I can’t help it. It’s almost 50 here today, slightly smoggy, otherwise sunny, and I’m coming down with a bad case of spring fever. What, already? Yes, already. It’s nice out, a light jacket is all I need, and things are stirring in the garden.

Now, an awful lot of people, people who will incidentally feature prominently in my autobiography, Surrounded by Weirdos, would tell me that it’s simply wrong for the weather to be this nice at this time of year, and that I should take something for my spring fever. To them I offer this quote from The Year at Great Dixter by Christopher Lloyd.

“Like farmers and fishermen, gardeners are close to the weather. In a state of continual tizz that it will do what they hope yet without transgressing the bounds of what seems ‘right’ for the season, they become superstitious. It only requires an unseasonably mild day or two any time between October and April and they’ll be shaking their heads on the dismal ‘We’ll pay for it later’ principle. The idea of retribution dies hard. Wouldn’t you rather have good weather now and pay for it later, than quite possibly, not have it at all? I believe in seizing the moment and in taking what follows as it comes.”

So there. Here are more slides; some of these plants would be blooming now if they weren’t dead. Most are spring bloomers, though.

Rabiea albipuncta, or difformis, I forget which, blooming not in spring, or summer, or autumn, but in ……

Veronica bombycina

Thymus ‘Peter Davis’

I forget the name of this extra dark red velvety sempervivum, and the slide isn’t marked

Scutellaria prostrata

Scutellaria sp. “Z.Z.”. rock gardeners know to whom this refers …Cindy weeded this out by mistake, and, gentle and understanding person that I am, I didn’t even get mad, just sighed, and tried to replant it

Now this is incomparably exciting. My photographer was not impressed, and thought this was a waste of good film.

Brodiaea terrestris

Crocus sieberi ‘Firefly’. another flower that does not bloom in spring, summer, or autumn

Draba dedeana. I got this from a friend in upstate NY, and she was astonished that it bloomed here in January

Gypsophila bricquetiana

Gilia caespitosa

Narcissus rupicola

Bulbocodium vernum

Douglasia montana

Eriogonum ovalifolium var. nivale, with Penstemon laricifolius (the little green things)

Castilleja sp, free range, I forget where Cindy took this picture