The perennials are waking up much earlier than usual this year.  New plantain leaves are pushing their way up through the muck where we wear the "lawn" down to bare soil in front of the door every winter, and the Egyptian onions have been sending up scads of new leaves for a couple of weeks now.  I even saw a speedwell flower Sunday, but wasn't quick enough to capture its smiling face before a deluge washed everything away.

As heartening as these signs of spring are, though, I feel compelled to ask the weather to slow down!  You see, the same warmth that wakes up the onions is also tempting my fruit trees and vines to burst open their flowers far too soon.  I can already see green in the swollen pear and kiwi buds, which means those buds are at high risk of being frostbitten when the inevitable cold swings of March return.  Luckily, my peaches (the only fruit trees old enough to bear fruit this year) still have tightly coiled buds, and I'm sending them soporific thoughts.  Please, don't open until April!