The jack-in-the-pulpit that I winter sowed are finally sprouting. In the last week I have gone from having none to having four. And the columbine I sowed the winter before last are blooming profusely this year. All of them have pale yellow blooms and are gorgeous next to the dark purple blue blooms of geranium Roseanne. And the woodland garden I started last fall is filling in this year and is prettier than I thought it would be. The clematis I got two years ago is blooming this year. The woodruff, which languished in its old spot, is flourishing in its new spot. It's all pleasing me right now. Even the erigeron is doing great this year, and it never does well for me. The jasmine is blooming. Everything looks good. Yeah for gardening!

I'm very excited about my broccoli and cauliflower which are both about to start flowering. This'll be the first time I've ever grown cauliflower successfully! And maybe the first year I get peaches and significant numbers of blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and figs for the first time too. Yay! I still have to wait at least a year or two for the asparagus, pawpaws, persimmons, pomegranate and pineapple guava though. Two of my pawpaws got damaged and are regrowing from roots :( But the other two are nearly big enough to bloom...

On the ornamental front I am quivering with anticipation for the various hydrangeas to start blooming. Asiatic lilies are fat with buds and the new rose bush I won in a totally random sweepstakes from Jackson&Perkins last fall will do something spectular soon, I hope! There's a lot going on out there.

One of the weirdest (and most exciting) things is happening in our garden right now after the rain-- dozens of weird red Mutins Elegans stinkhorns have suddenly appeared sticking out of the mulch.

Oh god, where to start! This is my first house and my first season gardening. Since funds are limited, I've decided to concentrate on the vegetable garden this year, I'll start playing with flowerbeds next year. So far the vegetable garden looks great (if only half planted), and my strawberries are starting to produce (and they taste AMAZING).
I'm like a kid with a new toy. :-D

Denna

jennifratrix,
Have you discovered how the stinkhorns got their name yet? I keep getting them in the mulch around my daughters playground and it is disgusting. You ahve to remove them immediately or they will be everywhere and they smell like rotting meat.

I am most excited about my peonies. After 3 years they ahve finally bloomed and they are gorgeous. I warned them last year that if they didn't bloom this spring that was it! I am excited about everything in general, but right now the peonies have the number one spot.

No bugs yet! At least, not many. My red rose finally bloomed, and my clematis (the one I almost weeded last year) is actually covered with blooms. My iris bloomed - showing more colors than I though I had, a nice surprise since they were the leftovers of another garden. My plant swap treasures from last Spring are coming up; I'm re-discovering plants I forgot I had. And my native 'hearts-a-bursting' didn't die!

I am excited that we are finally (after almost 3 years!) fixing the drainage problem in the area next to the driveway. Now we can finally plant things there ... including a bunch of plants that have been waiting (in pots) for almost that whole time.

Unfortunately the war on honeysuckle and smilax is going slower than I thought! So other areas are not getting planted while I try to clear the area of those pest plants. Too much to do!

I was very excited about the first flush of roses, which has now almost passed. This is their year to "leap" for the most part. Looking forward to seeing the life of the shade garden along the driveway (which will then need to be taken up as they will be removing this section of the driveway when they renovate the house, so I'm enjoying it while I can...).
Also looking forward to seeing how all the new herbs that arrived from Oregon will do. Many unusual forms of Spanish Lavender, a red flowering rosemary, a creeping catmint....they are helping to fill in an area that has been bare except for annuals for the last few years as I decided what should be planted.
Excited about the evolution of the new "hell strip" plantings that are more subtle in coloration than any other plantings I've ever done at home.
Dying to see the difference between all the different orange toned agastache's I've been growing from seed!!!

GGG

I'm so excited some bearded Iris I bought in a store years ago have finally bloomed (this was before I knew about plant swaps lol!) I think the varieties are a purple called "Congratulations" that puts out a fantastic number of blooms per stem and the other is a blue on blue bi-color called "Titan's Glory". Not super positive about which names go with which Iris though but they're both eye candy regardless.

Also rescued some leafless 1 gallon white roses from Lowe's discount rack of death last year and now they finally look healthy again and just bloomed! I never used to be a huge rose fan but this may be the beginning of an obsession -- and Marcy's beautiful roses didn't help either lol. These varieties are 'Glamis Castle' and 'Iceberg'. If anyone has any tips on growing and caring for them I'd love to hear them.

Squirrellypete

When I saw the flowers early this spring, I was excited to know that one of the bushes...that I thought was nothing but a common hedge which I'd brutally trimmed down last fall....were actually camellia. There were numerous beautiful beautiful blooms! Well that's how a new gardener learns.

I'm also excited about the several lilies that have begun to flower. I'd given up hope on them as last summer they'd thrown up straggly stems with a few leaves and no buds. Since then I'd lost faith in bulbs and had taken to buying grown plants only, preferably with flowers lol :) ...needless to say I was gently reminded about the budget.

Anyhow, thanks to GGG, my faith in bulbs and tubers is back as the lovely canna, ginger and spider lilies I got from her are happily breaking through the ground....I see more and more coming out every day.... and they're rapidly gaining height! You'll hear from me when they flower.