No Scilla/Chionodoxa photos today. And contrary to what I said in a previous post, they are not holding up well. Instead, they are looking water-stained, bloated and bleached. I overheard a tv weather report last night which said our temperatures this week are running 20 degrees below normal. No sun, wet and cold: can this be Maryland in April? A small planting of tulips of the pulchella group is full of plants in advanced bud (some were open before the curtain was pulled over the sun). I took a look at them today and they are full of botrytis: the petals are splotched with necrotic spots. And something is eating the arilate irises: slugs? I don't see slime trails, so I'm not sure. Is there some other early riser which eats irises? A startling event yesterday afternoon gave me a real thrill. I stepped out of the house and absentmindedly focused on the edge of the pool. A four foot high tower of a bird suddenly ballooned into a blur of silver, gray and blue and flapped away revealing a huge wingspan. It was of course a great blue heron, a relatively common bird in this area. Usually they are so shy that one does not get close to them before they fly. To see such a huge bird in a tiny back yard garden really puts their size into perspective. Its wingspan was so wide that there was hardly room for it to flap without hitting something. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone 7 My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/