Some buds are still wrapped tight, but flowers starting to unfurl...
Spring is a time of hope and promise in my Middle Tennessee garden.
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Ribes aureum, Ribes odoratum (golden currant, clove currant)
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Ribes aureum... I expect the flowers with their delicious clove fragrance to start opening in the next few days. If you're looking for a shrub with early-season yellow flowers, I believe clove currant is a much better choice than the overplanted and garish Forsythia. Clove currant also happens to be native to much of the United States and it produces edible fruit. And then there's the floral fragrance. 👃🏻
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| Hyacinths! My favorite early spring bulbs. Fragrant, herbivore resistant (in my experience), and reliably perennial even in heavy clay soil in Zone 7. |
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Acer rubrum (red maple). The flowers are quite beautiful, they are just usually too small and too far up in the canopy for most people to notice.
 | Liquidambar styraciflua (sweetgum)
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| Hydrangea quercifolia (oakleaf hydrangea) ... Some of last year's foliage is still adorning the shrub even as this year's fuzzy new leaves start to emerge |
I hope 2021 will be a healthy, peaceful, and beautiful year for you and your loved ones.
Happy Gardening 🌱
Aaron
