and my joy of joys, the Mountain Laurel is in bloom. 
The clematis is also in bloom this year, but I think it is a bit early. 
It has been hot for May, but then the entire winter/spring has been very warm, even hot some days. I am sure there are those who do not think 80 is hot, but I am a Mountain girl… or an Island girl so I measure hot and cold differently, I guess.
I think Punkin must be a mountain cat… he does not like the heat when it gets around 80. He gives up following me around the garden and heads for a place in the shade, often under a bush, but sometimes right in the middle of the plants. What is fun for me, but surprising for visitors is when he meows as we walk by and other folks do not even see him. I am sure he enjoys that look of bewilderment when they look around and no cat is to be seen… “Ow,” he repeats. Do you see him? 
It is also at the end of May that our little Train Station has its Plant Sale as part of the Town’s Spring Fling – a town-wide yard sale sort of thing that starts at 7 AM, but usually ends for us between noon and 1PM. It is real hard work for some of us, contacting growers, then driving up and down the highway with a van full of plants, then setting things up. Someone has to price them. They get arranged and rearranged as things get sold.
This year we had a Bake Sale in conjunction with the Plant Sale. That was even harder on me than all the work with the planning and getting and doing………… namely not eating all the goodies. Sigh. BUT, I try to stay gluten and sugar free, so my house is a Safe Haven for cookie storage! LOL!
We did set up our simplest train track, just in case a kid or two showed up. Of course, some of our kids were in their 60s. That happens a lot. But here is one of the younger ones.
. See the tiny spider web?
I have always loved pink roses best or the real dark red ones, but the last couple years I have been in love with yellow roses... Enjoy my garden.
.
Rose Breasted Grosbeak. Yeah, I know it is hard to tell from this picture,
but by the time I got my camera, he was ready to move on. If you know your birds, you will recognize his back. If you don't know them, his breast is white with a bright red heart shape just under his neck, not that song birds have much of a neck. The female looks kind of like an over-sized sparrow in color and markings. I have had Evening Grosbeaks in the winter, even a Blue Grosbeak one summer that I thought was a giant Indigo Bunting! Hey, I was new to birding! And they said Blue 
Then, today a Redheaded woodpecker visited. How beautiful! The female is very plain by comparison, browns and white. Great coloring for sitting on the nest. I often have a good assortment of really cool woodpeckers, my favorite being the 
I like it not only for its unusual beauty, but because it is so fragrant... sort of like a cross between the honey suckle and a jasmine, but not as heavy as wisteria. My favorite Irises are blooming,
loads of them left to bloom,
and the azaleas with the bigger flowers, the ones that will bloom again in the fall. 
I might mention, these colors are NOT inhanced. Honest! I mean, what's the point? As you can see, the camellias are still in bloom. Maybe you can get a sense of the size of things in this shot.
Grandpop's peonies are open.
The red ones will open next week. As you can see, the Boys are enjoying the garden, too. Spook has taken to napping next to the zucchini and eggplants.
Punkin is enjoying the empty trays! 
It was pretty well demolished by neglect – a priorities thing- and then it was weed-whacked to the ground, all but the dogwood and the yellow iris. The other little green things are lilies that have never had a chance to bloom and a tiny calla lily I planted out here years ago and was sure I had lost it. 
I also found a volunteer columbine coming up. There were phlox here… I found them trying to come thru the leaves and winter accumulation of debris and last year’s collection of weeds and dead grass. I decided to not be lazy and let someone else get in here with their weed whacker this year. I was determined to rescue it first. It took 4 bags of mulch and really could have used more. I can’t wait to see what blooms besides the yellow iris (which tends to be magnificent.)
Speaking of magnificent - the azaleas are just that.
Most of them are huge now, a few of them over my head. I know I am going to have to trim some of them back, but cutting back a bush is painful to me. Again, I have people stop by when I am out in the garden and tell me how much they enjoy riding by my place. “It brightens my ride to work.” That makes me feel good because it is a lot of work keeping the weeds from taking over everything.
