I love Spring, too. My cacti are blooming and so are the Palo Verde trees. The orange tree is done blooming and has tiny oranges forming. The desert trees are starting to bloom now. And I discovered a patch of lavender just outside my front door. It was left over from the previous owners and popped up a month or so ago; it is getting ready to bloom - I love lavender and I'm glad we didn't pull it up last year when we moved in.

Both of your "blooming" stories sound wonderful.

Yonuh, when my mother lived in Green Valley, she told me she selected the lot their house was built on particularly because of the beautiful Palo Verde tree in their back yard.

Sandy, I love magnolia trees, though I am not quite sure what a spider magnolia is. Guess I will have to look that up. My sister, who lives in Racine, WI, has a beautiful magnolia tree in her back yard. She sent me a picture of it in early bloom a couple of weeks ago, and it was so stunning.

Around here, in northern Illinois, the lilacs and ornamental plum trees in my neighborhood have been blooming for a couple of weeks now. Same with the tulips and daffodils.

The trees - elms and oaks and maples - started leafing out a couple of weeks ago, and some are already in full leaf. The birch tree outside my office window hasn't leafed out yet, but it has seed pods handing from it, and visible buds.

However, it was 32 this morning, so not sure what to expect next!

Here? The peach tree has tiny peaches, but birds most likely will eat them first!

Tomato plants are very healthy and growing!

Mesquites take on such a beautiful, light foliage...can't wait for the shade they will cast.

Catclaw tree is a bit slow...Heck, I'd be slow, too, if my "hair" was claws! OUCH!

Dianthus is beautiful...no flowers yet, but soon!

Red Yuccas are new for us this year. We have three. Our plant guy assures us they are hearty and will take it all! We shall see!

Other than that, DH is trying to grow grass AGAIN...seems the dogs have ruined it for the most part. But it's base is sugar sand, so it always comes back beautiful. NO MORE DOGS ON THE FRONT LAWN!

It's still chilly here, so not a whole lot blooming in the garden yet...the last of the crocuses are still hanging on, lots of violets are sweetly swaying in the breeze, a whole new crop of daffodils just opened up today, and our first two tulips popped open late this afternoon, bringing a welcome splash of red into the greyness of the side garden. It's still too early to clean out the dead leftover stuff...we need to leave it in there to help keep the wee buds warm at night. Traditionally, here in our corner of the world, we don't clean too much or plant new stuff until around May 24th. As tempting as it might be to throw those gorgeous new annuals in, the threat of late frost makes it too risky.

We love Spring!

I wait for May too to do some parts of gardening.
We seem to be ahead of you Eagle.Daffodils and some tulips wallflower and primroses..some anenomes.And plum and cherry blossom of the trees.willow catkins...are hanging too.
We have a wonderfully warm spell only to have hail and heavy rain with thunder and lightening yesterday.So some flowers are bending over in shock.
I finding the seasons fleeting past...and enjoy each natural event knowing that all things pass.
Last year we made a pond and our fish lived through the winter..Whew!! thank goodness.some pond plants are now resurfacing and this new addition is so interesting.At nightfall the fish become alert and I go to watch and enjoy..
Imagine we women all looking to to the land and nature wherever we live...
forgot to say...some weeds are here too!!!

Our front yard is mostly dirt, rocks, and weeds. But weeds are only wildflowers growing where we don't want them to grow. I cleaned up the back yard yesterday - mostly weeds and dirt - and the weeds are the kind that form seeds that can get into little doggy noses and ears and cause major problems. We decided not to grow grass - uses way to much water - but I'm not sure what else we can do, yet. It has to be 'dog friendly' so no cactus or thorny things. I wish someone would come up with a hardy ground cover that can take the extreme heat, the lack of rain, and the damage from the dogs running and jumping, and that doesn't require a lot of water, and stays green all year. I know it's a lot to ask, but I can dream.

I enjoyed reading everyone's posts about their springtime blooms. I live in the Pacific Northwest, where we don't plant annuals until after Mother's Day. So our spring is really just getting going. Thanks, everyone, for sharing.

Thanks for sharing, Sandy N. It was well-written and a fun read.

Personally, I have no gardening skills whatsoever. I love a well-kept garden, but I have no idea how to begin -- nor do I have any time to learn.

In our little neighborhood association we used to have one owner couple who loved gardening so much, they traded paying association dues for the task of personally handling all the mowing and yard maintenance.

It was heaven for me to look out my window during the temperate months, and see them happily pushing a mower, weeding and/or maintaining my shrubs, trees and the plantings that came with the house. Everything always looked so wonderful.

Sadly they moved two years ago, and a single woman retiree moved into their house.

Not that I don't like the new neighbor: She's a delight, a former librarian who serves on a handful of boards and loves to entertain. She is a fabulous cook and we often share books and recipes. I really enjoy chatting with her -- but she is no more a gardener than I am.

The new replacement mowers are a professional crew who come in with 3-4 workers, two mowers and a plan to get in and out as fast as possible. They keep the yards mowed, but they do nothing about the flower beds.

I'm afraid I'm going to have to hire someone to come in and do the garden maintenance. It's sad to see how neglected they've become.