It's Alive!

It was in the low 60s yesterday, so I wandered outside to see what was up in the garden. Yes, I know that it's only early March, and I also know that another large snowfall is not out of the question for this month. Hope, however, springs eternal for those of us who crave the smell of soil and the sight of baby green things poking their heads up out of the ground. So, it was a big score to see...

...daffodils beneath the still-dormant hydrangea (Hydrangea arborescens, the NJ native, of course!)....a not-totally-crushed mount of coral bells, which was so recently under many feet of snow; unfortunately, the lamb's ear behind it didn't fare so well.

...tons and tons of swelling buds on the forsythia. It's almost time to cut a branch off, bring it inside, and watch it bloom.

If this wasn't enough of garden goodness for one day, the Cooper's hawk flew low overhead on its way to go bother a flock of starlings in a tree. Insert contented sigh here.