If you garden in this climate one thing is certain: UNCERTAINY! This has been a double barreled spring this year. A rather damaging frost in early April did more damage than at first ascertained. The result was many small trees and shrubs had to gather forces and produce a second wave of leaves. Natural pruning was the result, and Japanese maples seem to have thicker foliage than normal, plus a much darker leaf color. Azaleas bloomed here on Horrell Hill at unusual times, one bush blooming twice, making for May azaleas. My rhododendrums were spectacular, the best in 25 years. They take some care in this area, our being just outside their zone. But wilh regular watering they can and do survive. We are also about 450 feet up, so we are a micro climate that tolerates plants like this. I found the spring to be just as erratic on a visit to London this May. When I arrived on May 15 the trees in Green Park were just coming out, and lilac trees were in full bloom. London parks are always feasts of color whatever the season, and flower beds aong the paths were particularly colorful this year. The Chelsea Flower Show finished this past Saturday, and I saw people carrying home plants of all sizes down Kings Road, one lady carrying a rose bush of huge porportions onto a bus. No doubt the passengers ducked. London always amazes me in the sense that it is a collection of villages, and village life in one of the largest cities on earth is thriving.
