Anticipation.

One of my favorite plants in the garden is the hardy hibiscus. I have added several over the past couple of years. The blooms are huge compared to the coreopsis, shastas, and other daisy shaped blooms. I like to mix them into borders. In the shrub island, I'm using them as fillers among the foliage. For me, they begin blooming in June, as pictured here.



But for now, the anticipation is the best part. I found several just starting to put out new growth. They're a bit early this year, probably from the heat of the past few weeks.

Red Texas Star



Turn of the Century



White Hibiscus. Never bloomed.



Luna Red



Pink Hibiscus, Disco Bell.



Unknown hibiscus, dark red, maybe.



Lord Baltimore



Other plants are returning too. I'd never grown brugmansia before last season, so I was excited to see them returning even after a hard winter for our zone.

Brugmansia



Joe Pye Weed, maybe. Could be milkweed, but I think that's further down the slope.



California Poppy. These seeds were scattered in the fall. A few germinated over the winter and this one has a bud. Can't wait to see the orange flowers in the backyard.



Another "large" bloomer, Miss Bateman clematis. This one is hidden behind the nandinas on the back of the house. I had a vision of it growing up the wire trellises I hung last spring. It prefers to sprawl across the ground. I keep picking it up. It falls down again.



It's 54 degrees. Yesterday, we had a splash of rain. Ok, it drizzled for all of 2 minutes. The smell of the rain on the asphalt in front of the store made me dizzy. People were saying we have another chance today, but I don't know where they're getting that information. My weather forecast says a 20% chance. More anticipation, I guess.