Amazingly I still have a few camellias in bloom. I keep forgetting the Bleeding Hearts are in bloom as are the Snap Dragons that winter over here. AND, there are buds on the roses. Imagine! And then there are the lilacs. They have survived to bloom another year. Oh, how I love their fragrance!
In the veggie department, the garden is 90% planted. I am waiting to plant the Italian flat beans and I will put in a few late tomatoes, not in the garden, but in strange little spots among the shrubs where they have proven they will flourish late in the season. Meanwhile, my peas are up to the second string and climbing. I have little white strawberries and lots of flowers. The first 2 blueberry bushes have tiny green berries. The cucumbers are next to their fence, (Thanks Pat!), the peppers are sharing the middle of the asparagus bed, raspberries are looking great, zucchini is in the ground along with skinny eggplant – perfect for grilling. The yellow squash is looking good, but no sign of the carrots yet. I am trying them in a bag like the potatoes. The potatoes went in their bags yesterday. The onions are a foot tall, and the lettuce has just popped its first tiny sets of leaves thru the ground. Several of the tomatoes are up about a foot. I have extended my herb garden this year with separate window boxes for each herb. I even bought a bunch of dill for the Black Swallowtail caterpillar. They just LOVE dill, and we seldom use it. Apparently the potato bags were a hit once people found them at Wal-Mart. They have been sold out for weeks. I have one left. I am going to try a sweet potato in that one. Meanwhile, my friend Philip in Canada has just sent me pictures of the current snow at his place. My Uncle and brother (Ohio and northern PA) are under a winter storm warning… and we are working on our 2nd inch of desperately needed rain. Cutting the grass(weeds) lately has mostly been an exercise in relocating dust. Last time I thought I probably should have worn a mask. Watering takes over an hour. I understand some places were about to invoke watering restrictions. Maybe with it being such a rainy day I can get caught up on my blog reading. I know, I should try a little house cleaning… right, I hear you. All that dust from outside has settled on everything inside! Sigh. I hope the spring has been good to you. I am so sorry for all those folks who have lost so much with all those storms.
Looks like I am growing a Punkin in this potato bag!
See, I don’t mind shopping like a woman – “What do you want, dear?” “Oh, something in blue…” I even use that when I buy cars! Tho’ today, I say “a van in blue.” But the logic in multiple bright colors in train cars (yeah, there IS some logic here) is because it will attract the kids better than a bunch of cars all the same, same color, same shape – which might be more authentic, I admit, but is also atheistically very boring. And we will be looking to keep kids interested in what we are doing, even if it is only learning shapes and colors with the littlest kids. “Can you find a car that is like a cylinder?” There are ‘shape ID’ SOLs for several grade levels. I also needed stuff for the scenery (my department) and buying stuff on line just wasn't working out real well.
This was taken this time last year... remember what a cold winter we had last year? Record snow fall for the Eastern Shore. Froze our butts off! This year, I am grateful to say, winter passed us by! I know my friends in Vermont are saying the same thing, as some of them spent the winter in tipis while rebuilding their homes, bridges, barns, and shops. Even they have had very little snow and quite mild temps. Our mild temps hit an extreme this past week. It was 83 here on Thursday. Tank top weather! 
Red Emperor is in full bloom. This bush is over 10 feet tall and has a diameter of 8 feet.
It is so loaded with blooms this year. Isn't it beautiful?
The daisies have put out their leaves, but they won't bloom until Oct... But the azaleas will bloom soon.
Punk could be found sleeping in the morning sun...
by afternoon, he was in a shady spot under a bush.
Pink Perfection blooms this time of year. Last year we had snow on the camellias,
this year the only white on the ground IS the camellias! (or daffodils, or pansies...). 
I actually cut some grass (and a lot of weeds) this past week. The forsythia is in bloom as are the fruit trees. The peas are up and I have onions up about an inch! How has your winter been?
