no more hints

If each spring has its own theme, or at least its own story, with certain blooms doing better than others, this one is turning out to be a good one for the redbud trees, and for tulips, a much maligned bulb in Indy, by myself and others.

The redbuds are unwinding their blossums, creating their understated coloring of the horizon, peering out from the edges of other, tall trees.

And the tulips? Even the remnants that show up as a stray but decidedly large tulip leaf in the oddest places are actually blooming this year. I've seen tulips in beds of groundcover. Under trees that will soon put them in deep shade. All leftovers, all responding to the conditions of this particular season.

The several days of sunny, mid-70s (F) temps is also having an effect on the schedule of blooms. After seeing two different dogwoods open up yesterday, it is safe to say that all blooming trees are in some stage of blooming in Indy. None of the slow and teasing cycle, starting with cherrys and magnolias, leading to ornamental pears and redbuds and finally to dogwoods and crabapples. You can find examples of all right now.

And my tulips, doing quite well are all blooming together, including the early bloomers and the later ones.

The crabapples often get shortchanged by heat This year, they are already opening up, but some are going almost directly to leaf, without much bloom.

As a gardener told me yesterday, maybe we will have a long summer without the normal period of spring blooms. It is all happening a bit too fast. Alas.