O frabjous day! last night the Spring Peepers sang for the first time. We've had two mild days in a row, and today, a lovely warm sun means I can at last join in the garden thread, yay!

I've been cleaning up winter debris and weeding out the inevitable grass and wild asters and discovering what didn't make it through the winter. Last year a kind of wet rot destroyed my favourite irises, and this year I see other irises have been affected, but not outright killed yet. I've no idea what caused it - the roots just turn to mush, as if frozen and thawed, which is an unlikely cause, as they've survived a good ten years of the same climate and similar protection.

Other than that, though, I have tulips, daylilies, phlox, creeping phlox, forget me not, columbine, delphinium, hostas, sweet william, Pulmonaria (blooming!), peony, rhubarb, evening Lychnis, foxglove, mallow, two kinds of perennial geranium, oregano, chives, johnny jumpups, lily of the valley, bleeding heart and poppies all sprouting up all fresh and green.

I notice one old area of creeping phlox has become sprawling and sparse, and needs to be cut to the roots, and I've yet to see any rudbeckia seedlings popping up, so there may be a few spots in the soil to fill up with new plants.