Please hurry spring, I'm getting impatient!

I've been looking back through photos trying to remember what spring will be looking like in my garden.  There are lots of green sprouts showing, but still I feel impatient to see full plants out in my gardens.  My sister and I laughed when I told her it was supposed to be 50 degrees this week.  We thought it was pretty funny to be excited about 50 degrees.  That doesn't really sound warm, but compared with the 30's and 40's it does.  I want to feel warm sun.  I want to pick bouquets from my own yard.  I want to need to water plants.  Any increase in temperature is welcome, even if it's not really that much. 

So, I thought I would remind myself of what spring looks like by looking at photos from last spring in the garden.  Of course I have made some changes since the pictures were taken, but overall this is how it will look in just a couple of months.  The pictures were taken late April, that's when the Pink Flowering Dogwood starts blooming.  There are peonies, daylilies, columbines, veronica, phlox and more that will bloom here.

This angle is looking from the front side of the same bed at the very end.  The neighbors leave the hanging baskets up year round and usually not much is growing in them.  Luckily from inside the yard they aren't too noticeable.  The lilac 'Ludwig Spaeth' and butterfly bush grow large enough to block them.  The foxgloves at the front have been reseeding in this area since we moved in.  They are just the common purple and white ones, but they get very tall and look very pretty.  Sedum 'Autumn Joy', 'Moonbeam' coreopsis and red valerian are some of the perennials in this area.

Here this bed was kind of a blank slate.  The water garden has been moved elsewhere.  This area now has roses, iris and phlox.  It gets mostly shade, but the front third gets a lot of sun making it a difficult area to plan.  I tend to like a lot of more old fashioned cottage type plants and shrubs.  There are two hydrangeas in the back.  One is a Nikko Blue, the other was a florist hydrangea that was a gift from my husband.  I planted it and it took off, it gets beautiful dark pink flowers.  I think I have a hydrangea addiction.  I have so many different types in my garden and still find more I want!  

This is a view looking from the top of the pond down the pathway.  You can see the clematis armandii in bloom as well as my favorite Pink Flowering currant.  White bleeding hearts are in front of the birdbath.  The hostas, ferns and astillbes haven't made their appearance yet.  I also planted chelone (turtlehead) for a late season bloomer.  

 I think just knowing this is only about 2 months away I can continue waiting and planning and organizing for spring!