As reported earlier, Tulipa kaufmanniana was the first tulip to bloom here this year. Numbers two and three opened today: Tulipa polychroma and Tulipa ‘Stresa’ (both particular favorites here, the former for its scent and the latter for its vibrant color pattern). I don’t grow Tulipa biflora now, but it’s generally cited as very early also. ‘Stresa’ has the advantage of a very protected spot; near it grows one of the old duc van Tol tulips, and that has a bud showing color, but it is not yet open. Tulipa turkestanica, which grows right next to T. kaufmanniana and T. polychroma, is in advanced but but not yet showing color. Here’s something curious: Eranthis cilicica is just starting to bloom. The hybrid E. × tubergenii ‘Guinea Gold’ is in full bloom. Typical E. hyemalis was over a week or more ago. Today in Montgomery County, Maryland is one of those beguilingly sweet spring days which hints of summer: there are hundreds, probably thousands of richly perfumed flowers of Magnolia stellata scenting the air, and a row of decades-old boxwood is pouring out their bittersweet scent in perfect counterpoint to the sensuous odor of the magnolias. Cardinals, song sparrows, mourning doves, chickadees, titmice, the occasional woodpecker or hawk sing, coo, chortle and cry. It’s warm, too: temperatures are predicted to be well into the 80s F today. It’s the sort of day when it’s hard to stay awake, when it’s tempting to pull out some old recordings of Arie Antiche, sit out in the garden under the pergola and float for awhile on the pervasive sense of languor. There is another deeply moving scent in the air, too: it’s a woodsy scent which I’ve been told is the scent of reactivated actinomycetes in the soil. Of all the scents of the year, this is the one which stirs me the most. That early bulbs show foliage damage is no surprise, but this year many show damaged inflorescences also. The tips of some of the Muscari spikes are brown and dry. Some of the tulip buds show what seems to be cold damage. Some early reticulate iris flowers went bad very quickly: it wasn’t cold damage to the flower itself, it was worse than that. The late freeze killed the new growth right where it emerged from the bulb. The damaged parts pull out of the ground easily. This is one of the dangers of raised beds in our climate. Sweet violets are blooming freely, but in this heat they don’t last long. The native shrub Lindera benzoin is blooming today. I’ll go out later today looking for bloodroot. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where the garden toads have yet to start to sing. My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/ Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org/