I went hunting this morning. I even took a few shots! Camera shots, that is. And the game I was hunting? Treasure!
Although right now there aren’t many flowers in my yard in comparison to the size of the lot, when I looked at each treasure for itself rather than a piece of the whole, I found a whole lot of color.
The most surprising to me was the flower on the vinca. When I moved here, there were a few plants in the way of my soon-to-be sidewalk, so I transplanted them. It seemed as if they all died, so I eventually planted other flowers. Then, of course, the vinca decided to grow. So I moved it to another location, but it didn’t like the new place and pined away. And then the original transplanted vinca came back. I just left it alone and this year, it seems to be taking over that garden spot. I suppose I’ll leave it, especially now, after seven years of being barren, that it’s decided to flower.
The plum trees have blossomed the past couple of years, but so far only a couple of those blossoms managed to grow into plums. Maybe this year there will be more than a couple greengage plums for me to savor.
Unfortunately, there was a frost last night, so who knows what will happen. Meantime, the blossoms still are cheerful!
A few columbines are now flowering.
The wallflowers provide a colorful backdrop for one of the columbine plants.
The wild roses are just coming into bloom. Too bad they have such a short bloom season, but the vibrant color makes any bloom season a joy.
Lilacs, of course, are always a joy. This year, I’ve had a longer lilac season than normal because the white lilacs didn’t start blooming until the purple ones faded.
The garden today was such a delightful place. So many treasures!
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Pat Bertram is the author of Grief: The Inside Story – A Guide to Surviving the Loss of a Loved One.
Bertram's Blog 
April 18, 2026 at 11:26 am
Lots of treasures. My plants haven’t even started yet, though the grass is growing well.
April 18, 2026 at 1:30 pm
Thanks for a tour of your garden.
April 18, 2026 at 2:21 pm
Your garden is lovely! And well ahead of ours, although things here are starting to develop quickly. We installed the peony rings this week as the plants are suddenly shooting up; and I discovered all sorts of perennials emerging–astilbe, sedum, columbine. The roses are leafing out, but we definitely aren’t at the stage of having things bloom yet. I’m impatiently waiting for mid-May and my first trip to the nursery for bedding plants.
Right now I’m excited about the transformation that’s about to happen in our front yard. We had a miserable infestation of chafer beetles last summer and fall, with raccoons raking up the lawns to get at them. Local yards are a mess, and our neighbour whose lawn adjoins ours agreed to join our project. We’ll be replacing all the grass with river rock. It will look a lot different, but a couple homes on the next block have done the same thing, so we shouldn’t stand out as too bizarre! Work starts on Monday.