were needed for the particulars. I can't breathe which means I can't work and had to call all my clients to let them know I would not be back this year.

The daffodils have had an amazing, way early, full bloom this spring. It has been nice to see it happen. A cold front with a dash of snow came through and the lows the next two days will be in the lower 20's. We shall see what is left when the cold is done with a spring that came too soon.

The new pulmonologist doctor from the start of my appointment today was not in the least bit willing to declare lung cancer from the previous test results she had seen. It could be something else. Really? There is hope. Happy Birthday to me. Testing, testing testing.

Tomorrow they are going to drain all the fluid off my right lung. Hopefully it will re-inflate. Friday they are going to stick a tube down my throat into my lungs to collect a bunch of samples. This is what I wanted. Action. Now. To find out what is going on to steal my breath away. Cancer has not been ruled out, but it is no longer the only option. 

The doctor and hospital staff were wonderful today, speeding things through a backed-up system for a patient clearly in distress. My family, friends and clients have all rallied around me to let me know I am loved and appreciated even with my faults. That is such an amazing gift. I have lived a charmed and blessed life in so very many ways. I have so much to be grateful for.

The Trout Lilies will open in the sunshine. Let me be the boy who cried cancer. I have gardens to tend. I can handle the embarrassment of a false alarm in exchange for the love and caring I have seen. Testing, testing, testing.

Daffodils In The Forest

The daffodils are at peak bloom. In a normal year that would happen closer to April 1st.

This is not going to be a normal year.

I wait for the flat light of a cloudy day to go for a walk in Bulbarella's garden next door. The early warm pushing them to full bloom has been nice. The full sunshine of cloudless days is bad for picture taking in the light and shadow that causes in a forest filled with daffodils. The sun may go out tomorrow.

The Daffodils Begin

The warm continues with passing systems producing generous rains every few days. The daffodils are in full on bolt.

The deer ate every last crocus on the Great Lawn. A giant flower show was obliterated in the night. It is most annoying.

Daffodils are poisonous thank you very much.

There are some crocus left right beside the house.

The Trout Lily have started blooming too. They are spreading at an exponential rate and could become groundcover like in a few more years.

This is unusual for the first day of March. Normally I would expect just the foliage to be up and showing by the middle of the month.

I may see daffodils bloom this year that quite regularly get zapped by a winter storm. That is not out of the question at this point for sure, but for now it is more warm days out to the horizon. The daffodils are going for it.

In the land where the waters will carry me away.

A Day Late For Bloom Day.

Yesterday was not a good day. I felt completely exhausted, unable to move, and spent the day napping on and off. I lost track of what day it was. It was Bloom Day and I slept through it. This sinus infection seems to be lifting, but it is not letting go easily. Rotating days of warm have set the bulbs in motion. Sunshine signals opening days.

These early crocus remind me to go have a look at the house next to the Catholic church in town that is a solid lawn of crocus. It is a sight to behold.

The sunshine encourages the snowdrops to open fully as well.

 

This is the beginning of many full Bloom Days to come.

The Witch Hazels are in bloom. It is interesting that they seem to have long petal and short petal years. Or I am imagining things.

I caught a sweet whiff of 'Arnold's Promise' passing by. That is a good sign. I am so over feeling sick.

More crocus arrive on a daily basis.

The damn deer eat my crocus. This year they will be getting a mouth full of hot pepper to go with my flowers.

The hellebore are in bloom too.

Next up will be the daffodils. They are rising in force. I'm running late on my chop and drop this year and spring is running a touch early. I need to feel better soon.

An Easter Bloom Day

My house smelled amazing when I got home this afternoon. I caught a bouquet of evicted lilies before they were left out in the cold. The first flower opened while I was gone. The house smelled so good, I had to crack open a window.

It's Bloom Day on Easter weekend. Let's go out for a walk in the garden. Then you can go visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens for more Bloom Day festivities.

I have Creeping Phlox

And the last of the daffodils.

The late blooming daffodils are a safe bet in the vicissitudes of spring.

Into the forest with Golden Ragwort and Celandine Poppy.

The Trilliums are rising.

The multi-petal Bloodroot.

There are acres of gardens to wander and more in bloom than I can record. I also needed a bucket of rocks for a small wall restacking. So I went and did that.

One bucket was good. It wasn't enough. I will be out in the garden. I can fetch more rocks on an Easter weekend, out in the mountain top garden.

Untying Hairballs

There was a successful attempt to get into the old Picasa photo editor as you can see by the copy right text in the first photo. On the second try I was locked out again. Something is amiss and remains so. I can't keep storing photos on this computer.

Computers have a mind of their own. I am starting to lose my mind. The forgetting has begun. This blog is extremely dated and is in desperate need of a makeover. Merging the computer mind with my mind to accomplish that seems like a rather daunting task these days.

I muddle along entwined in a hairball.

The snow melted quickly. I've been wandering about to see how fresh spring growth fared in the snowy cold.

The daffodils were still there with only a few more bent flower stems. Freeze damage of any form was undetectable.

All of that fresh green growth is bulbs. In two more weeks, Bulbarella's mountain will be covered in blooming Spanish Bluebells. If all goes well. That is never a given.

Trilliums and Celandine Poppy are multiplying with abandon.

Tomorrow, I go for my post-secondary cataracts eyeball checkup. Hairballs. Eyeballs. The garden grows on.

Among The Wounded Daffodils

There is no way around the fact that the main daffodil show of spring 2022 was obliterated. There are wounded daffodils every where you look. Look elsewhere and you will find a lot of other minor bulbs and the quickly returning native Spring Beauty and Toothworts in bloom.

The Chionodoxa are putting on a very good show.

Puschkinia, Scilla and Corydalis join in.

Two weeks after the Polar Plunge, the late blooming daffodils are starting to open.

Some look quite perfect.

But it is early April and cold can and is coming again this weekend. Normal cold, not scary cold. Perhaps with a dash of snow.

The view from my front porch in a warm spring rain. What else is going to get frozen this year?