I covered the budding plants during winter's freezes to make sure there would be no flowers lost. And give a hand to the great band of bulbs that plays here. The early-blooming daffodils have put away their trumpets so the late bloomers might carry on. Snowflakes, their dainty white caps sporting those incredible little dots of green, start short, then shoot to almost a foot before all's said and done. Blue star flowers wink above their grassy tufts.
Stately callas carry elegant white blooms.
Bright green leaves have replaced the lavender cups of the tulip magnolias, and as more green fills in, a second spring flush begins. Sweet white blooms of Confederate jasmine will take up where the bright yellow Carolina jessamine ends. I got calls this week from people who had just moved here from the North. Ask your neighbors the names of plants you like in their gardens, I suggested. Begin visiting the many nurseries that fill our city.