Spring is continuing to progress here in southern Iowa and now residents have begun to take notice. Lawns have begun to turn green and early trees and shrubs such as Lilac bushes and Willows have started to develop leaves, adding a rare hint of green on a relatively dull landscape. My Northern Gold Forsythia has just started to bloom today, which adds vivid yellow. I will post photos once it reaches full flower! As for trees, Silver Maples have completed their flowering, but Red Maple flower buds are starting to open. Elms are still in full swing, but all of these trees in their flowering stage do not appear to be doing much of anything to most people unless you look closely. Ornamental trees such as Crabapples, Magnolias, Redbuds, and Ornamental Pears all have buds swelling and breaking, but not much visually is going on. I noticed my Magnolia has shed the first layer of its buds – flower petals usually become follow shortly after, these will become spectacular in the weeks to come.

As for our stage in spring bulbs, we have left Crocus season and have entered the Daffodil season as the first Daffodil opened on the first day of spring! Daffodils are my favorite flower and I especially like this Tete-a-Tete variety, which is a miniature yellow Daffodil, about 5″ tall. They tend to be earlier than standard Daffodils, but even they are not far behind and will be blooming in a day or two.

Siberian Squill bloomed this week as well. These are additional “minor” flowering spring bulbs. Only 3″ tall, but their striking blue flowers look fantastic next to the yellow Daffodils!

Here is a look at how the garden as a whole looks this week. As seen, miniature Daffodils have begun to flower. Standard daffodils are getting very close to blooming and now you can just barely see the flower buds on the tulips, which means they will not be far behind either. We are about on schedule for where we should be this time of year. The next 2-3 weeks will be very beautiful in southern Iowa with many of the beautiful flowering trees. Shrubs and plants will start to fill our everyday landscapes! Please take a little time to go outside enjoy this wonderful time of year. I will continue to post weekly updates.

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