Too early and right on time.

 We are having some amazingly mild weather lately, and from what I've been reading, so has a lot of the country.  I'd say many of us are due some mild weather after a year of real extremes.  I've been seeing posts and hearing people talking about some of the plants that are already showing buds or making their way up through the soil.  As much as I love seeing those signs of spring I'm a little nervous that we could and probably will get some really cold weather.  Some plants will be fine either way, but there are some that might not be.

 The main one I'm wondering about right now is this Magnolia 'Vulcan'.  I was hoping this might be it's big year to really put out some blooms since it's still fairly young.  It's already budding out and this seems far too early, then again I'm not experienced with Magnolias other than knowing that a freeze can kill the flowerbuds.

 In the same bed the Ninebark 'Little Devil' still hasn't lost it's leaves.  The Ninebark in my backyard dropped it's leaves weeks ago.

 Thinking the Pulmonaria seemed really early caused me to check back on my blog and see that they are actually right on time.  I have pictures of them blooming in late January.

 Violas haven't stopped since I planted them in fall.

 More Violas in another bed.

 I went out to the backyard and thought I smelled something good.  I went to check that the Sarcococcas are right on time and blooming like crazy.

 Why am I showing a picture of our bunny Blackthorn?

 Because Sweet Pea found a Hellebore (Helleborus x sternii) 'Blackthorn strain'.  She thought it was meant to be that we have that growing in our yard.  She used her own money to buy it and it's planted close to Blackthorn's hutch.

As I looked at our raised beds and noticed the Chard, Kale and beets growing I found two of these plants.  Since I've never grown it before I thought I would see if anyone else agreed that it was Pak Choi.  I started some from seed and had sprouts that were quickly mowed down by the slugs. It sure looks like the pictures I've found online.

Are things early, late or right on time where you are?

All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress.