Buzzing about Spring? Nah. Never mind that my trees are a full month ahead of schedule. People are buzzing about an overnight low that broke the previous record high. People are buzzing about Memorial Day water temps on St. Patrick's Day. Thanks to AGW it appears we're playing with loaded dice. Interesting times indeed. Spring bloomers are pretty an all, but I'd just prefer it if the climate that has sustained homo sapiens for all this time didn't change in my lifetime.

I love your tulips, Jali! And I love your story that goes with them even more! It's always special for me when I know something came from somebody at a swap, but knowing yours came from your grandmother makes them even extra special! Was that the year the tornado "went down main street" in Limon? It must be! I was watching the weather on TV that day, flipping channels, seems to me there were tornados all over the place that day, and all of a sudden the radar went down--on ALL the channels! The "old fashioned" radar came from Limon back then, and the radar station was taken out! It was barely 10 minutes, as I recall, when the stations got radar up and running again and they were picking it up from doppler radar at the airport. That was the day all the stations switched over to doppler radar--rather unexpectedly! And it was pretty freaky to be watching TV that day, 'cause when the "old" radar suddenly "went away," everybody knew for sure that something very serious had happened in Limon, but it was a while before anybody could confirm how bad it really was. I'm glad your grandmother stayed safe in that storm! And glad you have her tulips for such a very special memory. Misty, I usually like tulips that Look Like Tulips, but that pink and white one of yours is sure pretty! It almost looks like a rose! Love your black one too! I got some 'Ronaldo' tulips from Barb a couple years ago and they're a very, very dark red too. Here's a pic. They froze badly last year, the foliage too, and I didn't know if I'd get any flowers at all this year, but they seem to have recovered amazingly well! The species tulips in front were on sale last fall and were another one of the things I didn't get planted till late January. I had no idea when they'd come up this year! Was hoping they might bloom at the same time as the 'Ronaldo' but they didn't even start to come up until a little over a week ago so I had kind of given up on that happening. Then on Friday the first one started to open, and look at them today! The timing couldn't possibly have been better! The species tulip is Tulipa kaufmanniana 'Heart's Delight'. In the second pic you can see that the foliage is striped with purple! I hope they both bloom at the same time again next year! The 'King Alfred' dafs I posted above are going downhill fast at this point, but I have other, non-bulb, things starting to bloom all over the place! It's amazing how fast it's happening this year! This is Erysimum kotschyanum 'Orange Flame'. It's just starting to open, will be covered with flowers by the end of the week. I love it because of the color--there are very few perennials this color, and in Real Life it's even more orange than in the pic. I call it "crayon orange!" This is Phlox douglasii 'Cracker Jack'. And this one really is the shocking color just like it looks in the pic! It's not an easy one to grow--parts of it die off every year, but I've been able to keep it alive at least! And here are some of my plain old everyday primroses! They're so pretty, and the yellow (and white) ones are very fragrant. The "blue" one is really purple! I've never been able to get a pic of that one that comes out right! They've been blooming for a good month already. The purple stuff on the left is some of my Omnipresent Violas! (That one comes out purple in the pics, so why doesn't the primrose???) And this one is more of the purple violas with Arabis arendsii 'Compinkie' on the left, and the Ipheion uniflorum 'Rolf Fiedler' in the top right corner. (I accidentally named the Ipheion wrong in the pics in my original post! I called it 'Wisley Blue', which I have too, but the ones in the pics here and above are really 'Rolf Fiedler'. I corrected the caption on the pic itself.) And this isn't really a flower--but they always look like flowers to me when they change colors! This is the hen & chicks I have labeled "L", and they're starting to turn their "spring color." In another week or so the inside will be a solid deep red while the tips stay green. The first year I saw these changing color I thought I was imagining things!!! (The couple little light blue star flowers at the top of the pic are Ipheion 'Wisley Blue'! Not many flowers this year, and they're very similar to the other one!) Anybody else have spring things blooming now? Even if they're not bulbs! Skybird

Thank you Audrey! I'd be happy to enable you in whatever way I can to get 'The Fawn', also called 'The Faun', as well as by several other names in Europe. Heirloom Roses were the original importers and had the exclusive right to propagate it for several years, but that has apparently run out as several nurseries offer it now. I got my latest two from Burlington Roses in California. As mentioned it is a low grower that spreads out two or three feet horizonally so it's great at the front edge of a bed, very good also in a raised bed, or in a pot. I'll be looking forward to seeing pictures of your roses when they bloom. I wouldn't mind seeing some bush shots to get an idea of their growth habits. Here is a link that might be useful: The Faun on HelpMeFind ...

Nick, my favorite mezzo in trouser roles was (the late) Tatyana Troyanos, an American with the origin from your beautiful country. Carol, I don't know how far back early music you like, but in opera I think someone like Cavalli might fit the bill and this performance by a fab French countertenor Damaux is as good as it gets, I think. Seeing him at the Met's Giulio Cesare a couple of years ago made me a (albeit, somewhat reluctant) convert to countertenors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWWsHP7OooM One day, I hope we might have a thread about roses and classical music/opera. In my garden, I have a little "Richard Strauss corner" recreating flowers from his last song including a rose, though, like you, I prefer Italian (Verdi!).