Spring Schedule

I'm watching spring evolve.
The week of March 30, the flowering cherries began to bloom and daffodils appeared.  Forsythia bursts out in bright yellow.
The week of April 6, the small magnolias are beginning to bloom, cherries and daffodils continue, spicebush has green tips.  The invasive, lesser celandine, is also in full bloom.
April 10 - red buds just starting to bud - 1 tulip was up and blooming
April 11 - the magnolias and cherries are in full bloom - some of the petals are already falling
Week of April 13, bush honeysuckle has been leafing out for a couple of weeks, warm day - almost 80 today.  Couple of large bumblebees out.  Crickets singing like crazy at (behind) Happy Yogi), Cherry blossoms on Alton Parkway are much deeper pink then when they first emerged.  Dogwoods beginning to flower - yellow-green bracts are visible first - larger white ones emerge later
Leaf canopy over Rock Creek greening rapidly.  Forsythia is beginning to green.
Noticeable increase in morning bird song quantity and variety.

It's still the week of April 13, but noticeable change comes daily.  Violets are blooming, and the tulips have unfolded to their characteristic cup shape.   I walked home down Alton Parkway Thursday (the 16th).  The cherry trees I've been watching have lost all their larger pink petals - the dark red center of the flowers remains as the leaves are growing and uncurling.  Nearby, several red bud trees are nearing their peak brightness.

At the end of the week, we went for a walk in the park.  Garlic mustard is coming up, and we pulled as much as I could carry.  Spring Beauty, a native flower, is blooming amidst the growing carpet of invasive Lesser Celandine.  The Red Bud trees are in full bloom, and the Tulip Tree in our front yard is starting to bloom.

Week of April 20.  Daffodils and tulips are still out.  Redbuds are in full bloom.  Dogwood flowers are 1/3 grown or so.  The tulip tree in front of our house is beginning to bloom.  Up on the corner, some tulip trees in a sunnier spot are past their prime.  Oaks are flowering, maple seeds are growing at the tips of the branches.  Almost all the trees are starting to leaf out.  Sycamores seem among the last - still waiting on them.

Monday 4/21 - neighbor's lilacs just starting to bloom. This evening I noticed the spirea in the back yard is in full bloom.

Thursday 4/23 - sycamores are beginning to leaf out.  Dogwoods are near peak.  I saw a small red azalea in full bloom on the way to work.

Week of April 27.  More tulips up now.  Some lilacs - in sunny spots - in full bloom, as well as spirea.   Garlic mustard flowering. One of our strawberries has a flower.  Azaleas are starting to bloom.  Some have been out for a few days, and others are just beginning.  Dogwoods, Kwanzen cherries, and redbuds are a little past peak.

Week of May 3.  Crepe myrtles are beginning to leaf out.  Iris are blooming, as the red buds leaf out, and small seed pods grow where the flowers had been.  The bloom of Azaleas continues to grow.

Week of May 10.  Roses in downtown beginning to bloom.

Week of May 17.  Irises fading - ours are gone.  Sweet Cicely, a native plant with tiny white flowers in umbels, is blooming along the path between Dale and Highland drives.