Things have exploded here in the time I've been gone. All the azaleas are in full bloom, the dogwoods are just past their peak. The yard is carpeted in Quakers Ladies. The Solomon's Seal are blooming, tulips are nearly finished, irises are in bud. The ferns are all up and many of the fronds are just fully opened.

Tiny flower buds on the mop head hydrangeas and the smooth hydrangeas, the ones I cut back late, are sending up lots of new shoots - got a bit of a slug problem with them but not bad enough to worry about. A friend gave me start on an oak leaf hydrangea late last summer. I let it get too dry. Thought I had lost it. While the existing stems are dead, a new shoot has emerged from the ground.

Tree pollen everywhere. The car is coated. The porch and furnishings are coated. My sinuses and bronchial tubes are coated. Great green clouds of assorted tree pollen burst out of the tree tops with every strong puff of wind. The white pines sometimes look like smoke is pouring out of them when the wind hits.   Zyrtec pooped out on me and have switched to Allegra. Benadryl works best, but turns me into a dope. Some years the allergy thing doesn't rise much above the level of annoyance. This year is kicking me in the behind.

The neighbor brought me seedlings for yellow squash and a Cherokee Purple tomato this evening. My tiny little raised bed is full of spring stuff just now reaching harvest size. I figure if I go ahead and plant the summer crops, the spring stuff will be harvested or will have bolted by the time the summer stuff needs more room and less competition.