I can help with that. I used pure sand to cover my washed out limestone soil when we moved in in 1992. After many years of being on an organic program my sand has enough dark matter in it to trick you into thinking it is dark soil. I know the sand is still pure white because I tested it during a remodeling job a couple years ago. The contractor dug up an old walk way through the back yard and I was surprised to see the very dark brown color of the soil under the St Augustine. I scooped some up and dropped it into a glass of water. The white sand dropped to the bottom of the glass immediately. Most of the brown stuff floated and there was some brown discoloration of the water. I used compost once on this yard in the late 90s. The sand came to me originally as a 50:50 mix with "compost" which was extremely hot at the time. It was basically sand and horse manure. Since 2002 I've used corn meal, alfalfa pellets, and corn gluten meal. That's all. The soil looks pretty rich but it really is only sand and the composted remains of roots, leaves, grass clippings, and whatever I've applied. Does that help?

Well, what else is new? LOL Not a Chaenomeles (Flowering quince) as it has no thorns. It's a Dwarf Peach tree Prunus persicus 'Bonanza' with a similar colored bloom. It's about 4' tall now and is so pretty outside my livingroom window in front of my fav chair. I never tire of looking at it when it's blooming. Will try one more time to post the pics: Nope, still no luck with the photos here at Houzz. They need to FIX THAT! Anyone over on Natl. Garadening Assoc can see them in the database though. Scroll down to the first four photos (mine from last spring and the current blooms). https://garden.org/plants/view/125727/Dwarf-Peach-Prunus-persica-Bonanza/. :)

Thank you, Brandon! I love the roses, and the way you film them so that I can see the entiere bush, and then close ups. I also love the way you grow them - you let them do what they want to do - it looks so natural and luxurious. Jackie

I'm still hibernating. :-) But spring is more than just when it warms up in certain area. It's a way that's been used to divide up the season in days, calendar wise, for centuries. And many of the cultural celebrations that occur early spring, are basically just to give people something to do after a long winter. Where and when they originated, many have stemmed from pagan rituals from long, long ago.