Palm Sunday was so chilly and rainy that it was difficult to imagine spring is supposed to be happening. The garden centers have their OPEN signs out front and even a drive-by reveals tables full of daffodils, hyacinths and violas. I’m always tempted to grab a few for an ornamental pot at the house entrance. The handy thing is that the entire contents of the pot can be popped into the garden, as all of the items will come back year after year.

Sunday’s Palm Sunday sermon at church included an historical lesson about Holy Week from 1865. That Sunday, there was celebration of the end of the American Civil War. Then, on Good Friday, John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln.

Where was I?

Oh yes, spring this year is shaping up. One nice thing about a cold rainy April is that the spring bulbs stay vibrant for longer. One year after the tulips had just bloomed, daytime temperatures reached 90 degrees. Tulips hate 90 degrees and promptly wilted and died. I get it. I wilt at 90 degrees!

My star magnolia did not make it through the winter. I only checked it after noticing the beautiful specimen at the Olson property in North Tisbury. I wonder what happened to the one at the Hebrew Center in Vineyard Haven?

The dwarf rhododendron are blooming. There is a stand of hot pink ones at the entrance to the Tisbury Marketplace. Its close cousin, the azalea, is slower to bloom as is the larger rhododendron. Of late, the rhodys have become a favorite of deer. I have one that has just one pathetic leaf, which was too tall for the deer to reach. Sigh. Wonder why I never remember to spray Bobbex on it?

I ordered quite a few plug trays this year. They have been arriving courtesy of Fed Ex and UPS. I hope to get them all transplanted into larger pots soon so they will be ready for late spring planting. I’m making my own potting mix this year using John Keene’s native compost, peat moss, perlite and a few bags of store bought potting mix.

Plain compost or garden soil does not work in a container as it could lead to a fungus problem. One year, I had the bright idea to sterilize my own garden soil. I used my oven. All I can say is, “Never do that!” It took weeks to get the smell out of the kitchen.

I finally used up the stored onions from last summer and really didn’t want to buy any. As luck would have it a trip to the garden yielded a handful of leeks. I’m amazed they wintered over so perfectly since we did have some serious cold in February.

At least a decade ago, I planted a good amount of hyacinth bulbs. They all came up the following spring and were fabulous. Over the years, they still come up reliably, except the individual flower stalk, which is very full and round has become simply single flowers. They are still pretty, but I do wonder if they are reverting to a more native plant. I give them a yearly dose of Bulb Tone so I don’t think it is a fertilizer pro . Anyone know?

In early 1970s, I was out of college and working in the nation’s capital. It was the height of my anti-Vietnam War protest stage. Richard Nixon gave the order to bomb Cambodia. It sparked a nation-wide outrage on college campuses. In May, the Ohio National Guard opened fire on a protest at Kent State University, resulting in four student deaths. I am beginning to fear that history (as it sometimes will) may repeat itself. It’s hard to imagine that Richard Nixon probably has a cooler head at the time than our present administration. Yikes.